Young Magpies drawn in Northern Group E for Papa John's Trophy

It was confirmed that United would be one of 16 Category One academies joining the 48 teams from League One and Two for next season's competition, which was won by Rotherham United. 

Matchday one is scheduled to take place on the week commencing Monday, 29th August, with the second group stage fixture set to take place on the week commencing Monday, 19th September.

The young Magpies will then wrap up their initial fixtures on the week commencing Monday, 17th October and will qualify for the round of 32 should they finish in the top two spots of their four-team group.

Last term, Newcastle were unable progress from a group featuring Sheffield Wednesday, Harrogate Town and Mansfield Town but in 2018/19, they won all three of their group games before beating Macclesfield Town via penalties at St. James' Park to set up a last-16 tie against Sunderland, who came out on top at the Stadium of Light in front of a crowd of over 16,000 spectators.

All EFL clubs will play two of their three matches at home in the group stages and dates will be confirmed in due course.