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Holders Celtic begin defence of Scottish League Cup with trip to Ross County

Captain Callum McGregor and his Celtic teammates lift the League Cup last season (Image: Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

CELTIC will begin their defence of the Scottish League Cup with a trip to Premiership rivals Ross County.

The trip to Dingwall will see Celtic face a County side that finished in the top half the Premiership last season and topped their League Cup group to progress to this season's last 16.

The tie will take place on the weekend of August 30-31.

Staggies end cup dominance

The Hoops have won six of the last eight League Cups, including last year's decider against Hibernian, which gave Ange Posecoglou his first trophy as Celtic boss.

However, on the two occasions the Hoops haven't won it in that time, it was the Staggies who dumped the holders out of the competition.

Goals from Ross Stewart and Alex Iacovitti gave County a 2-0 win at Celtic Park when the sides met at the same stage two seasons ago.

Meanwhile, the Staggies won 3-1 against Celtic in the semi-final at Hampden in the 2015/16 season on their way to winning the trophy for the first time.

However, with four wins from four against County last season, conceding only one goal in the process, Postecoglou will be confident of getting his defence of the trophy off to a winning start.

Elsewhere, Rangers host League 1 side Queen of the South, newly-promoted Kilmarnock travel to Hearts and Aberdeen face a trip to Group F winners Annan Athletic.