"2016–17 in Scottish football The 2016–17 season was the 120th season of competitive football in Scotland. The domestic season began on 16 July 2016, with the first round of the 2016–17 Scottish League Cup. The 2016–17 Scottish Professional Football League season commenced on 6 August. Celtic, Aberdeen, Heart of Midlothian and Hibernian qualified for European competition. Jane Ross and Caroline Weir were both nominated for the (English) PFA Women's Players' Player of the Year award. The Scotland women's national football team qualified for a major tournament for the first time. A loss by Finland against Portugal confirmed that Scotland would"
"leading the disbandment of the English League at the end of the 1935–36 season. The Scottish National League and English National League both continued until 1954. In that year the decision was taken to amalgamate the two leagues into one. The new competition initially fielded 12 sides in its inaugural season, four from England and eight from Scotland. The Dunfermline Vikings withdrew from the league in early 1955 and at the end of the season six of the seven remaining Scottish sides withdrew, leaving the league with five members. This fell to four following the closure of Harringay Arena in"
"a win. In 1998 the Premier Division clubs split from the league to form the Scottish Premier League (SPL). The remaining leagues, of ten clubs each, kept their names and the Premier Division was not reconstituted, leaving First, Second and Third Divisions. Part of the agreement was that the SPL would expand to 12 clubs in 2000. The SFL then took in two new members to replace the two clubs lost to the SPL. Highland League clubs Elgin City and Peterhead were admitted, increasing the total number of clubs in the Scottish football league system to 42. From 2005, the"
"Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known for sponsorship reasons as the Ladbrokes Premiership, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish Premiership was established in July 2013, after the SPFL was formed by a merger of the Scottish Premier League and Scottish Football League. A total of sixteen different clubs have played in the Scottish Premiership since its creation in the 2013–14 season. Celtic are the current league champions, being the only league champion to date since its establishment. Teams receive three points for a"
"third tier, known as the Second Division. The top tier became the Premier Division and the second tier became known as the First Division. A fourth tier, known as the Third Division, was introduced in 1994. The last major change within the Scottish football league system was in 1998–99, when the Premier Division clubs broke away from the Scottish Football League to form the Scottish Premier League. The remaining Scottish Football League divisions continued as before. The SFL was the organising body of the Scottish Football League XI, a select side which represented the SFL in matches against other leagues,"
"football rivalries, between Rangers and Celtic. Together the two clubs are known as the Old Firm, by virtue of the profitability of their rivalry. Rangers have won more top-flight, national league championships than any other club in the world (54 titles). Celtic were the first Non-Latin and first team in Britain to win the European Cup, in 1967. The Old Firm rivalry was interrupted in 2012, when the company running Rangers went into liquidation and the club was forced to restart in the fourth tier. The second, third and fourth tiers in the league structure are called the Scottish Championship,"
"generated by the SPL. In 2013, both the SPL and SFL voted in favour of merging to form the new Scottish Professional Football League. The number of divisions and clubs in each division remained the same, but there were changes to the financial distribution model. The Scottish Football League organised two knock-out cup competitions: the Scottish League Cup and the Scottish Challenge Cup. The League Cup was established in 1946, succeeding the wartime Southern League Cup. Unlike the Scottish Cup, organised by the Scottish Football Association, the League Cup was only open to Scottish Football League clubs. Scottish Premier League"
"for a league match. The Scottish Professional Football League is a four tier football league system consisting of 42 teams. There are 12 team in the top tier, the Scottish Premiership, and 10 in each of the lower three tiers, named the Scottish Championship, Scottish League One and Scottish League Two. The Scottish Premiership is the top league in Scotland, and consists of 12 teams. It has existed since 2013, when the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football League merged into the SPFL. The top tier of Scottish football was traditionally home to one of the world's most famous"
"Highland League and fourteen Lowland League clubs begin in the first round. Scottish League Two clubs enter the second round along with the top two clubs from the previous season's Highland League and Lowland League. Scottish League One and six Scottish Championship clubs start in the third round, while the remaining four Championship clubs and all 12 Scottish Premiership clubs enter in the fourth round. Any club that is a full or associate member of the Scottish Football Association (SFA) is entitled to compete in the tournament. Full members qualify automatically, which includes every team that plays in the Scottish"
"coverage on English language channels returned to Scottish Football League games in the 2012–13 season, as Sky and ESPN agreed contracts to show Third Division matches involving Rangers. These arrangements secured revenues that had been under threat due to the financial collapse of Rangers. Of the original SFL clubs, Celtic, Heart of Midlothian, St Mirren, Dumbarton and Rangers are the only clubs today playing in the successor Scottish Professional Football League. Every other club is either defunct or out of the League. When the Scottish Football League was established in 1890, all of the clubs played in just one division."
