New name for this season's EFL Trophy that is still held by Portsmouth

Lee Brown, Brett Pitman and Gareth Evans celebrate Pompey's Checkatrade Trophy triumph in March 2019. Picture: Joe Pepler

When their final against Salford is eventually rearranged, the Blues will be aiming to retain the silverware that was rebranded the Leasing.com Trophy for the 2019-20 season.

And with Kenny Jackett’s side aiming to reach the final for three successive seasons, having already made it into the second round, they’ll be now competing for the Papa John’s Trophy.

This season’s EFL Trophy started without a sponsor after leasing.com ended their partnership a year early.

Takeaway pizza company Papa John's have now stepped in, though, and will become the official title sponsor until the 2022-23 season.

EFL chief commercial officer Ben Wright said: ‘The EFL is delighted to welcome Papa John’s as title sponsor of the EFL Trophy and a new addition to the League’s portfolio of partners.

‘As we continue to navigate through the challenging times that the coronavirus pandemic presents, it is testament to the growing appeal of the EFL that we are able to attract new partners and invest the sponsorship fee into the competition through payments to clubs, which is important during this difficult period.

‘We look forward to working with Papa John’s over the next three years to build on the success of the competition and create Papa John’s Trophy moments for us all to celebrate.’

Pompey are already into the hat for the second round of this season's competition after group wins over Colchester and Southend. The Blues have one group game remaining against West Ham under-21s on Tuesday, November 10 at Fratton Park.

Jackett’s side still await news on when their 2019-20 final with Salford will be played, after being postponed during the lockdown period amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

More than 51,000 of the Fratton faithful purchased tickets for the game, which was originally scheduled for Sunday, April 5, at Wembley.

However, it's looking likely the game will be played behind closed doors due to coronavirus cases rising once again.

Pompey have held the silverware for more than one-and-a-half years. They beat Sunderland on penalties in March 2019 in front of a sold-out Wembley when the tournament was branded the Checkatrade Trophy.