SPFL clubs learn fate at Premier Sports Cup group stage draw

Last season’s finalists Hibernian have been drawn to face Morton, Falkirk, Clyde and Bonnyrigg Rose in the group stage of the Premier Sports Cup.

The full draw for the first round of next season’s competition took place on Wednesday, with 40 teams learning who their first competitive opponents of next season will be.

The five Scottish clubs who have qualified for European competition aren’t included at this stage and, in a departure from previous years, the SPFL has done away with the regional grouping of teams.

The other 37 SPFL clubs from 2021/22, plus Highland League champions Fraserburgh, runners-up Buckie Thistle, and Lowland League champions Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic were arranged into five seeding pots from which the eight groups were drawn.

The eight group winners and three best runners-up will progress to the last sixteen, where Celtic, Rangers, Hearts, Dundee United and Motherwell enter the draw.

League Cup group stage draw in full

Group A

Aberdeen

Raith Rovers

Peterhead

Dumbarton

Stirling Albion

Group B

Kilmarnock

Partick Thistle

Montrose

Stenhousemuir

Fraserburgh

Group C

Ross County

Dunfermline

Alloa Athletic

East Fife

Buckie Thistle

Group D

Hibernian

Morton

Falkirk

Clyde

Bonnyrigg Rose

Group E

St Mirren

Arbroath

Airdrieonians

Edinburgh City

Cowdenbeath

Group F

St Johnstone

Ayr United

Queen of the South

Annan Athletic

Elgin City

Group G

Livingston

Inverness CT

Cove Rangers

Kelty Hearts

Albion Rovers

Group H

Dundee

Hamilton Accies

Queen’s Park

Forfar Athletic

Stranraer

Fixtures and tv selections are still to be determined. Group stage games start on the weekend of July 9/10 and conclude on July 23/24.

The second round is scheduled for the end of August and the quarter-finals on October 18-20, before the competition takes a break and restarts after the World Cup and New Year with semi-finals in January and the final on February 26.