Ipswich Town will take part in the EFL Trophy for the first time tomorrow night when they host Tottenham’s Under 21s at Portman Road.

Ipswich Town will take part in the EFL Trophy for the first time tomorrow night when they host Tottenham's Under 21s at Portman Road.

Relegation from the Championship means the Blues will now compete in the competition, known as the Leasing.com Trophy for sponsorship reasons, which is open to third and fourth tier clubs as well as 16 Category One academy sides.

The Blues and the Spurs youngsters have also been group with Colchester United and Gillingham, with the top two sides in each group qualifying for the knockout stage.

Group games all last 90 minutes with three points awarded for a win and one for a draw, while a penalty shootout will take place in games ending all-square. The winner of that will be awarded a bonus point.

There are also competition-specific rules designed to uphold the integrity of the Trophy, which ensure 'full strength sides' are played by EFL clubs.

As a result the Blues must include four players in their starting line-up which meet at least one section of the following criteria for 'qualifying players'.

Clubs not fulfilling the criteria will face a £5,000 fine.

Criteria for 'qualifying players'

- Started last league game - 3-0 v Shrewsbury. (Vincent-Young, Chambers, Woolfenden, Kenlock, Skuse, Downes, Rowe, Judge, Norwood, Jackson)

- Starts the next league game - Doncaster, h - Sept 14

- Is in the list of 10 outfield players to have started the most games in first-team fixtures this season (Skuse, Downes, Norwood, Kenlock, Chambers, Jackson, Rowe, Woolfenden, Donacien, Wilson)

- Has made 40 or more first-team appearances during their career. (Donacien, Chambers, Wilson, Edwards, Skuse, Jackson, Norwood, Nolan, Rowe, Judge, Roberts, Downes, Nsiala, Vincent-Young, Emmanuel, Woolfenden, Garbutt, Kenlock, Huws, Keane)

- Is on loan from a Premier League club. (Garbutt, Georgiou - negotiations continue regarding his involvement given he is a Tottenham player and is due to link up with Cyprus).

Those rules mean the only Ipswich players with any first-team experience, not counting as qualifying players, are Andre Dozzell, Idris El Mizouni, Bailey Clements, Armando Dobra and Barry Cotter.

There is also the potential for Corrie Ndaba, who has made the first-team bench without making his senior debut, to be involved while one of Ipswich's two young goalkeepers, Harry Wright or Adam Przybek, are likely to be on the bench behind starter Will Norris.

Forward Kai Brown has also been on the bench for the first-team but has yet to make his senior bow.

Academy sides are also needing to comply with selection rules for the tournament.

Tottenham's selection rules

- Six of the starting XI must be under the age of 21, as of June 30.

- Can name no more than two players who are aged over 21 AND have made 40 or more first-team appearances

Tottenham did not use any senior players of note during their run in last season's competition, which saw them negotiate the group stage before being eliminated by Oxford in the last 16.

Only the lower tier of the North Stand and the bottom two tiers of the East of England Co-op Stand will be in use tomorrow night.