The Scottish Football League Second Division was the third tier of the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013.

History

The Second Division was created in 1975, as part of a wider reconstruction of the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km sout ...

(SFL). Prior to 1975, the SFL had been split into two divisions (Division One and Division Two). The effect of the reconstruction was to split these two divisions into three, with the top flight named the Premier Division, second tier the First Division, and a new third tier was created known as the Second Division. A fourth tier, known as the Third Division, was created in 1994. In 1998, the Premier Division clubs broke away from the SFL to form the

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 t ...

(SPL). The Second Division continued as before, but it was now the second level of the SFL. In 2013, the SFL and SPL merged to form the

Scottish Professional Football League The Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) is the national men's association football league in Scotland. The league was formed in June 2013 following a merger between the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football League. As ...

(SPFL). The SPFL named its third tier as

Scottish League One The Scottish League One, known as cinch League One for sponsorship reasons, 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 ...

, which effectively replaced the Second Division.

Competition

From 1994 until 2013, the Second Division consisted of ten teams. From 1994 to 2006, the top two teams were promoted to the First Division and the bottom two were relegated to the Third Division. From 2006 to 2013, the top team in the Second Division was promoted to the First Division, while the clubs in 2nd through 4th places entered an end of season play-off with the 9th placed side in the First Division. The bottom club was automatically relegated to the Third Division and the 9th placed club entered an end of season play-off with the second, third and fourth placed clubs from the Third Division. The teams played each other four times with three points for a victory and one point each for a drawn game. In the event of two teams finishing with the same number of points, the respective teams' position is decided on

goal difference Goal difference, goal differential or points difference is a form of tiebreaker used to rank sport teams which finish on equal points in a league competition. Either "goal difference" or "points difference" is used, depending on whether matches a ...

. If goal difference is equal too, the team who has scored the most goals is placed higher. Most players in the Second Division were part-time professionals.

Winners of the Second Division

b.Team failed to gain promotion via play-offs

Notes

* 1.

Airdrie United Airdrieonians Football Club is a Scottish professional football team in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, who are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League One. They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United ...

lost in the play-offs, but were promoted due to Gretna's demotion to the Third Division, and subsequent resignation from the

References

External links

Official Site
Scottish Football League (Archived 16 June 2012)
Scottish Football League Second Division clubs' locations
Footiemap.com (Archived 15 October 2008) {{UEFA third level leagues 3 1975 establishments in Scotland 2013 disestablishments in Scotland Sco Sports leagues established in 1975 Sports leagues disestablished in 2013