"Scottish Football Union ""Note - the Scottish Rugby Union was known as the ""Scottish Football Union"" between 1873 and 1924"" The Scottish Football Union was a football (soccer) league competition that existed from 1906 till the outbreak of the First World War. It was formed after the collapse of the Scottish Football Alliance. Initial membership of the Union was: Alloa Athletic, Bathgate, Bo'ness, Broxburn, Heart of Midlothian 'A', Kilmarnock 'A', King's Park, Rangers 'A', Renton, Royal Albert, St Mirren 'A' and Stenhousemuir. Renton withdrew from the league with seven games to play and Rangers 'A' were declared inaugural champions after"
"Scottish League One The Scottish League One, known for sponsorship reasons as the Ladbrokes League One, is the third tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish League One was established in July 2013, after the Scottish Professional Football League was formed by a merger of the Scottish Premier League and Scottish Football League. Teams receive three points for a win and one point for a draw. No points are awarded for a loss. Teams are ranked by total points, then goal difference, and then goals scored. At the"
"with almost all Scotland's main universities possessing a team. Historically, Glasgow University, Aberdeen University and Edinburgh University have vied for supremacy, but in recent years, Strathclyde University, Robert Gordon's College, Dundee University, and the University of St. Andrews have risen to prominence. Clubs compete in various competitions, both cup and league, on a national and also North/South basis. While the top Premier Division has been played on a Scotland-wide basis since 1996, the lower leagues are based on geography. Many clubs run second teams that also compete in these leagues against clubs with only one senior side. Shinty was traditionally"
"in each of its seasons. The league was disbanded during World War 1, but effectively re-established in 1919 as the Scottish Alliance League. As with previous incarnations, this reserve league also contained the first XI of several non-league sides. An AGM in 1938, resulted in the non-league sides being removed and the league became exclusive to First Division reserve sides. The advent of World War 2, however, once again saw the suspension of national reserve league football in Scotland, although regional leagues were set up. Upon the outbreak of the Second World War, all competitive football in Scotland was suspended."
"In July 2013, the Scottish Football League and Scottish Premier League merged to form the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL). The SPFL named its second tier as the Scottish Championship, which effectively replaced the First Division. From 1994 until 2013, the First Division consisted of ten teams. From 1998, only the winner of the First Division was promoted to the Scottish Premier League (SPL), subject to that club meeting the SPL stadium criteria. From 2007, the bottom club in the First Division was automatically relegated to the Second Division and the second bottom club went into an end of season"
"1939 the honour was awarded to the club with the fewest defeats, which led to several seasons where the championship was shared. After 1945 it became more commonplace to determine the champion club based on the percentage of games won. The Edinburgh Academicals won the first five championships by virtue of being undefeated in club games between 1865–66 and 1869–70. The Academicals retained the championship in 1870–71 as a result of having the best record amongst the Scottish clubs despite the loss of two matches. Glasgow Academicals won the inaugural fixture with the Edinburgh Academicals in 1871–72, and, by remaining"
"the trophy. Since the formation of the Scottish Football League in 1890, statistics show that Rangers and Celtic have been by far the most successful clubs involved. Of the 121 championships played, 103 (85%) have been won by one of the Old Firm with Rangers ahead on 54 titles to Celtic's 49, and 19 between ten other clubs (including a shared title between Rangers and Dumbarton). Although there have been brief periods when silverware went elsewhere - such as Hibernian then Hearts in the 1950s and Aberdeen in the 1980s - there have also been long spells of domination by"
"introduced, along with a new Third Division, with all four divisions consisting of ten clubs. On 8 September 1997, the Premier Division clubs decided to split from the Scottish Football League and form the Scottish Premier League (SPL), following the example of the English Premier League. This decision was fuelled by a desire by the top clubs in Scotland to control more of the revenue generated by the game and to negotiate its contracts with sponsors and broadcasters. SFL revenues had been divided proportionally between clubs in all four divisions. The SPL clubs retained all of its commercial revenues, except"
