ATHLETIC will have a Fife derby before their Championship campaign begins after being paired with their local rivals in the Viaplay Cup.

This afternoon, the group stage draw for the League Cup was held at Hampden, and has handed James McPake's League One winners a clash with Raith Rovers.

Dunfermline will go head-to-head with the Kirkcaldy club next month, as well as facing Premiership Kilmarnock, League One Annan Athletic, and Lowland League Albion Rovers.

Kelty Hearts, meanwhile, will go up against top flight Ross County; second tier Greenock Morton; League One rivals, FC Edinburgh; and League Two Stranraer.

Five pots of eight teams, ranked by their league positions last season, were involved in the draw, with Cowdenbeath, relegated from the SPFL in 2022, invited to be the 40th club with five sides - Celtic, Rangers, Aberdeen, Heart of Midlothian and Hibernian - entering the tournament after the group stage due to their involvement in European football.

The Pars, who were in the third pot of seeds, were drawn into Group F, in which Kilmarnock and Raith had already been placed, and were joined by Annan and Albion.

Killie, whom the Pars faced in the Championship during the 2021/22 campaign, were beaten 3-0 when the teams last met in the League Cup, at this stage, in 2020.

Dunfermline's last meeting with Raith in the League Cup came in 2009, with the Pars winning 3-1.

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The teams last met during the 2021/22 season in which the Pars, despite eventually being relegated, were unbeaten against Rovers, who recently appointed ex-Dunfermline players, Andrew Barrowman and John Potter, into roles at Stark's Park, over the four matches they played.

Annan Athletic, who won promotion from League Two through the play-offs, are an opponent Dunfermline have twiced faced in the League Cup, earning 2-1 and 5-1 wins in 2011 and 2014 respectively, whilst Albion, relegated from League Two last month, were beaten 6-0 on their last visit to East End Park, on League Cup duty, in 2019.

Kelty Hearts, meanwhile, will play Ross County, who dramatically defeated Partick Thistle in the Premiership play-off final to retain their top flight status, for the first time in Group D.

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Player / boss, Michael Tidser, had a loan spell with the Staggies earlier in his career, and will also be reunited with Greenock Morton, with whom he played over two separate spells.

The meeting of Kelty and Morton will be another first, whilst they will also go head-to-head with FC Edinburgh - rivals in League One, whom they failed to defeat last season - and League Two Stranraer.

The group stage fixtures, which will be announced in due course, as will matches chosen to be screened live by Viaplay, will take place on July 15-16; July 18-19; July 22-23; July 25-26; and July 29-30.

The eight group winners, plus the three best runners-up, will advance to join the five clubs playing in Europe in the last 16.

The Viaplay Cup draw in full is:

 

Group A: St Johnstone, Ayr United, Alloa Athletic, Stirling Albion, Stenhousemuir.

Group B: Dundee United, Partick Thistle, Falkirk, Peterhead, Spartans.

Group C: Livingston, Hamilton Academical, Cove Rangers, Clyde, Brechin City.

Group D: Ross County, Greenock Morton, FC Edinburgh, KELTY HEARTS, Stranraer.

Group E: Dundee, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Airdrieonians, Dumbarton, Bonnyrigg Rose.

Group F: Kilmarnock, Raith Rovers, PARS, Annan Athletic, Albion Rovers.

Group G: Motherwell, Queen's Park, Queen of the South, East Fife, Elgin City.

Group H: St Mirren, Arbroath, Montrose, Forfar Athletic, Cowdenbeath.