SOUTHAMPTON U21s host Real Madrid U21s tonight at St Mary’s Stadium in the PLIC.
But why are the Los Blancos visiting the South Coast?
The PLIC is an U21’s competition, set up in 2014 to help develop football academies by providing international fixtures.
However it permits clubs to put three overage outfield player and one overage goalkeeper on the team sheet.
Since 2014, the cup has expanded twice, it now includes 32 teams.
From the Premier League 2, the top 16 finishers in the season prior qualify for the international cup, 16 foreign teams are then also invited to play.
Madrid feature this year for their first time, they kicked off their campaign with an away win against Wolves a month ago.
Southampton play their first game of the group stage tonight.
Each group consists of eight teams, four English and four foreign, each team will only play four games in the group stage.
English teams will only play foreign clubs in the group stage, hence foreign clubs will only play English teams.
Quarter finals will follow, into Semis and then a final, all knockout games will be played with one fixture unlike the Champions League format.
Nottingham Forest won last seasons cup on penalties against Olympique Lyon B.
Despite dominating the entries for the cup, only three times has it been won by an English club.
Crystal Palace won in 2024 and Manchester City won the first ever cup in 2015.
FC Porto remain the only club to win the competition twice.
The Saints best finish in the PLIC was the Semi final in 2019, they lost 1-3 to Dinamo Zagreb.
