The 2015–16 Premier League International Cup was the second season of the

Premier League International Cup The Premier League International Cup is an English football competition for under-23 teams from across Europe. It was designed to provide players in English Category One academies with the opportunity to match themselves against other elite Euro ...

, a European club

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

competition organised by the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

for under-21 players.

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

were the defending champions, after beating

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

1–0 in the previous season's final, but were eliminated in the group stage.

Qualification

For English sides, qualification was achieved via performance in the 2014–15 Barclays Under 21 Premier League, with the top eight sides securing a place in the competition. Manchester United U21s (champions) and Southampton U21s (8th place) did not take up the opportunity to enter the competition and were replaced by Tottenham Hotspur U21s and Everton U21s, who finished 9th and 10th respectively. The participation of European sides was achieved through invitation and was influenced by the quality of each club's academy. All eight teams from the previous season returned to the competition.

Group stage

Group stage matches were played between 19 August 2015 and 23 December 2015. The teams were drawn into four groups, each containing two English sides and two European sides.

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Knockout stages

The knockout stages comprised three rounds played as one-off matches: quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final. In the quarter-finals, group stage winners played against the runners-up from another group.

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Premier League International Cup 2015-16 International Cup 2015–16 in European football 2015–16 in English football