Buckie Thistle and Elgin City await Premier Sports Cup draw - could one pof the Moray clubs face Aberdeen?
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BUCKIE Thistle and Elgin City could earn a shot at Aberdeen in next season's Premier Sports Cup.
The draw for the League Cup competition - won by Celtic last season - takes place tomorrow at 1pm.
League 2 Elgin will be in pot five along with Buckie, who finished runners-up in last season's Highland League and join champions Fraserburgh in the draw.
All of the SPFL clubs enter the draw except Celtic, Rangers, Hearts, Dundee United and Motherwell, who receive a bye because of their involvement in European competitions.
The biggest name in the draw will be Aberdeen, who missed out on European qualification after a poor campaign and will be one of the eight top seeds in the draw.
The Pittodrie side would be a big crowd puller for Jags or City, who could also land Hibernian or Ross County from the first pot.
Inverness Caley Thistle, who were beaten by St Johnstone in the Premiership play-offs last night, are one of the star attractions in pot two.
Former Highland League winners Cove Rangers will be one of the strongest sides in pot three following their promotion to the Championship after claiming the League 1 title.
The draw will be shown live by Premier Sports via their FreeSports channel.
FreeSports is available on Freeview HD channel 65, Sky HD channel 422, Virgin HD 553, TalkTalk 64, BT Vision channel 64 and is also available via Samsung TV Player and on the FreeSports Player — www.freesportsplayer.tv
Regionalisation has been removed for 2022/23 after six years of the North/South split in the group stage.
There are five seeding pots, based on final league placings in season 2021/22. One club from each pot will be drawn into Groups A-H.
The eight group winners and three best runners-up will enter the last 16 at the end of August.
Seeding pots and club numbers
Pot 1
1 Ross County
2 Livingston
3 Hibernian
4 St Mirren
5 Aberdeen
6 St Johnstone
7 Dundee
8 Kilmarnock
Pot 2
9 Arbroath
10 Inverness Caledonian Thistle
11 Partick Thistle
12 Raith Rovers
13 Hamilton Academical
14 Morton
15 Ayr United
16 Dunfermline Athletic
Pot 3
17 Queen of the South
18 Cove Rangers
19 Airdrieonians
20 Montrose
21 Queen's Park
22 Alloa Athletic
23 Falkirk
24 Peterhead
Pot 4
25 Clyde
26 Dumbarton
27 East Fife
28 Kelty Hearts
29 Forfar Athletic
30 Annan Athletic
31 Edinburgh City
32 Stenhousemuir
Pot 5
33 Stranraer
34 Stirling Albion
35 Albion Rovers
36 Elgin City
37 Cowdenbeath
38 Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic
39 Fraserburgh
40 Buckie Thistle
Premier Sports Cup dates 2022/23
Group stage
MD1: Weekend of July 9/10, 2022
MD2: Midweek of July 12/13, 2022
MD3: Weekend of July 16/17, 2022
MD4: Midweek of July 19/20, 2022
MD5: Weekend of July 23/24, 2022
Second round
Midweek of August 30/31, 2022
Quarter-finals
Midweek of October 18-20, 2022
Semi-finals
Weekend of January 14/15, 2023
Final
Sunday February 26, 2023
