(EFL). It is open to all 48 clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two, the third and fourth tiers of the English football league system and, starting with the 2016–17 season, 16 Category One academy teams, representing clubs from the Premier League and Championship. The tournament originally used a straight knockout format, but was modified in 2016–17 to incorporate an initial group stage, in which a team is awarded three points for a win and zero for a defeat. In the event of a draw, a penalty shoot-out is held at the end of the game with the winner of the shoot-out receiving two points and the loser one. In the 2016–17 season it was referred to by its sponsorship name, the Checkatrade Trophy. The 2016–17 tournament was the 34th edition of the competition. Coventry City and Oxford United both appeared in the competition as a result of their membership of League One for the 2016–17 season. Coventry were making their first appearance in a League Trophy final while for Oxford it was their second, following a 3–2 defeat to Barnsley in the previous season's match. Both teams had won a major Wembley cup final during the 1980s – Oxford beat Queens Park Rangers in the 1986 Football League Cup Final, and Coventry won the following season's FA Cup Final against Tottenham Hotspur. The two sides had won one game each of the head-to-head league meetings that season. At Coventry's Ricoh Arena, in October 2016, Coventry won 2–1 with goals from Ben Stevenson and Marvin Sordell and a late consolation for Oxford by Dan Crowley. The return fixture at the Kassam Stadium a month later was won by Oxford with Kane Hemmings, Jamie Sterry, Chris Maguire and Alex MacDonald all scoring as the match finished 4–1. Route to the final Coventry City Coventry's 2016–17 EFL Trophy campaign commenced in the group stage, competing in Southern Group D along with Wycombe Wanderers, Northampton Town, and a team from the West Ham United academy. West Ham were one of 16 academy teams from Premier League and EFL Championship clubs appearing following the tournament revamp in the summer of 2016. In Coventry's first match, played on 30 August 2016, they hosted the West Ham academy team at the Ricoh Arena. The game's attendance – 2,091, of whom just 98 were away supporters – set a record for the lowest gate at