The EFL Trophy, and also, for commercial purposes, the Bristol Street Motors Trophy, is a knockout competition in English professional football. The intensity of the matches fuels high-stakes betting, making it a must-watch event for fans and punters alike!
- 1 Best Betting Sites for the EFL Trophy
- 2 Popular EFL Trophy Betting Markets
- 3 Tournament Structure for the EFL Trophy
- 4 Similar Tournaments to the EFL Trophy
- 5 EFL Trophy Relevant Dates & Betting Odds
- 6 EFL Trophy Betting Sites With Livestreaming
- 7 ThePuntersPage Final Say
- 8 EFL Trophy Betting FAQs
Best Betting Sites for the EFL Trophy
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Popular EFL Trophy Betting Markets
Betting opportunities are abundant in football tournaments, especially knockouts, with top betting sites offering diverse markets even for unique events like the EFL Trophy. Popular bets apply to all tournaments, like EFL Championship, including transfer bets.
What is the EFL Trophy without some well thought out bets? If you’re looking for other ways to enhance your betting, check out the football stats centre.
If you're seeking inspiration, here are some favourites.
Outright Tournament Winner
With an outright winner bet, you are merely taking a punt on the team that you believe will win the tournament. For the very best value EFL Trophy odds, the optimum time to place a bet such as this is before the tournament gets underway at the start of the season. That said, while you probably won’t get the best odds, you can even make this type of bet live while the final is taking place – these are the best in-play betting sites. Your safest bet is almost always on League One – or third tier – teams.
Top Goalscorer
This market allows you to place a season-long bet on the player that you believe will finish as the tournament’s top goal scorer. Once again, the best value odds are to be picked up pre-season before the first ball has been kicked; however, the market will remain open as long as the tournament is running. Simply pick a player – ideally but not necessarily a striker – decide on a stake that you are comfortable with, and place your bet. Here are the top choices so far:
Player | Team | Apps | Goals |
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Tyler Smith | Bradford City | 4 | 6 |
James Collins | Derby County | 4 | 5 |
Kylian Kouassi | Blackpool | 2 | 4 |
Match Betting
The EFL Trophy has thrown up a unique opportunity for punters, as from the group stage you're able to bet on several extra markets including Win / Draw / loss in 90 minutes, to win 3 points, or to win on penalties. This is down to the fact that matches cannot end in a draw. These added betting choices give punters an extra betting edge, which are perfect for accumulator bets.
Final Result
This bet is a basic wager on the result of the final which takes place at Wembley and decides which team will win the EFL Trophy for that season. It works in exactly the same way as any other result bet that you may or may not have placed previously. The best online bookmakers will display a list of all of the potential scores, and you just need to pick the one that you believe will be the final result of the match.
Group Stage Betting
The first round of the competition is played as a group stage format. This means you have the opportunity to bet on the outcome of each of these tables – e.g. which teams progress or qualify for the next round or, more commonly, which team will top the group table. And, because in the EFL Trophy group phase there are eight groups for both the southern and the northern divisions, you even have the possibility of placing an eight selection accumulator bet made up of each of the table toppers for each division. Or, if you fancy it, you could maybe even consider a systems bet such as a Goliath bet, or go even higher. The options are limitless!
Betting Market | Best Betting Site |
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Outright Tournament Winner | BoyleSports |
Top Goalscorer | QuinnBet |
Match Betting | bet365 |
Final Result | NetBet |
Group Stage Betting | bwin |
Tournament Structure for the EFL Trophy
The EFL Trophy is tournament made up of both knockout and group stages, primarily involving the bottom 48 teams in the English Football League. Since the 2016/17 season, it has been used to help develop junior talent at some of the higher-ranked clubs. Here's how everything unfolds.
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The EFL trophy draw, usually in held August, creates 16 regional groups with eight each in Northern and Southern sections. The competition includes 64 teams from EFL One, EFL Two, and Category One Premier League and EFL Championship academies.
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Teams play each other once, with points counting towards the tournament standings.
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Draws don't count in the group stage; penalty shootouts decide points. Winning teams earn three points; losers receive one point, except in the final, where extra time may be played before a potential penalty shootout.
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The top two teams in the standings advance to the next round.
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Stages then progress as one-legged knockouts until only two teams remain.
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The final is held at Wembley Stadium in late April or early May.
