2021 EFL Trophy final

The 2021 EFL Trophy Final (known for sponsorship reasons as the 2021 Papa John's Trophy Final) was a football match that was played at Wembley Stadium. It decided the winners of the 2020–21 EFL Trophy, the 37th edition of the competition, a knock-out tournament for the 48 teams in League One and League Two and 16 category one academy sides. The match was played on 14 March 2021, one day after the final for the previous tournament, which was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[1] Although no fans were present, supporters raised money for local initiatives through virtual ticket sales.

2021 EFL Trophy Final

Event	2020–21 EFL Trophy
Sunderland Tranmere Rovers 1 0
Date	14 March 2021
Venue	Wembley Stadium, London
Referee	Charles Breakspear
Attendance	0
← 2020 2022 →

Sunderland won 1–0 for their first win at Wembley in 48 years.^[2]

Route to the final

Sunderland

Pos	Div	Team	Pld	W	PW	PL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	L1	Fleetwood Town	3	3	0	0	0	8	2	+6	9	Advance to Round 2
2	L1	Sunderland	3	2	0	0	1	14	6	+8	6
3	L2	Carlisle United	3	1	0	0	2	7	9	−2	3
4	ACA	Aston Villa U21	3	0	0	0	3	2	14	−12	0

Source: EFL.com

Sunderland v Aston Villa U21

8 September 2020 (2020-09-08) Group Stage	Sunderland	8–1	Aston Villa U21	Stadium of Light
19:00 BST	Wyke 15', 50' Feeney 21' Scowen 75' Power 77' Graham 82' Dobson 84' O'Brien 90'	Report	Vassilev 47' (pen.)	Attendance: 0 Referee: Carl Boyeson

Sunderland v Carlisle United

6 October 2020 (2020-10-06) Group Stage	Sunderland	5–3	Carlisle United	Stadium of Light
19:45 BST	Maguire 26', 54' Hume 37' Wyke 69' Diamond 90+1'		Alessandra 6' (pen.) Mellish 72', 82'	Attendance: 0

Fleetwood Town v Sunderland

10 November 2020 (2020-11-10) Group Stage	Fleetwood Town	2–1	Sunderland	Highbury Stadium
19:45 GMT	McKay 51' Duffy 59'		McFadzean 15'	Attendance: 0

Oldham Athletic v Sunderland

8 December 2020 (2020-12-08) Round 2	Oldham Athletic	1–2	Sunderland	Oldham
19:00 GMT	Grant 13'	Report	Maguire 30' Scowen 64'	Stadium: Boundary Park Attendance: 0

Sunderland v Port Vale

12 January 2021 Round 3	Sunderland	2–0	Port Vale	Sunderland
18:00 GMT	O'Brien 21' McGeady 90+7' (pen.)			Stadium: Stadium of Light Referee: Declan Bourne

Milton Keynes Dons v Sunderland

2 February 2021 Quarter-Final	Milton Keynes Dons	0–3	Sunderland	Milton Keynes
18:30 GMT	Harvie  56' Gladwin  69'	Report	Lewington 12' (o.g.) McGeady 76' Wyke 82'	Stadium: Stadium MK Attendance: 0 Referee: Thomas Bramall

Sunderland v Lincoln City

17 February 2021 Semi-Final	Sunderland	1–1 (5–3 p)	Lincoln City	Sunderland
18:00 GMT	Wyke 75'	Report	Scully 64'	Stadium: Stadium of Light Attendance: 0 Referee: Ben Toner
	Penalties
	Power O'Nien Maguire McGeady Leadbitter		Scully McGrandles Howarth Johnson

Tranmere Rovers

Pos	Div	Team	Pld	W	PW	PL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	L2	Port Vale	3	2	1	0	0	7	3	+4	8	Advance to Round 2
2	L2	Tranmere Rovers	3	1	1	1	0	5	4	+1	6
3	L1	Wigan Athletic	3	1	0	1	1	9	6	+3	4
4	ACA	Liverpool U21	3	0	0	0	3	5	13	−8	0

