Derby County have discovered who they will face in the group stages of the Premier League International Cup this coming season.
The Rams’ Under-23s have been drawn in Group C and will face Croatian outfit Dinamo Zagreb, German side Wolfsburg and the reigning Premier League 2 champions Everton.
With that, Darren Wassall’s side have got two more of their 2017/18 season fixtures pencilled in to be played at Pride Park Stadium before Christmas – in addition to the seven Premier League 2 Division 1 fixtures already scheduled to take place at the club’s main stadium.
Derby will face Wolfsburg at Pride Park on Wednesday 1st November (kick-off: 7pm), whilst the meeting with the Toffees will take place on Tuesday 5th December.
Details of the Rams’ meeting with Dinamo Zagreb will be confirmed in due course.
The draw for the 2017/18 Premier League International Cup is as follows:
GROUP A
Sparta Prague, Liverpool, Newcastle United and PSV Eindhoven
GROUP B
Hertha Berlin, Legia Warsaw, Leicester City and Sunderland
GROUP C
DERBY COUNTY, Dinamo Zagreb, Everton, Wolfsburg
GROUP D
Athletic Club Bilbao, Celtic, Manchester United, Swansea City
GROUP E
Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Porto, Reading
GROUP F
Benfica, Tottenham Hotspur, Villarreal, West Ham United
The International Cup consists of 12 Premier League 2 teams and 12 Under-23 sides from elite Academies across Europe, split into six groups of four.
The six group winners and the two best runners-up qualify for the quarter-finals. All knockout ties are one-off matches.
Derby had their first taste of the competition last season.
They were drawn in a group alongside PSV Eindhoven, Sunderland and Benfica but didn’t make it into the knockout stages after recording one win, a draw and a defeat.