Birmingham City miss out on Aston Villa clash as EFL Trophy opponents revealed

Birmingham City now know two of their opponents for the 2024/25 EFL Trophy.

As a result of Blues' relegation to League One, they will compete in the EFL Trophy, named the Bristol Street Motors Trophy for sponsorship reasons. It includes 64 clubs, 24 from League One, 24 from League Two and 16 teams from the Premier League.

Teams play each other once in the group stage before going in to the Round of 32, Round of 16, quarter-finals and so on. Clubs that finish top of their group get a home tie against an unseeded team and those who finish second are of course away from home.

The EFL regionalise the competition up until the final stage, and so there will be a few short-trips for Birmingham fans to make in midweek this season. Birmingham have been placed in Group A where they will play Shrewsbury Town and nearby rivals Walsall.

Birmingham City haven't played Walsall in a competitive fixture since beating them 1-0 in December 2001 in a Championship match. Birmingham know they will already play Shrewsbury twice this season, and are now confirmed to play them a third time. The last time Blues played Shrewsbury in a competitive match was a 1-0 win in the Carabao Cup back in 2006.

A fourth team will be revealed when the draw takes place at 2.30 pm on Thursday, June 27 and will be shown live on Sky Sports News. The under-21s teams they could face are Arsenal, Brighton & Hove Albion, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Fulham, Leicester City, Spurs and West Ham.

The regionalisation of the Premier League under-21 teams has seen Birmingham miss out on the potential of playing inter-city rivals Aston Villa who have been placed in to the northern side of the draw. All of the under-21 teams will be playing away from home, with the start date of the competition in September, with the finer details confirmed on fixture release day this Wednesday (June 26).

Clubs receive £20,000 for their participation in the tournament, with £10,000 for a win and £5,000 for a draw. If a match finishes level after ninety minutes, they will play a penalty shootout to decide the winner. Matches will be streamed on Sky Sports' new app Sky Sports +.