EFL Trophy Winners Of the Last Decade
Year | Winner | Score | Runners-Up |
---|---|---|---|
2023 | Bolton Wanderers | 4-0 | Plymouth Argyle |
2022 | Rotherdam United | 4-2 | Sutton United |
2021 | Sunderland AFC | 1-0 | Tranmere Rovers |
2020 | Salford City | 0-0 4-2 Pens | Portsmouth |
2019 | Portsmouth | 2-2 5-4 Pens | Sunderland |
2018 | Lincoln City | 1-0 | Shrewsbury Town |
2017 | Coventry City | 2-1 | Oxford United |
2016 | Barnsley | 3-2 | Oxford United |
2015 | Bristol City | 2-0 | Walsall |
2014 | Peterborough United | 3-1 | Chesterfield |
2013 | Crewe Alexandra | 2-0 | Southend United |
EFL Trophy Key Stats
In 2019, a record-breaking 85,021 spectators attended the final between Portsmouth and Sunderland at the new Wembley Stadium.
The most successful side in the competition are Bristol City, who have won it three times in 1985/86, 2002/03, and 2014/15. However, they also lost the competition final on two other occasions.
Nicky Ajose and Jordy Hiwula are the two all-time EFL Trophy leading goal scorers, with 13 goals each.
At 15 years and 22 days, Rochdale’s Peter Thomas became the youngest ever player to feature in an EFL Trophy match when his team lost 2-0 to Manchester City’s under-21 side.
The oldest ever player to feature in a match of this competition is Burton Albion’s Kevin Poole, who was 47 years, two months, and 15 days old when his team lost 2-1 to Rotherham United.
Division Two sides were originally allowed to compete in the competition, but they were eventually removed after just one season as Grimsby – a second tier side – won the tournament.
Since their introduction in 2016, Development League teams (Under 21s) have never won the tournament. In fact, only Chelsea U21 have ever made it to the semifinal in 2017/18. Meanwhile, only three other teams have reached the quarter-finals: Arsenal (21/22), Leicester (19/20), and Manchester City (18/19).
Similar Tournaments to the EFL Trophy
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August 2023 – May 2024, English Premier League: The richest and most watched domestic football league on the planet, the English Premier League (EPL) is a fierce battleground where top-flight clubs from England and, occasionally, other nations, compete for glory.
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August 2023 – May 2024, English Football League Championship: The second tier of English football and the EFL’s top league, this event still boasts more quality than many of Europe’s elite divisions.
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August 2023 – May 2024, The FA Cup: As English football’s oldest and most prestigious cup competition, the FA Cup features teams from all levels of English football and is unseeded. Note that the Premier League and Championship teams enter in the third round, which is held in January.
EFL Trophy Relevant Dates & Betting Odds
The EFL Trophy fixtures for the 2023/2024 edition are as follows:
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Group Stage Round 1 – 4 September 2023
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Group Stage Round 2 – 9 October 2023
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Group Stage Round 3 – 13 November 2023
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Round of 32 – 4 December 2023
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Round of 16 – 8 January 2024
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Quarter-Final – 29 January 2024
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Semi-Final – 19 February 2024
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Final – Sunday 7 April 2024
The EFL Trophy draw 2023/24 will occur twice – before the round of 32 and before the round of 16. Both have already taken place, since the Round of 16 is underway.
INFO
NOTE: The EFL Trophy is not the same as the EFL Cup, which is also known as the Carabao Cup due to sponsorship reasons, or more simply the League Cup.
Betting Odds
EFL Trophy Betting Sites With Livestreaming
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bet365
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Betfred
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Ladbrokes
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William Hill
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BetVictor
ThePuntersPage Final Say
While the EFL Trophy might only be the third most prestigious cup competition in England and Wales, interest is still extremely high. The magic of the cup is truly alive here, giving smaller teams the chance to taste glory at Wembley and proving young talent from top club a chance to show their talents. The uniqueness of the no-draws rule adds a little extra spice to an already intense tournament.
EFL Trophy Betting FAQs
You can watch the EFL Trophy live on Sky Sports.
The EFL Trophy final 2024 takes place at the Wembley Stadium in London. This year, the final will be held on Sunday, 7th April 2024.
No – all matches that end in a stalemate will be decided by a penalty shootout except the final, which can go in to extra time (30 minutes) before penalties.
Teams that win their first round matches will pick up three points, whereas, unusually, even the losing teams are awarded one point.