Premier Sports Cup draw LIVE as Aberdeen and Hibs plus Kilmarnock and St Mirren go into group stage hat

The road to Hampden starts right here as as the Premier Sports Cup group stage is drawn.

Celtic lifted the trophy last season and Ange Postecoglou will be keen to repeat the win again this term.

The holders won't be entering the competition in the early rounds having qualified for European football, and that means no early rounds for Rangers, Hearts, Dundee United and Motherwell.

But there is plenty of Scottish Premiership interest as Ross County, Livingston, Hibs, St Mirren, Aberdeen, St Johnstone and Kilmarnock go into the draw.

As well as teams entering from the Championship, League One and League Two there is non-league interest.

Lowland League champions Bonnyrigg Rose will enter in pot five as they prepare for their League Two debut, while Buckie Thistle and Fraserburgh represent the Highland League.

There is plenty of potential derby clashes on the cards as well as a few shock results in the group stage.

Follow the draw for the first knockout competition of the season LIVE!

The compeition's group stages with be played throughout July with the final pencilled in for February next year.

Here are all the dates you need to know...

Group stageMD1: Weekend of July 9/10, 2022MD2: Midweek of July 12/13, 2022MD3: Weekend of July 16/17, 2022MD4: Midweek of July 19/20, 2022MD5: Weekend of July 23/24, 2022

Second roundMidweek of August 30/31, 2022

Quarter-finalsMidweek of October 18-20, 2022

Semi-finalsWeekend of January 14/15, 2023

FinalSunday February 26, 2023

The teams are split across five pots.

With the absence of the five sides who qualified for Europe, the Premiership outfits alongside Kilmarnock will be in the top hat with the other teams split as follows.

Pot 1: 1 Ross County, 2 Livingston, 3 Hibernian, 4 St