Academy Trophy tests for Shrewsbury Town
Shrewsbury Town could play the academy teams of West Brom or Stoke in the revamped EFL Trophy next season.
For the first time, the competition formerly known as the Johnstone's Paint Trophy will include 16 teams from category one academies. The 16 are all from this season's Premier League.
Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton, Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Southampton, Stoke, Sunderland, Swansea, Tottenham, West Brom and West Ham are all involved.
Sixty-four clubs will compete in the competition – all 48 from Leagues One and Two plus the 16 invited academy teams.
There will be 16 regionalised groups of four, to include at least one club from each of Leagues One and Two, plus one invited team.
The top two in each group will progress to a knockout stage culminating in the final at Wembley on April 2.
The new-look competition will also have an enhanced prize fund with an expected £1.95m.
It includes £10,000 per win and £5,000 per draw during the group stage and £100,000 for the eventual winner.
EFL clubs must start a minimum of five 'first-team' players as defined under the competition's existing rules, while invited clubs have to field six starters aged under 21 as at June 30.
In the groups, to start the week commencing August 29, teams will play each other once, home or away. Invited clubs will play one home game at the club's first-team ground.
Draws after 90 minutes in the group stages will be decided on penalties, with the winning team earning an additional point.
The top two in each group will progress to the knockout stage, comprising a regionalised round two (32 teams).
Each group winner is drawn at home to a second-placed team from a different qualifying group. Rounds three and four won't be regionalised.
Knockout ties in rounds two, three and four will also go straight to spot-kicks in the event of a draw. The semi-finals will be single ties played at the ground of the club drawn first.
Meanwhile, Town have hosted an 11 versus 11 game showcasing trialists, organised by recruitment administrator Adam Henshall and analyst Michael Vernon for local teams to assess released players.
Boss Micky Mellon told's the club website: "Instead of saying to agents 'we'll get to see them', we were able to see them here in the flesh in an 11 versus 11.
"We invited Chester, Morecambe, Accrington, Tranmere, Wrexham, Telford and TNS to have a look.
"We've had a number of calls about a good percentage of the players and we're still considering one or two, so it's been really worthwhile."
