Leicester City Youngsters To Compete In 2019/20 Checkatrade Trophy
- The list of clubs participating in the 2019/20 Checkatrade Trophy has been confirmed
- Leicester City are set for their fourth successive season as an 'invited club' in the competition
- The Foxes are one of 16 clubs with Category 1 academies to be invited to participate
- City's youngsters have reached the Round 3 stage of the competition over past seasons
Sixteen invited Category 1 academy teams, including newly-inducted clubs Manchester United and Liverpool, will join 48 sides from Sky Bet League 1 and League 2.
The Round 1 group stage draw is scheduled to take place in July, with the first round of fixtures set to be staged from the start of the week commencing Monday 2 September, 2019.
Over past seasons, City's youngsters have progressed as far as Round 3, during the 2017/18 campaign, and they were narrowly eliminated at the group stage last time around.
The 2019/20 competition will comprise of 16 groups of four teams, including one invited club, who will play all of their initial fixtures, before the knockout stages, away from home.
As in past seasons, drawn fixtures will conclude with a penalty shoot-out, with the prospect of an extra point available for the winners. Two sides will advance from each four-team group.
Like the group stage, Rounds 2 and 3 will remain regionalised, to aid supporter travel, while fixtures from the quarter-finals onwards will take place without geographical restrictions.
Drawn fixtures in all knockout fixtures, apart from the final, will be decided by a penalty shoot-out, while the final will include 30 minutes of extra-time before a shoot-out if necessary.
While the overall ambition is to provide youngsters with professional match action, invited teams will be able to field two players over 21 with 40 or more senior appearances.
Football League participants, meanwhile, will be obliged to start a player who has either; started the previous or following first team fixture, is in the top-10 players for starting senior appearances, has 40 or more first team appearances in their career, or a player who is on loan from a Premier League or Category 1 club.
Once the draw has been made for the group stage in July, LCFC.com is the place to follow the Foxes' progress in the competition.
2019/20 invited clubs
Arsenal
Aston Villa
Brighton & Hove Albion
Chelsea
Everton
Fulham
Leicester City
Liverpool
Manchester City
Manchester United
Newcastle United
Norwich City
Southampton
Tottenham Hotspur
West Ham United
Wolverhampton Wanderers