Fulham have confirmed this morning that their under-21 side will play in this season’s English Football League Trophy.

The Whites will be one of sixteen under-21 sides in the competition, which introduced leading academy sides to the trophy previously exclusively for clubs playing in League One and Two in 2016.

The draw for the group phase of the Trophy takes place next Thursday at 11.30am – and will be covered live by Sky Sports. The competition is regionally organised with sixteen groups of four teams, with the top two sides progressing from each group to a knockout phase which culminates in the final at Wembley. The current holders of the Trophy are Bolton Wanderers, who beat Plymouth Argyle 4-0 in May.

The young Whites will play two of their three group matches away from home and will joined in the Trophy by under-21 sides representing Arsenal, Aston Villa, Brighton and Hove Albion, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Everton, Leicester City, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest, Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham United and Wolverhampton Wanderers.