VCF Mestalla to compete in a new-look Premier League International Cup

The reserve side will face West Ham United, Middlesbrough, Southampton FC and Manchester United in a U21 competition featuring academies from different European countries.

The VCF Mestalla will take part in another edition of the Premier League International Cup this 2026-27 season, a U21 competition featuring 32 clubs — 16 English teams and 16 teams from other European countries.

For the 2026-27 edition, VCF Mestalla have been drawn in Group A alongside Manchester United, West Ham United, Southampton, Middlesbrough, Juventus, AS Monaco and Belgian side KRC Genk.

GROUP STAGE

The group stage will run from September to January for VCF Mestalla. In the first phase, Óscar Sánchez’s side will face only the English teams, with all of these matches taking place in England. The reserve side will combine these fixtures with their domestic commitments in Group III of Segunda Federación.

new competition format

For this edition, the Premier League International Cup has introduced a new qualification format for the knockout stages. The best-performing team among the four Premier League representatives, along with the best non-English team from each group, will advance to the quarter-finals.

The quarter-finals will be played as single-leg ties, with the matches taking place at the English team’s home ground.

VCF MESTALLA history at the competition

VCF Mestalla have participated in the last four editions of the Premier League International Cup, progressing beyond the group stage on three of those four occasions. They reached the semi-finals in the 2022-23 edition, where the reserve side narrowly missed out on a place in the final after a penalty shootout.

Last season, VCF Mestalla also progressed from the group stage and faced Dinamo Zagreb in the quarter-finals, in a closely fought match that was decided in the closing minutes.

SIGUE LA ACTUALIDAD DE LA ACADEMIA VCF:

Instagram: @academiavalenciacf

X: @academia_VCF

conoce la filosofía de la academia vcf

Copyright 2013-2025 Valencia CF. The use of the editorial content of the article is permitted as long as the source gets the credit and contains the following link: www.valenciacf.com. Photographs by Lázaro de la Peña, reuse is not permitted.