The SPFL Reserve League is the

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

league for

football in Scotland Association football is one of the national sports of Scotland and the most popular sport in the country. There is a long tradition of "football" games in Orkney, Lewis and southern Scotland, especially the Scottish Borders, although many of ...

. The league began in 2018, as the

SPFL Development League The SPFL Development League was the top level of youth football in Scotland, which was contested in various formats between 1998 and 2018. History A youth league was founded as the Scottish Premier under-18 League in 1998. Clubs fielded under-1 ...

was replaced by a reserve team (i.e not age-restricted) format.

History

In its first season, 2018–19, the league included 27 clubs, split into two divisions. At its end, several clubs (

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

, Hibernian,

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

and St Johnstone) intimated that they would withdraw from the Reserve League to arrange their own programme of matches. The 2019–20 edition was formed with 19 clubs, with the season being curtailed early due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland The COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland is part of the COVID-19 pandemic of COVID-19, coronavirus disease-2019, caused by the virus Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, SARS-CoV-2. The first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Scotland on 1 M ...

; the winners were decided on a 'points per game' calculation.Hamilton and Livingston named reserve league winners as SPFL drop hint over competition's future
Daily Record, 16 June 2020Hamilton Academical and Livingston Named Reserve League Champions
Scottish Professional Football League, 16 June 2020 After a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, the league returned in season 2022–23 with ten clubs participating. Hibernian were the winners of a truncated competition, with only one round of matches (nine per team). In 2023–24, Queen's Park won six of their eight Reserve League fixtures, securing the title. Their only defeat came against the previous season's champions Hibernian. In 2024-25, six clubs participated in the SPFL Reserve League, playing each other twice across the season. Queen's Park won a second successive title with a points tally of 19; just one point ahead of runners up Livingston.

Participating clubs

*''(for 2024–25 - Airdrieonians, Ayr United and Hibernian withdrew)'' *

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently compete in the after winning the 2022–23 Scottish League One title. Dunfermline play at ...

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...

* Livingston * Queen of the South * Queen's Park

Winners

Reserve Cup

A knockout competition is organised alongside the League. A total of 12 clubs entered the 2024/25 SPFL Reserve Cup, with the competing sides split into three groups of four on a broadly regional basis. Clubs played each other once and the winner of each group progressed to the semi finals. These were

, Queen's Park, and

Queen of the South F.C. Queen of the South Football Club is a Scottish professional football club formed in 1919 in Dumfries. The club plays in , the third tier of Scottish football. They are traditionally nicknamed the '' Doonhamers'' but are more usually referred ...

, the best runner-up across the three groups, also qualifyed for the semi-finals. The Final, between Kilmarnock and Dunfermline, took place on the 23rd of April 2025. Dunfermline won the match 2-1, securing their second successive reserve cup.
SPFL

References

External links

Table and fixtures
at

SPFL 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 well ...

Reserve League 2018 establishments in Scotland

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...