Association football competition in Scotland

Football tournament
The Scottish League Cup ( besides known as the Premier Sports Cup for sponsorship reasons ) is a football competition open to all scots Professional Football League ( SPFL ) club. first held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in being. The rival had a true smasher format but became a group and hard rival from 2016–17.

Rangers are the record holders of the cup, winning 27 times. Celtic are the holders, winning their twentieth title after beating Hibernian 2–1 at Hampden Park on 19 December 2021. The domestic television rights are held by Premier Sports who replaced BT Sport from the 2019–20 season .

format [edit ]

historically, the Scottish League Cup has oscillated between being a straightforward single-elimination hard tournament and having an initial group phase. Since the 2016–17 season, the League Cup has used a group phase format. The format has eight groups of five teams playing each other once in a round-robin format. [ 1 ] The forty teams playing in the group phase dwell of the 38 league clubs who are not participating in UEFA competitions, along with two teams from outside the league. [ 1 ] [ notice 1 ] In the group phase, three points are given for a gain and one point for a draw. If matches are level after ninety minutes, a punishment shoot-out is held with the winning team gaining a bonus point. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] The groups are regionalised : there are four groups in the North section, and four in the South section, with three pots for each regional section – clear seeds, second seeds, and unseeded clubs. Each group will consist of one circus tent seed, one second seed, and three unseeded clubs. The eight group winners and three best runner-up build up into the second base round off, where they are joined by the five clubs participating in UEFA competitions. [ 1 ] The tournament then adopts a single-elimination hard format. There are no replays, which means all draw matches are decided by extra prison term and a penalty gunfight, if necessity. The semi-final matches are played on a achromatic ground, determined by the localization and size of supports involved. The final game is traditionally played at Hampden Park in Glasgow, though due to renovations some finals have been played at other venues, such as Celtic Park or Ibrox Stadium. The newly format besides allowed the SPFL to reintroduce the two-weekend winter unwrap in January. Along with the newly designed tournament, a fresh television bargain for it was announced as BT Sport took over rights from BBC Scotland. [ 2 ] In February 2016 the SPFL announced the League Cup final examination would be moved to November. [ 1 ] [ 3 ]

history [edit ]

The cup has its origins in a regional cup competition called the Southern League Cup which was introduced in 1940 when wartime restrictions led to a suspension of the scots Cup. This tournament was largely regional and did not involve all of the teams who comprised the scots Football League anterior to the outbreak of war. The first base official Scottish Football League Cup was contested during the 1946–47 season, when Rangers defeated Aberdeen in the final. [ 4 ] The rival was very democratic with supporters during the first few decades of its universe. The tournament consisted of 8 or 9 groups consisting of 4 or 5 teams. The groups were seeded into 2 sets with the top 16 teams in Division 1 making up the beginning four groups. This guaranteed that 4 ‘top ‘ teams would play 4 ‘lesser ‘ teams in the quarter-finals. extra games when the Premier League was formed and expanded european competitions meant that by the early 1980s, its long-winded format, which involved group rounds played early in the season leading to two-legged knock-out rounds, attracted much criticism. In the mid-1980s the tournament was revamped to a short, one elimination knock-out format with a final meet prior to Christmas, which provided the exhilaration of a cup concluding early in the season. During the 1999–2000 competition, the semi-finals and final examination were moved to the spring to avoid the congestion of fixtures caused by the early rounds of the UEFA clubhouse competitions and Scotland ‘s representatives in Europe were given automatic byes until the third base round of competition. From the 2016–17 edition the League Cup reverted to a group stage format, with single-elimination knock-out in the last 16 onwards. [ 2 ]

former finals [edit ]

The League Cup has been known by unlike names due to sponsorship : [ 5 ]

trophy [edit ]

Since the competition ‘s origin, the winning team has been awarded the three-handled trophy known as the Scottish Football League Cup. however, during the 1980s when Skol laager sponsored the competition, a second gear trophy known as the Skol Cup was awarded a well. After the 1987–88 rival when Rangers won their third Skol Cup, they were given the trophy permanently and a new Skol Cup with a slenderly unlike design was introduced the following season. It was long term Clyde and then Scottish Football League chair John McMahon who donated the trophy that is placid awarded to the winners of the contest to this day. [ 17 ]

european qualification [edit ]

Until 1995, the winners of the Scottish League Cup were granted a seat in the UEFA Cup, although this privilege was rarely invoked as the winning teams normally qualified for Europe by some other means such as winning the League Championship or scottish Cup. The most late case was Raith Rovers who represented Scotland in the 1995–96 UEFA Cup after winning the League Cup the former season as a First Division club. This prerogative has since been discontinued .

performance by golf club [edit ]

Media coverage [edit ]

scottish League Cup matches are shown live by Premier Sports in the United Kingdom and Ireland. [ 2 ] [ 16 ] [ 19 ] In Australia, the Scottish League Cup is broadcast by beIN Sports. The 2009 Scottish League Cup Final was shown live on SBS due to a fixture clash on previous hosts ‘ Setanta groove. [ 2 ] In sub-saharan Africa, the Scottish League Cup matches are shown live by ESPN

list of broadcasters [edit ]

Notes [edit ]

References [edit ]