The draw for the group stages of the EFL Trophy has been made. 16 Premiership and Championship teams with Category 1 status Academies also get to enter their B team (under 23s). There are 8 groups and the top 2 teams in each will progress to the next round.

The trophy has not attracted a sponsor yet, and the Football League have not said what is happening with sponsorship.

Exeter have been drawn in a group with league 1 sides Oxford United and Swindon Town. Chelsea’s B team have also been drawn in that group.  It’s expected that the home game that Chelsea have to play will be at Stamford Bridge, but they will also play two of their games away.

The Football League have not clarified whether the League 1 and 2 teams have to feature prominently first team players as in previous seasons.

The fixtures will be released in due course. Games are due to be played:-

w/c 29th August
w/c 3rd October
w/c 7th November

The full draw is as follows:-

Southern Group A Northern Group A
Reading Everton
Bristol Rovers Bolton Wanderers
Portsmouth Cheltenham Town
Yeovil Town Blackpool
Southern Group B Northern Group B
Swansea City Wolverhampton Wanderers
AFC Wimbledon Chesterfield
Newport County Crewe Alexandra
Plymouth Argyle Accrington Stanley
Southern Group C Northern Group C
Chelsea Stoke City
Swindon Town Bradford City
Exeter City Morecambe
Oxford United Bury
Southern Group D Northern Group D
West Ham United Blackburn Rovers
Coventry City Fleetwood Town
Wycombe Wanderers Carlisle United
Northampton Town Oldham Athletic
Southern Group E Northern Group E
Southampton Derby County
Charlton Athletic Port Vale
Colchester United Doncaster Rovers
Crawley Town Mansfield Town
Southern Group F Northern Group F
Norwich City Sunderland
Peterborough United Rochdale
Barnet Hartlepool
Milton Keynes Dons Notts County
Southern Group G Northern Group G
Brighton & Hove Albion Middlesbrough
Southend United Scunthorpe United
Stevenage Cambridge United
Leyton Orient Shrewsbury Town
Southern Group H Northern Group H
West Bromwich Albion Leicester City
Millwall Sheffield United
Luton Town Grimsby Town
Gillingham Walsall



By Hants

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