The Scottish Professional Football League has confirmed the seedings and format for the new regionalised League Cup for 2016/17.

Split into north and south sections, eight groups comprising of five teams will see sides play each other once in a round robin format between July 16-30.

Premiership sides St Johnstone, Ross County, Inverness CT and Dundee are seeded in the north while Motherwell, Partick Thistle, Hamilton and Kilmarnock are the top sides in the south.

Highland League champions Cove Rangers and Lowland League entrants East Stirlingshire are included in the unseeded sections.

Matches ending in draws will see the match go straight to penalties with a bonus point awarded for victory in the shootout.

Eight group winners and the four best runners-up will progress to the second round where they will be joined by Scotland's European participants Celtic, Aberdeen, Hearts and Hibernian.

Groups will be drawn on Friday, May 27 with the final scheduled to take place at Hampden on Sunday, November 27.