Bristol Street Motors drives EFL Trophy into new era

Football's EFL Trophy will now be known as the Bristol Street Motors Trophy after the League agreed a three-year deal with the AM100 dealer group Vertu Motors, which trades as Bristol Street Motors, Macklin Motors and Vertu Motors.

The English Football League Trophy is an annual English association football knockout competition open to a broad group of  clubs. The competition was first established in 1983 and offers clubs a realistic opportunity of appearing in a showpiece final. Central to the competition is the introduction of a group stage format with 16 regional groups of four teams.  

The top two teams from each group will progress to the knockout stages of the competition with the Final staged at Wembley Stadium. 

As well as being the title-sponsor of the competition until the end of the 2025/26 season, Bristol Street Motors – part of the wider Vertu Motors group – will also become the Official Car Dealer of the EFL.

The EFL said in a statement: "The Bristol Street Motors Trophy is a competition that supports youth development by providing opportunities for the next generation of players at both EFL Clubs and invited under 21 sides. Of the squad that helped England to qualify for next year's European Championships in Germany, Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Reece James and Conor Gallagher, made their professional debuts in the competition."

EFL CEO Trevor Birch, said: "We are delighted to welcome Bristol Street Motors as title sponsor of the EFL Trophy in a partnership that sees further investment into League One and Two clubs over the duration of the deal.

"With almost 22 million supporters coming through the turnstiles in all our competitions last year, a thriving community network and a landmark broadcast deal in place for next season which will see all Bristol Street Motors Trophy fixtures broadcast live by Sky Sports, the appeal of the EFL continues to grow from strength to strength offering a unique, valuable platform for our commercial partners.

Bristol Street Motors CEO Robert Forrester, a long time Burnley FC supporter, added: "As a national business, Bristol Street Motors is hugely proud of the connections we have developed with communities across the UK through our dealership network.

"Across the communities, football is something that brings people together, so the opportunity to join forces with the EFL and Clubs that are such an important part of life for our customers was something that was simply too good to turn down.

"We are hugely excited to be named as title sponsor of the EFL Trophy and look forward to engaging with Clubs and fans over the next three years to make the competition bigger and better than ever before."