Last week, West Ham United Under-21s were the visitors to the Chigwell Construction Stadium to take on Dagenham & Redbridge in the new National League Cup.
The match is part of a competition that began at the start of the 2024/25 season and features National League clubs, and academy teams that play in Premier League 2.
As well as giving opportunities for Academy players to play against senior opposition, supporting their transition to first-team football, the National League Cup also increases the development and exposure of National League clubs as they come up against the best Under-21 teams in the country.
And with a prize fund of £1m that is only available to National League clubs, the competition gives those teams significant financial support.
“A lot of Academy football is played the same way, but this is real football”
— Premier League (@premierleague) January 29, 2025
Take a look at how the National League Cup is benefiting Academy players, as well as @TheVanaramaNL sides like @Dag_RedFC 🙌 pic.twitter.com/6ppnAP4DmJ
We spoke with people from Dagenham & Redbridge on the night to discover what the National League Cup means to them.
Shilo Remy, Dagenham & Redbridge winger
"I've played in two of the National League Cup games and it's definitely different from the National League. Teams like to keep the ball are possession based and don't really play the ball long, they try to play their way out of tight situations.
"For me as a player, I have had to adjust and it's been a real learning journey. Going forward, you have more chance to express yourself but confidence-wise there's also been an impact.
"I have played in this competition as I wasn't playing much in the first team. It gave me a lot of valuable minutes that I needed in order to build my confidence and get back to how it was before. It's helped me a lot as I try to get back into the first team.
"It's about playing, that's the most important thing. You can train all you like but in game scenarios, everything is different. Playing against just this opposition has been very good for us.
"Against the Premier League 2 sides I try to play as I normally play. I can get more chances to do the things that I like to do, like dribbling and getting shots off. That also builds your confidence. You take that and try to implement it in the National League.
"It's also helped the team as a whole. For the players who aren't playing, they have this to look forward to try to impress the manager and get back into the team. There's more games, more minutes to play, more time to score goals and to do what you love to do, which is play football.
"Having that relationship with the Premier League is so important. Football at this level is getting bigger and bigger every year and the fact that we're getting support from the best league in the world is amazing for us."
Lewis Young, Dagenham & Redbridge first-team manager
"For some of our younger players, it's probably the biggest game they have had in their career or the first time they would have played at night fixture or in a stadium. It's really big in that regard.
"It gives us the opportunity to put them in close proximity to our more experienced players who we might need to get a game into. We've got 11 matches in the next six weeks and it allows us to be able to put those players into game situations and know that they're ready to then come in once the league games come back around.
"It's so important for the Premier League and National League to have that bond. You've just got to look at the amount of players that have made that transition from the non-league all the way through.
"We've got so many brilliant success stories and we just want to see more of them coming through. If that funding keeps coming down, you will start to see those players who might not quite hit that development in those early ages, but they can come out and get regular game time in the National League and then hopefully progress all the way."
Steve Thompson, Dagenham & Redbridge managing director, National League vice-chair
"I speak to all the clubs and everybody realises how great this competition is in terms of finance and from the player development side. The £1m prize money is only for the National League clubs who take part. Before we played West Ham, we had played three matches and already earned £22,000.
"There is one club in the National League who are already through to the quarter-finals and are looking at a minimum of £50,000. It's significant money.
"On a playing side, we'll have players every week who are in our squad who won't be able to play. I'm a big believer that if a player is going to develop, you've got to give them game time, training isn't the same.
"With us being out of other cup competitions and matches being called off, we've only had two matches so far in January before we played West Ham. This competition has given us competitive games.
"The relationship between National League and Premier League is very good. This year the solidarity payments to the National League has gone up to £4.8 million. There's a £1m that goes to the National League Trust which all our clubs benefit from and then there's this competition as well. The Premier League are very supportive."
