Everton have announced the date for the Premier League International Cup tie with Celtic.
The new look 16 team competition is for u-21 teams with eight English sides joined by eight others including Celtic, Villarreal and Benfica.
Stevie Frail and Tommy McIntyre will take Celtic’s development side to Goodison Park on November 25 with the dates for the other two matches against Sunderland and Villarreal still to be confirmed.
Looking ahead to the competition Everton coach David Unsworth said: “It’s very exciting to be involved in this prestigious tournament. We’re really looking forward to pitting our wits against some of the best sides here and overseas.
“We’re obviously well aware of Sunderland – they’re a good team who are very solid and have a good crop of young players.
“Celtic will be a different proposition. They’re the big club in Scotland at the moment and have some terrific talent. It’ll be a fixture with added spice which is something new for the lads.
“And then there’s the glamour game against Villareal. They’ll be formidable opponents. It’s a dream tie in many ways.
“We’re really looking forward to it. The players are all buzzing and we want to go as far as we can. We aim to win every competition we enter so it’ll be a nice addition to the normal programme.”
Over the last three seasons Celtic have played in the Next Gen Series and u-19 Champions League featuring matches against sides like Barcelona, Manchester City, Sporting Lisbon and PSV Eindhoven.
The u-21 format allows player like Paul George and Filip Tardzik to play as well as younger players such as Joe Thomson and Paul McMullan who are in the Scotland u-19 squad alongwith Liam Henderson.
Each team will play each other once in the group phase with all of the matches played in England under Premier League rules.