"the Scottish Football Association, including a situation where the following season's fixture list was released and the draw for the 2003–04 Scottish Challenge Cup was made without knowing all of the participants (the fixture list and cup draw referring to Motherwell or Falkirk's place as ""Club X""), it was confirmed that Falkirk would not be accepted into the SPL, sparing Motherwell from relegation. In the initial phase of the season, each of the twelve teams play the other eleven teams three times. After 33 rounds, the league splits into two sections, a top six and a bottom six, with each"
"Scottish League One and Scottish League Two respectively, each consisting of 10 teams. Teams are relegated and promoted between the divisions. Relegation from the fourth tier may occur at the end of every season (from 2014-15 thereafter); the last placed team in the fourth tier will enter a play-off with a team nominated by the SFA from outside the SPFL to determine which team enters League Two for the next season. Dismissal from the fourth tier is still possible, however, if a club finishes bottom three seasons in a row. In case of dismissal or withdrawal of a team (such"
"part of a treble. This list includes clubs who have won their country's top tier league and the primary cup competition (the double), in addition to the major continental tournament, all within a single season. This was first achieved in 1967 by Celtic, winning the Scottish Football League, Scottish Cup and European Cup. In total, 19 clubs across five confederations have achieved the feat on 22 occasions since 1967, including six African clubs, seven European clubs, two Oceanian clubs, two North American clubs and one Asian club. This list does not include secondary continental and domestic competitions. In Europe, Spanish"
"competition. Clyde, Motherwell, Celtic and Dundee were all given entry from the Scottish League. Originally, Ayr United were to have competed, but they had to withdraw because of a lack of adequate floodlighting at their stadium. Their place was taken by Hibernian, who also withdrew because a friendly between an Edinburgh select and Chelsea was scheduled for the same date as their tie with Sedan. Hibernian were therefore replaced by Celtic. In the inaugural Anglo-French competition, the participating teams were Racing Club de Paris, Nantes, Le Havre and Lille from the French League, and Newcastle United, Liverpool, Bolton Wanderers and"
"football league system was first created in 1890, when the Scottish Football League (SFL) was formed. Traditionally the league had a two divisional structure (Divisions One and Two) between which clubs were promoted and relegated at the end of each season. By the mid-1970s, this organisation was perceived to be stagnant, and it was decided to split into a three divisional structure: Premier Division (formerly Division One), First Division (formerly Division Two) and a newly added Second Division. This system came into force for the 1975–76 season. This setup continued until the 1994–95 season, when a four divisional structure was"
"Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Football League (SFL). It was abolished in 2013, when the SPL and SFL merged to form the new Scottish Professional Football League, with its top division being known as the Scottish Premiership. A total of 19 clubs competed in the SPL, but only the Old Firm clubs, Celtic and Rangers won the league championship. For most of its history, the Scottish Football League had a two divisional"
"2017–18 Scottish League One The 2017–18 Scottish League One (known as Ladbrokes League One for sponsorship reasons) was the 23rd season in the format of 10 teams in the third-tier of Scottish football. The fixtures were published on 23 June 2017. Ten teams contested the league: Airdrieonians, Albion Rovers, Alloa Athletic, Arbroath, Ayr United, East Fife, Forfar Athletic, Queen's Park, Raith Rovers and Stranraer. In April 2018, the SPFL confirmed the prize money to be allocated to the league members at the conclusion of the competitions. The League One winners would receive £119,000 with a total pot of £24.5 million"
