Scottish Cup - WikiHQ

The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the Scottish Cup, is an annual association football knock-out cup competition for men's football clubs in Scotland. The competition is called Scottish Gas Men's Scottish Cup for sponsorship reasons.

Although it is the second-oldest competition in association football history, after the English FA Cup, the Scottish Cup trophy is the oldest in association football and is also the oldest national trophy in the world. It was first presented to Queen's Park, who won the final match of the inaugural tournament in March 1874. The Scottish Cup Final is usually the last game of the season, taking place at the end of May. The lowest ranked clubs enter the tournament at the preliminary round whilst the highest ranked, those that compete in the Scottish Premiership, enter at the fourth round stage in January.

thumb |right |225px |alt=A football player scores a goal against the opposing goalkeeper from a penalty-kick. Stewards and camera-operators are visible behind the goal net. |The [[2006 Scottish Cup Final|2006 final between Heart of Midlothian and Gretna was decided by a penalty shoot-out.]]

The competition is a knock-out tournament.

The competition has a staggered entry system. For the 2022–23 edition, the preliminary round is contested by 50 clubs. Eighteen Highland League and sixteen Lowland League clubs begin in the first round. Ten Scottish League Two clubs enter the second round. Scottish League One and Scottish Championship clubs start in the third round, while 12 Scottish Premiership clubs enter in the fourth round.

Eligible clubs and players

Any club that is a full or associate member of the Scottish Football Association (SFA) is entitled to compete in the tournament.

Clubs which are not full members of the SFA may still qualify for the tournament by winning one of the six leagues at tier 6 in the Scottish football league system (East, Midlands, North Caledonian, North Region, South, West) or the East, South and West of Scotland Cup-Winners Shield. Clubs that are members of the Scottish Junior Football Association (SJFA) have been able to qualify since 2007 by winning the Scottish Junior Cup.

Players that are registered with a competing club are eligible to play, however, cannot represent more than one club during the same tournament.

Venues

Before the semi-final and final rounds, the venue of each match is determined when the fixtures are drawn; the first club drawn in a fixture is named the home team and chooses the venue for the match, usually its own home ground. On occasions when Hampden has been unavailable, such as when it was being renovated in the late 1990s and when it was being transformed into an athletics stadium for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, the semi-finals have been hosted at Celtic Park and Ibrox Stadium, also in Glasgow.

thumb |right |225px |alt=The interior of a football stadium. |The semi-final and final games are hosted at [[Hampden Park.]]

Hampden Park also usually hosts the final match of the tournament. Hampden Park has held world and European records for the highest attendance, some of which were recorded at Scottish Cup games. The 1937 final played between Aberdeen and Celtic attracted a crowd of 147,365 spectators which was a world record for a national cup final and remains a European record. The Scottish Cup winners now qualify to compete in the following season's UEFA Europa League (formerly known as the UEFA Cup). It is possible for the Scottish Cup winners to have already qualified for a UEFA competition through their league ranking in the Scottish Premiership. In this scenario, the qualification spot passes to the highest ranked team in that competition not yet qualified, rather than to the Scottish Cup runners-up.

History

thumb|right|250px|[[Celtic F.C. are the side with the most Scottish Cup victories. The trophy is pictured second from left, alongside the 1907–08 team]]

The Scottish Football Association was founded in 1873 and the Scottish Cup was created as an annual competition for its members. The first Scottish Cup match took place on 18 October 1873 when Renton defeated Kilmarnock 2–0 in the first round. In its early years, the competition was dominated by Queen's Park who won the final 10 times in the first twenty years. Vale of Leven, Dumbarton and Renton were also successful during this period. It was made by silversmith Martin Hall & Co in London in 1873 and has been presented to the winners of the tournament since 1874. It is removed once each year to be cleaned and presented to the tournament winners. After the presentation ceremony, the trophy is returned to the museum. A replica of the original trophy is given to the tournament winners after the ceremony and is also used for promotional purposes. The most successful club in terms of wins and appearances in the final is Celtic, with 43 wins from 62. Rangers and Celtic have finished runners-up on more occasions than any other club with 19 defeats in the final.

!scope="row"|Celtic

|43

|2026

|19

|2025

|62

!scope="row"|Rangers

|34

|2022

|19

|2024

|54

!scope="row"|Queen's Park

|10

|1893

|1900

|12

!scope="row"|Aberdeen

|2025

|2017

|17

!scope="row"|Heart of Midlothian

|2012

|2022

|17

!scope="row"|Hibernian

|2016

|12

|2021

|15

!scope="row"|Kilmarnock

|1997

|1960

!scope="row"|Vale of Leven

|1879

|1890

!scope="row"|St Mirren

|1987

|1962

!scope="row"|Clyde

|1958

|1949

!scope="row"|Dundee United

|2010

|2014

|10

!scope="row"|Motherwell

|1991

|2018

!scope="row"|Third Lanark

|1905

|1936

!scope="row"|Dunfermline Athletic

|1968

|2026

!scope="row"|Falkirk

|1957

|2015

!scope="row"|Renton

|1888

|1895

!scope="row"|St Johnstone

|2021

|—

!scope="row"|Dumbarton

|1883

|1897

!scope="row"|Dundee

|1910

|2003

!scope="row"|Airdrieonians (1878)

