Under 20 sides from the Scottish Premiership will be seeded for the first round draw of the 2016/17 Challenge Cup.

The 12 sides, who will be referred to in the draw as "colts", will be among the 28 clubs involved in the draw on Thursday morning.

Split into regionalised sections, Premiership youth sides will avoid each other in the first round. Entrants from the Highland and Lowland Leagues will also be placed into pots so they avoid each other.

Eight clubs from League Two will also enter at the first round stage.

The revamped tournament will also see the champions and runners-up of the Northern Irish and Welsh leagues enter in the fourth round.

First round games are scheduled to take place on August 2 and 3.

Pot one: Aberdeen Colts, Dundee Colts, Heart of Midlothian Colts, Inverness Caledonian Thistle Colts, Ross County Colts, St Johnstone Colts, East Stirlingshire.

Pot two: Cove Rangers, Formartine United, Brora Rangers, Turriff United, Stirling Albion, Montrose, Arbroath.

Pot three: Celtic Colts, Hamilton Academical Colts, Kilmarnock Colts, Motherwell Colts, Partick Thistle Colts, Rangers Colts, Berwick Rangers

Pot four: Edinburgh City, Spartans, University of Stirling, Cumbernauld Colts, Clyde, Queen's Park, Annan Athletic