The Road to Wembley Begins: Under-21 Teams and Group Stage Draw Confirmed for the 2026/27 EFL Trophy

While the summer transfer window dominates the daily headlines and international football captures the global imagination, the domestic calendar for the 2026/27 season is already rapidly taking shape. As clubs return to pre-season training, the English Football League (EFL) has officially fired the starting gun on one of the calendar’s most fiercely contested tournaments.

The complete line-up of invited Under-21 academy teams and the pre-determined group stage pairings for the 2026/27 EFL Trophy have been formally confirmed, setting the stage for a nine-month battle culminating at Wembley Stadium.

Here is a comprehensive breakdown of the participating teams, the draw mechanics, the confirmed groups, and the key dates you need for your diary.

The Premier League’s Next Generation: Category One Academies

Since the competition’s structural revamp, the inclusion of Category One academies has added a fascinating tactical dynamic to the EFL Trophy. The tournament bridges the critical gap between youth development and the unforgiving physicality of senior professional football. For the 48 clubs representing Sky Bet League One and Sky Bet League Two, it offers an opportunity to test their mettle against some of the most technically gifted and highly touted prospects in the country.

This season, the 16 invited Under-21 sides hail from a mixture of established Premier League heavyweights and clubs boasting historically elite academies. The confirmed list features:

• Arsenal
• Aston Villa
• Brentford
• Brighton & Hove Albion
• Chelsea
• Crystal Palace
• Everton
• Fulham
• Ipswich Town
• Leeds United
• Liverpool
• Manchester City
• Newcastle United
• Nottingham Forest
• Sunderland
• Tottenham Hotspur

The Group Stage Draw: Regional Logistics and Minimised Travel

The highly anticipated draw to finalise the 16 groups will be broadcast live on Sky Sports News on Thursday, 25 June, starting at 2:30 pm.

The broadcast will be presented by Sky Sports stalwart Dharmesh Sheth, who will be joined in the studio by two men intimately familiar with the rigours of the Football League. Former Bolton Wanderers and West Ham United midfielder Kevin Nolan, alongside former Ipswich Town and Nottingham Forest defender Luke Chambers, will be responsible for drawing the ball numbers and locking in the final fixtures.

To prioritise player welfare in an increasingly congested football calendar, the EFL has meticulously structured the initial phase of the tournament. The 64 competing teams are split into 16 regionalised groups of four, eight located in the Northern region and eight in the Southern region.

The 48 EFL clubs have already been placed into pre-determined groups. This system has been specifically engineered to ensure that travel time is strictly minimised and recovery periods are maximised for the players. Thursday’s live draw will exclusively determine which of the 16 invited Under-21 sides will drop into each respective group to complete the quartet.

The Northern Section: Pre-Determined Groups

The Northern bracket features a fierce collection of historic footballing institutions, including Sheffield Wednesday, Blackpool, and Bradford City, alongside newly promoted sides and regional staples. The addition of top-tier academy squads into these groups is guaranteed to create a fascinating clash of styles.

Northern Section Ball Numbers (To be drawn on 25 June):

1. Aston Villa U21
2. Everton U21
3. Leeds United U21
4. Liverpool U21
5. Manchester City U21
6. Newcastle United U21
7. Nottingham Forest U21
8. Sunderland U21

The Southern Section: Pre-Determined Groups

The Southern section is equally compelling, boasting formidable EFL competitors such as Leicester City, Luton Town, and Reading. The allocation of London-based and southern academy squads will undoubtedly create highly anticipated local fixtures with excellent travelling support across the capital and the home counties.

Southern Section Ball Numbers (To be drawn on 25 June):

1. Arsenal U21
2. Brentford U21
3. Brighton & Hove Albion U21
4. Chelsea U21
5. Crystal Palace U21
6. Fulham U21
7. Ipswich Town U21
8. Tottenham Hotspur U21

Competition Format and Sudden-Death Rules

The EFL Trophy retains its distinct and highly dramatic formatting quirks, designed to guarantee a conclusive outcome and maintain competitive intensity throughout the group stages.

The initial phase operates in a standard round-robin format, with every team playing each other once. The top two teams from each of the 16 groups will successfully progress to the Round of 32 knockout stages. Crucially, the knockout fixtures will remain heavily regionalised until the Quarter-Final stage, further reducing the logistical and financial burdens on the clubs and their dedicated travelling supporters.

A hallmark of the EFL Trophy is its zero-tolerance policy for drawn matches. Any game that finishes level after 90 minutes during the group stages and the initial knockout rounds will completely bypass extra time and be determined immediately by a penalty shootout. This sudden-death scenario applies to all fixtures up to, and including, the Semi-Final stage.

The only exception to this rule is the showpiece Final. Should the two remaining teams be tied after 90 minutes under the Wembley arch, a full 30-minute period of extra time will be played to separate the sides before resorting to penalty kicks.

The Road to Wembley: Key 2026/27 Dates

While the exact dates for the Group Stage fixtures will be confirmed following the EFL’s comprehensive Fixture Release Day on Thursday, 25 June, the matches are scheduled to commence in early September. The dates for the knockout rounds have already been locked into the calendar:

• Group Stage: From early September
• Round of 32: Week commencing 7 December 2026
• Round of 16: Week commencing 11 January 2027
• Quarter Finals: Week commencing 15 February 2027
• Semi Finals: Week commencing 8 March 2027
• Final: Sunday, 11 April 2027

A New Era of Broadcasting Coverage

For supporters unable to attend the matches in person, following the tournament has never been easier. Driven by the EFL’s record domestic rights deal with broadcaster Sky Sports, the 2026/27 season will see unprecedented television coverage.

Under the new agreement, absolutely every single EFL Trophy match, from the opening group stage fixtures in September to the Final in April, will be broadcast live on Sky Sports for fans in the UK. This comprehensive coverage ensures that supporters of League One, League Two, and the participating Premier League academies will not miss a single minute of the action as the long road to Wembley begins.