BALA Town’s Chief Executive Nigel Aykroyd has confirmed that the club has been invited to play in the Scottish Challenge Cup next season, along with Welsh Premier champions TNS.

The Scottish Challenge Cup will be expanded in 2016/17, with the introduction of additional clubs from the Scottish Highland and Lowland Leagues, all Scottish Ladbrokes Premiership Under 20s teams - as well as two representatives each from the Welsh Premier League and Northern Ireland Football League.

They will join the 30 Scottish Ladbrokes Championship, League One and League Two teams, to give an overall total of 54 clubs competing across seven rounds, with the majority of fixtures taking place during international weekend breaks.It has been revealed that the Welsh Premier League and Northern Ireland League clubs would join the competition at the round four stage of 16 teams in October.“This is indeed further exhilarating and exciting news for Bala Town," said Chief Executive Aykroyd.

"The Club is proud to be invited to participate in such a prestigious Cup tournament, and we welcome the bold expansion, which has been promoted by the Scottish League.

"This tournament will once again further broaden our horizon of international experience, and together with our Europa Cup campaign ensure that the most historic season in the Club’s history will kick off in early July.

"We feel sincerely privileged to be involved from the outset in the new format of the tournament, and will endeavour to justify the very kind invitation to the best of our ability."Ian Williams, Chief Operating Officer at TNS, said: “We are thrilled to be involved in the Cup and look forward to some very competitive matches being played across the Scottish and Irish borders."Being involved in a competition like this will not only put the Saints on a larger national platform, it gives our players the opportunity to test themselves against some of the best teams that Scotland and Northern Ireland have to offer."Having secured the domestic treble two years in a row now, this competition provides us with a new target and I’m sure the players and management team will rise to the occasion.”In addition to the continued support from broadcaster BBC ALBA, the SPFL has also secured new broadcast deals with S4C and Premier Sports to cover selected fixtures live during next year’s Scottish Challenge Cup.

Andrew Howard, FAW Head of Competitions, said: “We are both really delighted and excited to have two Welsh representatives included in this competition for the 2016/17 season.

"We are confident that this new format will generate a great deal of interest from Welsh football fans and we believe that the quality of the clubs in the Dafabet Welsh Premier League will be showcased for all to see.

"We would like to thank the SPFL and the Scottish FA for their vision, their invitation and their cooperation and we hope that this is the start of something quite special for all parties and especially the Welsh clubs concerned.”Neil Doncaster, SPFL Chief Executive, said: “This is another exciting day for Scottish football with the announcement of this exciting new format of the Scottish Challenge Cup demonstrating further innovation and forward-thinking for the game in this country.“We are very pleased to be supported by UEFA in delivering an element of cross-border competition through the invitation to our colleagues in Northern Ireland and Wales, which brings a completely new dimension to the Challenge Cup and the levels of excitement and interest in it.”