Ed Brand’s boys faced both the Saints and the Royals in last term’s competition, its inaugural run with a younger age limit, but exited at the group stage.

In its previous iteration as an Under-18 competition, the likes of Tino Anjorin, Billy Gilmour and Conor Gallagher helped the Blues lift the trophy in 2018.

The group stage begins in late September, with more information on fixtures to be confirmed in due course. Teams play each other once before the group winners and the one best runner-up advance to the quarter-finals.

The youth team started their 2021/22 league campaign with a 5-2 victory against West Brom on Saturday. They travel to Tottenham this weekend looking to maintain that winning beginning.

Before then, our development squad are in action at Stamford Bridge on Friday night with a mouth-watering clash against Manchester United and you can be there for just £5!

-In other Academy news, goalkeeper Karlo Ziger has completed a season-long loan move to Slovenian Second League side NK Rudar Velenje. It is the 19-year-old Croatian’s second temporary switch away from the Bridge following a brief spell at Sutton United in 2019.