|1924

|1995

!scope="row"|East Fife

|1938

|1950

!scope="row"|Greenock Morton

|1922

|1948

!scope="row"|Partick Thistle

|1921

|1930

!scope="row"|Inverness Caledonian Thistle

|2015

|2023

!scope="row"|St Bernard's

|1895

|—

!scope="row"|Hamilton Academical

|—

|1935

!scope="row"|Ross County

|—

|2010

!scope="row"|Queen of the South

|—

|2008

!scope="row"|Gretna

|—

|2006

!scope="row"|Albion Rovers

|—

|1920

!scope="row"|Raith Rovers

|—

|1913

!scope="row"|Cambuslang

|—

|1888

!scope="row"|Thornliebank

|—

|1880

!scope="row"|Clydesdale

|—

|1874

Domestic double and treble

Clubs that win the Scottish Cup can complete a domestic "double" by becoming Scottish league champions in the same season. Only three clubs have won both competitions in the same season. Celtic have completed the domestic league and Scottish Cup double on 22 occasions, followed by Rangers on 18. Hibernian became the second tier-two side to win the cup as they defeated Rangers, who were also then in the second tier, in the 2016 final. Only one other club from outside the top-tier of league football has won the competition; non-league Queen's Park defeated Celtic in the 1893 final. Several other clubs have reached the final whilst competing outside the top tier of league football, but were defeated.

In the rounds before the final, some notable shocks have occurred. In 1959, Dundee were eliminated by Highland League club Fraserburgh despite having Scotland internationals in their squad. A season later, Eyemouth United reached the quarter-finals after defeating two higher league clubs. In 1967, Berwick Rangers eliminated defending champions Rangers in the first round.

Celtic's shock defeat by First Division club Inverness Caledonian Thistle in 2000 led to the famous In the 2020–21 competition, Highland League club Brora Rangers knocked out Championship leaders Heart of Midlothian, who had been runners-up in each of the two previous seasons. Cup holders St Johnstone were knocked out by League Two (fourth tier) club Kelty Hearts in 2021–22.

Drumchapel United of the West of Scotland First Division, a seventh tier league in the Scottish pyramid, defeated League One side (third tier) Edinburgh in the 2022–23 edition. Later in that season, West of Scotland Premier Division (sixth tier) side Darvel knocked out Premiership club Aberdeen, with 56 places separating the two teams.

In 2025, Rangers were eliminated in the Fifth round by mid-table second tier Queen's Park after a 1–0 defeat at Ibrox Stadium. It was the first time in Rangers' history that they lost a home tie to a lower division team in the competition, as well as the first time since 1967 that they had been eliminated by a lower division rival. Queen's Park had not defeated their historic Glasgow rivals in any competition since 1948, and had not won a Scottish Cup meeting since 1882.

Other results regarded as shocks include Stenhousemuir's win against Aberdeen in 1995,

Sponsorship

The Scottish Cup has been sponsored several times since the first organisation backed the tournament in 1983. The sponsor has been able to determine the name of the competition. There have been five sponsors since 1983 as well as several name changes within the duration of each sponsorship. The competition relies on revenue earned from these agreements although it ran without a title sponsor for over 100 years until the late 1980s.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:left;margin-left:1em;float:center"

!Period

!Sponsor

!Name

|1873–1982||No sponsor ||Scottish Cup

|1983–88||Scottish Health Education Group ||Scottish Cup

|2007–08||No sponsor ||Scottish Cup

|2008–10||Scottish Government ||Homecoming Scottish Cup in 2008–09 and the Active Nation Scottish Cup in 2009–10

|2010–11||No sponsor ||Scottish Cup

|2011–20||William Hill ||William Hill Scottish Cup

|2020–23||No sponsor ||Scottish Cup

|2023–present||Scottish Gas ||Scottish Gas Men's Scottish Cup The partnership was praised for the promotion of a healthy lifestyle linked with football.

Media coverage

UK and Ireland

Scottish Cup matches are currently broadcast live by both BBC Scotland in Scotland and Premier Sports across the rest of the United Kingdom and Ireland.

BBC Radio Scotland provide radio coverage including several full live commentaries with additional commentaries broadcast on Radio Scotland's local frequencies. Radio broadcasting rights are also held by BBC Radio nan Gàidheal and BBC Radio 5 Live also carry some games.

The Scottish Cup Final is one of several events reserved for live broadcast in Scotland terrestrial television under the Ofcom Code on Sports and Other Listed and Designated Events.

International

The Scottish FA sells overseas rights separately from their domestic contract.

{| class="wikitable sortable"

!Territory

!Network

| rowspan="2" | SuperSport

| rowspan="10" | Setanta Sports

| Paramount+

| rowspan="4" | Arena Sport

| Canal Gol Brasil

| rowspan="2" |Astro

| Max Sport

| rowspan="3" | Monomax

| rowspan="2" | Sport Klub

| rowspan="3" |Go3 Sport

| Indian sub-continent

| Fancode

| Sport5

|Como TV

|Sharjah Sports

| Polsat Sport

| Sport TV

| Arena Sport

| rowspan="2" |

| Sıfır TV

| S Sport+

|ESPN