Source: EFL.com

Port Vale v Tranmere Rovers

8 September 2020 (2020-09-08) Group Stage	Port Vale	0–0 (4–3 p)	Tranmere Rovers	Vale Park
19:00 BST		Report		Attendance: 0 Referee: Declan Bourne
	Penalties
	Whitehead Cullen Conlon Trickett-Smith Rodney Fitzpatrick		Banks Khan Morris O'Connor Payne Walker-Rice

Tranmere Rovers v Liverpool U21

29 September 2020 (2020-09-29) Group Stage	Tranmere Rovers	3–2	Liverpool U21	Prenton Park
19:00 BST	Vaughan 74', 75' Payne 90'	Report	Cain 50' Longstaff 83'	Attendance: 0 Referee: Scott Oldham

Tranmere Rovers v Wigan Athletic

11 November 2020 (2020-11-11) Group Stage	Tranmere Rovers	2–2 (3–1 p)	Wigan Athletic	Birkenhead
18:30 GMT	Woolery 45+1' Morris 72'	Report	Keane 19' McHugh 45+3'	Stadium: Prenton Park Attendance: 0 Referee: Ben Speedie
	Penalties
	Ferrier Lloyd Smith Banks Morris		James Joseph Perry Crankshaw

Tranmere Rovers v Manchester City U21

8 December 2020 (2020-12-08) Round 2	Tranmere Rovers	2–1	Manchester City U21	Birkenhead
19:00 GMT	Lloyd 27' Banks 88' (pen.)	Report	Delap 17'	Stadium: Prenton Park

Tranmere Rovers v Leicester City U21

13 January 2021 Round 3	Tranmere Rovers	4–2	Leicester City U21	Birkenhead
19:30 GMT	Ferrier 4' Lloyd 37', 45+1' Blackett-Taylor 53'		Wakeling 36' Suengchitthawon 56'	Stadium: Prenton Park Referee: Marc Edwards

Tranmere Rovers v Peterborough United

2 February 2021 Quarter-Final	Tranmere Rovers	2–1	Peterborough United	Birkenhead
19:00 GMT	Lloyd 38' Lewis 82'		Clarke-Harris 90+1' (pen.)	Stadium: Prenton Park

Oxford United v Tranmere Rovers

16 February 2021 Semi-Final	Oxford United	0–2	Tranmere Rovers	Oxford
18:00 GMT	Joe Grayson  37' Matty Taylor  75'	Report	Calum Macdonald  17' Kaiyne Woolery 35' Kieron Morris 66' James Vaughan  90+6'	Stadium: Kassam Stadium Attendance: 0 Referee: Craig Hicks

Match

14 March 2021

15:00 GMT

Sunderland	1–0	Tranmere Rovers
Gooch 57'	Report

Wembley Stadium, London

Attendance: 0

Referee: Charles Breakspear

Sunderland

Tranmere Rovers

GK 1 Lee Burge RB 6 Max Power (c)  90+2' CB 3 Tom Flanagan  44' CB 13 Luke O'Nien LB 25 Callum McFadzean DM 14 Josh Scowen DM 23 Grant Leadbitter AM 7 Chris Maguire  63' AM 28 Aiden McGeady CF 11 Lynden Gooch CF 9 Charlie Wyke Substitutes: GK 20 Remi Matthews DF 2 Conor McLaughlin  44' DF 35 Ollie Younger MF 12 Benjamin Mbunga-Kimpioka MF 24 Daniel Neil FW 21 Jack Diamond  63' FW 31 Ross Stewart Manager: Lee Johnson

GK 1 Scott Davies (c) RB 17 Otis Khan CB 26 Peter Clarke CB 21 George Ray LB 18 Calum Macdonald DM 19 Liam Feeney DM 8 Jay Spearing RM 14 Kaiyne Woolery AM 7 Kieron Morris  90+1' LM 35 Danny Lloyd  65' CF 22 Paul Lewis  65' Substitutes: GK 13 Joe Murphy DF 3 Liam Ridehalgh DF 6 Manny Monthé MF 11 Corey Blackett-Taylor  65' MF 16 Nya Kirby FW 27 Jake Burton  90+1' FW 28 David Nugent  65' Manager: Keith Hill