West Ham United’s U21s are getting set to find out their opponents for the 2025/26 Vertu Trophy, having been confirmed as one of 16 invited sides from Premier League clubs with Category One Academies to enter the competition.
A total of 64 teams will compete for the upcoming season’s top prize, with the 48 teams from EFL Leagues One and Two having already been split into 16 regional groups, eight in the Northern section and eight in the Southern section.
The 16 invited Premier League sides will each be placed into one of the pre-determined pools during the group-stage draw, that is set to take place at 2.30pm BST on Thursday 26 June live on Sky Sports News, completing each group’s four-team line-up.
The Young Hammers have been assigned ball number eight for the Southern section of the draw, and will compete in one of the following groups:
Group A Cardiff City Exeter City Newport County | Group B Bristol Rovers Cheltenham Town Plymouth Argyle | Group C Northampton Town Shrewsbury Town Walsall | Group D Milton Keynes Dons Reading Swindon Town |
Group E AFC Wimbledon Bromley Stevenage | Group F Crawley Town Leyton Orient Peterborough United | Group G Colchester United Gillingham Wycombe Wanderers | Group H Barnet Cambridge United Luton Town |
West Ham will take on each of their three opponents once, all away from home, as they look to secure a top-two place and progression to the knockout stages.
Indeed, Mark Robson's side will be aiming to build on a spirited run in the competition last term, when they fell to hard-fought defeats at the hands of Reading, Newport County and Cheltenham Town in Southern Group H.
The Hammers' best ever performance in the EFL Trophy came a season earlier, in 2023/24, when a perfect group-stage record, and an emphatic 4-0 win over Colchester United in the round of 32, preceded a narrow defeat to eventual finalists Wycombe Wanderers in the round of 16.
Since entering the competition for the first time in 2016/17, the young Irons have also reached the Southern section round of 16 on two occasions, in 2017/18 and 2020/21.
Group-stage matches in the 2025/26 edition of the Vertu Trophy are due to commence in early September, with dates to be confirmed in due course.
