S.League sides will face United Football League winners Global FC of Philippines and C-League champions Boeung Ket Angkor of Cambodia in the 20th edition of RHB Singapore Cup, starting 29 May.
Apart from the two champion sides, Nagaworld FC of Cambodia and Filipino side Ceres Negros will also take part in the single-legged preliminary stage of the tournament, which will be played between 29 May and 4 June.
While top four teams in the S.League table - Albirex Niigata, Home United, Tampines Rovers, Warriors FC - have received byes to the quarter-final, Geylang International, Hougang United, Balestier Khalsa and Brunei DPMM will play the preliminary round.
While the preliminary round will be a single-round affair, teams will have more cushion from the quarter-final stage as knockout matches from then will be played over two legs.
| Preliminary Round Draw |
| Hougang United vs Ceres Negros |
| Balestier Khalsa vs Nagaworld FC |
| Geylang International vs Global FC |
| Warriors FC vs Boeung Ket Angkor |
While defending champions Albirex and Tampines edged past last season's foreign teams to feature in the final, S.League teams will find it hard as two of the four overseas teams - Global and Ceres - are in the zonal semi-final of AFC Cup 2017.
Albirex coach Kazuaki Yoshinaga says all the four teams in this year's Singapore Cup are strong and that his side, who are looking favourites to clinch another title after a solid start to S.League, are gearing up to feature in the 12-team tournament.
"They are all very strong teams. We have played against Ceres Negros before and they are not a pushover. We will be looking forward to taking them on," Yoshinaga said, as quoted by The Straits Times.
Apart from Albirex, six-time champions Home United, who are sitting at the second spot of the league table, and in-form Warriors FC are also favourites to go the distance.
