Celtic are set to find out their Premier Sports Cup opponents on Sunday evening.
The group stage of the competition is set to reach its conclusion, leaving 16 teams in the hat for the first knockout round.
The draw is set to take place at around 5PM on Sunday, after the conclusion of St Mirren’s Group C clash with Neil Lennon’s Dunfermline.
If it wasn’t self-explanatory, the match and draw will take place on Premier Sports 1.
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Celtic’s potential opponents and dates for Premier Sports Cup second round
Celtic are seeded for the draw, ruling out a high-profile clash with Hearts or Rangers.
Instead, they will either face one of the three best second-place teams or one of five lowest-ranked first-place sides from the group stages.
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In short, we won’t know until the group stage is over, but it won’t be a blockbuster.
The second-round ties will be played over the weekend of August 15th-16th. Celtic don’t have a league fixture scheduled for those dates.
However, the first leg of the crucial Champions League play-off will be just three or four days later, giving Martin O’Neill a rotation headache.
In the same round last year, Brendan Rodgers’ Celts faced Falkirk on a Friday night, giving them an extra day’s preparation for the qualifier.
It remains to be seen whether or not this will be granted again, but the official schedule lists the fixtures as being played across the Saturday and Sunday.
Celtic had three different managers across just four Premier Sports Cup games last season.
Rodgers took care of early wins over Falkirk and Partick Thistle, whilst O’Neill eliminated Rangers in the semi-final at Hampden in just his second game in interim charge.
Then, just a week after taking charge, Wilfried Nancy fell to a dire 3-1 defeat against St Mirren in the final.
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