Hamilton Academical Football club start the competitive action in the 2025/26 campaign on Saturday when they travel to Forthbank to take on League Two outfit, Stirling Albion in the first round of fixtures in the Premier Sports Cup group stage.
Accies were drawn into Group E of the group stage and will play Heart of Midlothian, Dunfermline
Athletic, and Dumbarton as well as Stirling Albion. The group winners will progress to the second round alongside the three best runners-up from all the groups.
Hamilton will be looking to go one better than their Premier Sports Cup group stage campaign last year where they finished third, narrowly missing out on second place to Raith Rovers. Also in that group last year were Saturday’s opponents Stirling Albion, where Hamilton were defeated 4-2 on penalties after a 0-0 draw at home to the Binos.
Dylan McGowan previewed the group stage campaign saying, “It’s a good chance to test ourselves and see where we’re at, hopefully we can get a few wins and see where it takes us. Our whole pre-season has been about getting as fit as possible and as ready for these cup games, we’re here to compete. We have a difficult group but it’s one that we’re going to try and get out of and test ourselves at a higher level.”
Hamilton and Stirling Albion faced off four times when Accies were last in League One two seasons ago. Hamilton won both fixtures at home, 3-0 and 5-0, however they did draw twice away, 0-0 and 2-2 at Forthbank. Hamilton have a positive record against the Binos with 37 wins, 17 draws and 31 defeats in 85 matches that the two sides have played.
After Saturday’s match, Accies host Heart of Midlothian at Broadwood on Tuesday 15th July, before
travelling to Dunfermline a week later on the 22nd July, and then finishing off the campaign at home to Dumbarton on the 26th July.
Ticket information for Saturday’s match can be found below.
