The 2024–25 National League Cup is the 26th season in the history of the competition, and the first since its revival. It is a knock-out tournament involving 16 clubs in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system, and 16 professional under-21 teams playing in Premier League 2.
A prize fund of £1 million is distributed to non-league clubs in the fifth and sixth tiers, with the intention to provide younger players from the PL2 with senior experience. The relaunch of the competition has otherwise been controversial, with criticism and negativity from non-league clubs and their supporters.
Participating clubs 16 invited clubs from the National League. 16 invited Premier League 2 under-21 teams.
National LeaguePremier League 2ClubsAldershot Town Altrincham Boston United Braintree Town Dagenham & Redbridge Ebbsfleet United FC Halifax Town Forest Green Rovers Gateshead Maidenhead United Oldham Athletic Rochdale Sutton United Tamworth Wealdstone WokingBlackburn Rovers Brighton & Hove Albion Derby County Fulham Leeds United Manchester United Middlesbrough Newcastle United Nottingham Forest Southampton Stoke City Sunderland Tottenham Hotspur West Bromwich Albion West Ham United Wolverhampton WanderersTotal1616
Competition format
League phase Four groups of eight teams. All groups will include four National League sides and four academy sides. All National League clubs will play each academy side once, and all academy sides will play each National League side once (academy sides will play all group matches away from home). Clubs will be awarded three points for a win and one point for a draw. Drawn matches will end in a penalty shoot-out with an extra point for the winners. The top two teams in each group will progress to the knockout stage. Knockout stage In Round 2, the group winners will be seeded and the group runners-up will be unseeded in the draw. In Round 2, teams who played in the same group as each other in the group stage will be kept apart.
Broadcasting The National League announced all fixtures would be streamed live and free on NLTV.
League phase The group stage draw was made on 19 September 2024, when the competition was announced.
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Quarter-finals Teams who played in the same group in the group stage are kept apart. The draw was completed on 13 February 2025.
Qualified teams
GroupWinnersRunners-upAAldershot TownBrighton & Hove Albion U21BManchester United U21AltrinchamCNewcastle United U21Leeds United U21DBraintree TownSutton United</onlyinclude>
Semi-finals Leeds United U21 were the only remaining semi-finalist who plays in Premier League 2. The semi-finals were scheduled to be played on 1 April.
Qualified teams
Altrincham (Group B)
Braintree Town (Group D)
Leeds United U21 (Group C)
Sutton United (Group D)
Final
Notes
References