Any EFL or Premier League player who is serving a ban or is set to serve a suspension for a yellow or red card offence will be eligible to play in the opening group games in the Checkatrade Trophy.
New disciplinary rules for the revamped cup competition mean that cautions and sending-offs are exclusive to the tournament and in normal circumstances won’t affect other EFL or Premier League fixtures.
Following consultation between the EFL and Premier League, The Football Association approved the proposed amendments to the discipline regulations last week which now sees the Checkatrade Trophy as a standalone first-team competition.
The new rules come into force this week as the new structure gets under way with 48 League One and League Two sides starting their campaigns along with 16 invited Category One teams.
The EFL clubs will field a minimum of five ‘First Team’ players in the starting 11 as defined under the competition’s existing rules, whilst the invited clubs will have at least six under-21 players in their starting line-up.
EFL Chief Executive Shaun Harvey said: “Any standard sanction arising from offences committed in Checkatrade Trophy fixtures will be served within the tournament. Upon review of the existing disciplinary rules and following some feedback at our pre-season managers’ meetings, we felt it was important to ensure the new format had a disciplinary process of its own that did not affect other competitions.”
HEADLINE DISCIPLINARY RULES FOR CHECKATRADE TROPHY
Dismissals from the field of play
A player who is dismissed from the field of play in a Checkatrade Trophy match will automatically be suspended from the subsequent Checkatrade Trophy match.
The table below sets out the number of matches a player will be suspended for depending on the offence that has been committed. The offences referred to below are as defined in the Laws of the Game.
Serious Foul Play - 3 matches
Violent Conduct - 3 matches
Spitting at an opponent or any other person - 6 matches
Denial of an Obvious Goal Scoring Opportunity - 1 match
Using offensive or insulting or abusive language/gestures - 2 matches
Receives a second caution in the same match - 1 match
Cautions
If a player accumulates two cautions in the Checkatrade Trophy up to and including the quarter-final fixtures, he will be suspended automatically from the next Checkatrade Trophy match.
A player who has already been subject to disciplinary action as a result of receiving two cautions, and then proceeds to receive a further two cautions during the Checkatrade Trophy up to and including the quarter-final matches, will be suspended automatically for a further two matches.
Outsanding suspensions
Any suspension or part thereof which remains outstanding at the end of a season resulting from these Disciplinary Procedures, must be served at the commencement of the next season’s Checkatrade Trophy competition.