Concessions: £5.00
(Seniors, Students, Juniors Under 16)
For the first time in the Trophy’s history, 16 Category One academies will compete alongside League One and League Two sides in this competition. ‘Category One’ sides are those from the Premier League and the Championship. The names of those invited clubs includes Leicester City, Southampton, West Ham United, Chelsea and Everton.
A total of 64 clubs will compete in the competition beginning with 16 groups of four teams, each of which will include at least one club from each of Leagues One and Two, along with one ‘invited’ Category 1 team. The top two sides in each group will then go into a knockout stage that will culminate in a showpiece final at Wembley Stadium on Sunday 2nd April.
This year's format is being implemented on a trial basis, with the competition due to be reviewed again at the end of the season.
The Format
- There are 16 four-team groups in this season’s competition.
- Each group has an invited Category One academy along with at least one League One and League Two side (group draws have been regionalised).
- , either at home or away.once each Teams will play their three group opponents
- The top two teams from each group will progress to the knock-out stage of the competition.
- Should two or more teams finish the group stage on the same points, they will be separated by goal difference and then goals scored if required.
- Each group winner will play at home to a group runner-up in round two (which will also be regional).
The Trophy’s prominent rules
- Three points will be awarded for each win, one point for a draw.
- Should any group game finish level after 90 minutes, the match will go straight to penalties. The winner of the penalty shoot-out will be awarded an extra point (on top of the point they will have received for drawing the game).
- All League One and League Two sides MUST field at least five players from the starting XI which began their previous league game OR five out of their top eleven starters in league and cup games so far this season. Clubs can use their twelfth player on the list if one of their players in the top eleven is unavailable due to international duty. Clubs can continue to go down the list if more than one player in their top eleven is deemed unavailable.
- Each invited Category 1 club MUST field at least six players out of their starting XI who were aged under 21 by 30 June 2016.
- Teams can name up to seven substitutes for each match but only a maximum of three can be used throughout the course of the game.
- The Trophy will be treat as a stand-alone competition for disciplinary matters. This means that any suspensions picked up through yellow cards and red cards collected in the Checkatrade Trophy must be served out in the trophy itself. For example, should a player be sent off in a Checkatrade Trophy match, they will serve out the suspension in their next Checkatrade Trophy match, NOT the next league game. Equally, if a player is sent off in a league fixture, they cannot use a Checkatrade Trophy match to serve out the ban.
Checkatrade Trophy - the competition so far:
Match-Day 1: Results
Bradford (1) 1 Stoke (0) 0
: Doyle, Payne.
Subs Not Used
: Sattelmaier, Darby, Knight-Percival, Dieng, Meredith (Kilgallon 46), Morais (Windle 73), Devine, Boateng, Webb-Foster, Hiwula, Rabiega (Hudson 33).
Bradford
Goals: Dieng 38.
Isted, Banks, Muniesa, Renne-Pringle (Thomas Edwards 89),Liam Edwards, Lecygne, Adam, Verlinden, Shenton, Taylor, Ngoy.
Stoke:Subs Not Used: Dekzki, Greenidge, Molina, Sweeney.
Sent Off: Banks (74).
Booked: Banks.
Att: 1,444
: Michael Salisbury (Lancashire).
Ref
: Ben Williams, Jones (Maher 53),Kay, Barnett, Leigh, Ismail (Hope 64),Mellis, Soares, Mayor (Obi 85),Pope, Dudley.
BuryBury (1) 4 Morecambe (1) 1
Subs Not Used: Burgess, Rachubka, Bedeau, Harker.
Booked: Kay, Soares.
Goals: Ismail 3,Pope 49,Kay 81,Pope 90.
: Nizic, Wakefield (Dunn 71), Edwards, Whitmore, McGowan, Fleming (Murphy 84),Kenyon, Molyneux, Ellison (Barkhuizen 59), Mullin, Turner. Subs Not Used: Roche,Stockton,Rose,Hedley.
MorecambeBooked: Mullin,Wakefield.
: Mullin 43. Goals
1,154 Att:
Rob Jones (Northumberland).Ref:
Pos | Team | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | GD | Points |
1 | Bury | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
2 | Bradford City | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
3 | Stoke City | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 0 |
4 | Morecambe | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -3 | 0 |