The 2025 EFL Trophy final, known as the Vertu Trophy final for sponsorship reasons, was an association football match that was played on 13 April 2025 at Wembley Stadium, London, England. It was played between League One teams and two-time winners Peterborough United, who were also the defending champions, and Birmingham City. The match decided the winners of the 2024–25 EFL Trophy, a knock-out tournament comprising clubs from League One and League Two of the English Football League (EFL), as well as 16 Category One academy sides representing Premier League and Championship clubs. Peterborough United successfully defended the title—the first team to retain the EFL Trophy, tying the record of three wins held by Bristol City by their win in the 2015 final and becoming the only team to play and win all three EFL Trophy finals in their history.
Route to the final
Note: In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first (H: home; A: away). Birmingham CityRoundPeterborough UnitedOpponentResultGroup stageOpponentResultWalsall1–1 (3–4 p) (H)Matchday 1Gillingham2–1 (A)Shrewsbury Town4–0 (A)Matchday 2Stevenage2–0 (H)Fulham U217–1 (H)Matchday 3Crystal Palace U214–1 (H)Southern section Group AFinal standingsSouthern section Group DOpponentResultKnockout stageOpponentResultExeter City2–1 (A)Round of 32Northampton Town3–0 (H)Swindon Town2–1 (A)Round of 16Walsall4–2 (H)Stevenage1–0 (A)Quarter-finalCheltenham Town3–2 (H)Bradford City2–1 (H)Semi-finalWrexham2–2 (4–2 p) (A)
Match Details
GK 21 Ryan AllsopRB 2 Ethan Laird CB 4 Christoph KlarerCB 25 Ben Davies LB 20 Alex CochraneDM 24 Tomoki IwataDM 13 Paik Seung-ho AM 18 Willum Willumson RW 30 Kieran Dowell LW 14 Keshi AndersonCF 28 Jay StansfieldSubstitutions:GK 45 Bailey Peacock-FarrellDF 19 Taylor Gardner-Hickman DF 31 Grant HanleyMF 12 Marc Leonard MF 26 Luke HarrisFW 9 Alfie May FW 10 Lukas Jutkiewicz Manager: Chris Davies GK 31 Jed SteerRB 33 James DornellyCB 5 Oscar WallinCB 37 Emmanuel Fernandez LB 34 Harley MillsDM 22 Hector Kyprianou DM 4 Archie CollinsAM 7 Malik Mothersille RW 11 Kwame PokuLW 10 Abraham Odoh CF 17 Ricky-Jade Jones Substitutions:GK 1 Nicholas BilokapicDF 27 Jadel Katongo MF 8 Ryan de HavillandMF 9 Chris Conn-ClarkeMF 20 Mahamadou Susoho FW 18 Cian HayesFW 19 Gustav Lindgren Manager: Darren Ferguson
References