October
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That was a few weeks agao and the draw date and potential new sponsors have failed to emerge. Until now.

The Football League say they are close to announcing a new sponsor and the draw for Rd 1 will take place on Saturday Nov 18th.

The following information is from www.bristolrovers.co.uk
The Football League have announced that they are close to reaching a sponsorship agreement for the competition formerly known as the Auto Windscreens Shield.

Auto Windscreens pulled out of a deal last month as a result of an increased fee being demanded by the Football League. It is now hoped that a decision will be made later this week or at the start of next.

For the first time in its history, this season's competition will include eight teams from the Nationwide Football Conference. As a result, the format has altered slightly with eight Football League clubs being given byes to the second round. As ever, the competition is split into north and south with the following Conference teams qualifying for each region: South - Dover Athletic; Hereford Utd; Rushden & Diamonds; Yeovil Town; North - Morecambe; Scarborough; Chester City; Doncaster Rovers.

The first round will see 24 one-off ties (no replays) seeing 24 winners going through to the second round. These will be joined by the eight sides given byes from round one and will produce 16 further ties with the knock-out format then continuing through to the final. Teams will compete within their north or south regions throughout the tournament until the winners of each area eventually meet in the final.

The Football League have confirmed that the draw for round one will take place by this Saturday at the latest with first round matches taking place during the week commencing Monday 4th December.