Colchester United will face Reading U23s, along with Southend United and Gillingham, after this year's Checkatrade Trophy group was confirmed.
World Cup winning England U20s Head Coach Paul Simpson alongside former Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds United midfielder David Prutton picked out the 16 invited U21s teams who were drawn into the Northern and Southern sections of the competition.
This season the groups in the Checkatrade Trophy have been arranged so that EFL Clubs and their fans face the minimum overall travelling time to matches, whilst the Premier League and Championship’s invited teams will play all their games away from home.
The U's will take on Southend, Gillingham and Reading, with the fixtures to be confirmed soon.
Newcomers to the competition Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur have been placed in Northern and Southern Groups F respectively, with the champions Chelsea being asked to make trips to Yeovil Town, Exeter City and Plymouth Argyle.
Newcastle U21s make their debut in the Trophy with difficult games at Port Vale, Oldham Athletic and Crewe Alexandra, whilst fellow new entrants Fulham have been drawn into Southern Group A.
Last season’s winners of the competition Coventry City will start their defence of the Trophy by trying to negotiate their way out of a group that includes Shrewsbury Town, Walsall and West Brom.
Today’s announcement of the final groups follows a series of other changes being implemented ahead of the competition getting underway next month.