West Ham United have learned their 2022/23 Papa John’s Trophy group-stage opponents.
The Hammers’ U21 side will take on Cheltenham Town, Milton Keynes Dons and Walsall in Southern Group C of the tournament, which pits clubs from EFL Leagues One and Two with 16 teams representing Premier League Academies.
As per competition rules, West Ham will play all three group matches away from home, with the top two in each of the 16 groups going through to the knockout stages.
Mark Robson’s youngsters will kick-off their challenge with a trip to the Banks’s Stadium to take on EFL League Two outfit Walsall in week commencing Monday 29 August. The Saddlers were runners-up in the tournament in 2015 and reached Southern section round two last season.
There will be plenty of familiar faces present when the Irons travel to Stadium MK to take on 2008 winners Milton Keynes Dons in week commencing Monday 19 September. The Buckinghamshire side are managed by former West Ham U23s head coach Liam Manning, who guided the Dons to the EFL League One Play-Offs last season, and his squad includes former Hammers Dan Kemp and Nathan Holland.
MK Dons reached the Southern section round of 16 last term, before being knocked out by Charlton Athletic.
The group stage will be completed in week commencing Monday 17 October, when Robson takes his team to The Jonny-Rocks Stadium to take on EFL League One side Cheltenham Town. The Robins finished bottom of Southern section Group E last season.
West Ham’s U21s visited Gloucestershire in the 2019/20 season, losing out by the odd goal in seven in a thrilling Group E tie that saw Kemp (pictured) score twice for the away side.
The Hammers topped Southern section Group A last season, but later had three points deducted for fielding an ineligible player and were eliminated.
Since entering for the first time in 2016/17, when a 17-year-old Declan Rice started our first-ever tie at Coventry City, the furthest the U21s have gone in the competition was the Southern section round of 16, which the young Irons reached in 2017/18 and 2020/21.
Ticket details for our three 2022/23 group-stage ties will be announced in due course.
The final will take place at Wembley Stadium on Sunday 2 April 2023.