"English clubs who formed the FA Premier League in 1992. The Scottish Football League did not reform the Premier Division, instead leaving the league with just the First, Second and Third Divisions. Initially and for most of its existence, the Premier Division had 10 clubs that played each other four times, giving a total of 36 games for each club in a season. There was initially two clubs automatically relegated from the Premier Division to the First Division each season. From the 1994–95 season, a promotion and relegation two-match playoff was held each year between the second-from bottom in the"
"Gatwick F.C., Civil Service F.C., Harrogate Railway Athletic F.C., United Services Portsmouth F.C., Metropolitan Police F.C., Stewarts & Lloyds Corby A.F.C., Royal Engineers A.F.C., Atherton Collieries A.F.C., Prescot Cables F.C., Stocksbridge Park Steels F.C., and Cardiff Civil Service. Bath City Football Club from Somerset, England, was formed in 1889 as Bath A.F.C. The team changed its name to Bath Railway in 1902, before settling on the name Bath City F.C. Included among Scottish amateur works teams are Inverurie Loco Works F.C., Colville Park A.F.C. (Ravenscraig steelworks), Shawfield Amateurs (White's Chemical Works) and Burntisland Shipyard A.F.C., while Glynhill Moorcroft A.F.C. began"
"shelved, with the second leg never played. The format of the competition remained constant throughout the six years of its existence, and indeed the format was the same as the last edition of Its forerunner, the Texaco Cup. Sixteen English clubs competed in four groups of four, with the winners of each group qualifying for the quarter-finals. Clubs played each of the other teams in their group once, with two points awarded for a win, one for a draw, and a bonus point for each side that scored three or more goals in a single match. Eight Scottish League clubs"
"known in turn as the Fine Fare League, B&Q League, Bell's Scottish Football League and finally as the Irn-Bru Scottish Football League. The SFL also organised two knock-out cup competitions, the Scottish League Cup and the Scottish Challenge Cup. Organised football in Scotland began in 1873 with the formation of the Scottish Football Association (SFA). During the next 15 years or so, clubs would play friendly matches, Scottish Cup ties and local cup (e.g. Glasgow Cup or East of Scotland Shield) ties. The Football League, initially containing clubs from the North West and Midlands of England, was formed in 1888."
"Bolton Wanderers, Burnley, Derby County, Everton, Notts County, Preston North End, Stoke (now Stoke City), West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers), known as The Football League. When the League admitted additional members from the rival Football Alliance in 1892, it was split into two divisions. For the next 100 years, the First Division was the top professional league in English football. Then, in 1992 the 22 clubs making up the First Division elected to resign from the Football League and set up the Premier League. The Football League was consequently re-organised, with the Second, Third and Fourth Divisions now renamed"
"day. The home nations all have separate national teams and domestic competitions, most notably England's Premier League and FA Cup, and the Scottish Premiership and Scottish Cup. Referred to as the ""home of football"" by the international governing body FIFA, England hosted and won the 1966 FIFA World Cup. The English Premier League (formed in 1992 by member clubs of the old Football League First Division) is the most-watched football league in the world. Its biggest clubs include: Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur. Scottish teams Celtic and Rangers also have a wide global fanbase. Football"
"Scottish Football League in 1893, although they had to win the Second Division twice before being elected into the First Division in 1895. A significant change at this time was that players were no longer required to be members of the Catholic Young Men's Society. Hibs are not seen today as being an Irish or Roman Catholic institution, as it was in the early years of its history. For instance, the Irish harp was only re-introduced to the club badge when it was last re-designed in 2000. This design reflects the three pillars of the club's identity: Ireland, Edinburgh (the"
"end of each season, the club with the most points is crowned league champion. If points are equal, the goal difference determines the winner. If this still does not result in a winner, the tied teams must take part in a playoff game at a neutral venue to determine the final placings. The champions are directly promoted to the Scottish Championship, swapping places with the bottom club of the Championship. The clubs finishing 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 9th in the Championship then enter the two-legged Championship play-off. The 2nd-placed League One club plays the 3rd-placed League One club, whilst the"