The Scottish football league system is a series of generally connected leagues for Scottish football clubs.
The Scottish system is more complicated than many other national league systems, consisting of several completely separate systems or 'grades' of leagues and clubs. As well as senior football there is junior football, and also amateur football and welfare football.
In senior football in Scotland there is one national league, the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), which has four divisions. There are also several regional leagues (most notably the Highland Football League and since 2013 the Lowland Football League). From 2014–15, a promotion/relegation play-off between the two regional leagues and the SPFL national league was introduced for the first time.
Two clubs based in England play in the senior Scottish system - Berwick Rangers in the Lowland League and Tweedmouth Rangers in the East of Scotland League. A small number of English amateur clubs in the lowest levels of the game, based on or around the
Anglo-Scottish border
The Anglo-Scottish border () is a border separating Scotland and England which runs for between Marshall Meadows Bay on the east coast and the Solway Firth in the west. The surrounding area is sometimes referred to as "the Borderlands".
Th ...
Until 2013 Scottish football had no pyramid league system, and as a result it was impossible for clubs in regional leagues to progress into the national leagues, unless a vacancy opened in the Scottish Football League. The final example of this was ahead of the 2008–09 season, where Gretna's demise allowed Annan Athletic to take their place. Overall, the structure of men's football in Scotland was among the most fractured and multi-faceted in
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...
, being unique in having a plurality of adult male governing bodies (with Seniors, Juniors, Amateurs and Welfarers - see below). It was not uncommon for a given town or county to have clubs in as many as three or four separate systems.
Moves towards creating a pyramid system began in 2008 under the tenure of Scottish Football Association (SFA) chief executive Gordon Smith, with discussions between the SFA and the regional and junior leagues. On 7 May 2013
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 ...
clubs unanimously agreed on the introduction of a pyramid structure to Scottish football along with the reintroduction of a single governing body for the 42 clubs competing at a national level, a revised financial distribution model, and the possibility of a promotion/relegation play-off between the top two divisions.
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 ...
(tier 1) and the Scottish Football League (tiers 2–4). At the same time, the Lowland Football League (tier 5) was founded, and from 2014 to 2021 the leagues below (tier 6) began to be incorporated as each joined the system. For each division, its official name, number of clubs, number of games, and promotion/relegation spots are given:
The leagues below level four are classed as " non-league football", meaning they are outside the Scottish Professional Football League and are played on a regional not a national basis. The Lowland League was created in 2013–14 and runs in parallel with the Highland League to form level five on the pyramid. Since 2014–15 the two league winners have played off against each other, with the winner then playing the team finishing 10th in League Two in a promotion/relegation play-off for a place in the SPFL.
Below the Highland League is the
Midlands League
The Midlands Football League is a junior football league based in the Tayside area of Scotland. The league sits at level 6 on the Scottish football league system, acting as a feeder to the Highland Football League.
Founded in 2021, the inau ...
(19 clubs); North Caledonian Football League (13 teams, including two reserve teams); and the North Region League (30 clubs, 2 divisions). Below the Lowland League is the East of Scotland Football League (60 clubs, including one reserve team, 4 divisions); the South of Scotland Football League (12 clubs, including two reserve teams); and the West of Scotland Football League (79 clubs, 5 divisions). At end of season, round robin promotion play-offs take place between the winners of feeder leagues of the Highland and Lowland League respectively (subject to each club meeting licensing criteria) for promotion to tier 5.
At the start of the 2022–23 season, this totalled 292 teams across 20 divisions.
Cup competitions
All clubs in tier 5 and above automatically enter the
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Scottish League Cup
The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in exist ...
, along with the Highland and Lowland champions, and one of the runners-up. The Scottish Challenge Cup features 30 SPFL clubs from outside the Premiership, Under 21s teams, and four from the Highland and Lowland leagues.
The
SFA South Region Challenge Cup
The North and South Region Challenge Cups are regional senior non-league competitions run by the Scottish Football Association. The southern tournament is open to full member non-league clubs in the south of the country, while similar stipulations ...
is for all 164 non-league clubs in the Lowland area (excluding reserve or B teams). The SFA North Region Challenge Cup existed between 2007 and 2009. There are also a variety of smaller cup tournaments at league and regional level.
SJFA North Region
The Scottish Junior Football Association, North Region is one of the two regions of the Scottish Junior Football Association. Its area covers Grampian and Moray as well as part of the Highland and Angus council areas – from Montrose in the s ...
of 34 clubs (4 clubs withdrew for 2022–23). This represents a total of 53 teams across 3 divisions. The term 'junior' refers not to the age of the players but the level of football played. These two regions joined the pyramid system at tier 6 below the Highland League in 2021–22.
Members of the SJFA, consisting of 114 teams in total from the two regions as well as the East of Scotland League and West of Scotland League (5 teams are in abeyance for 2022–23), participate in the
Scottish Junior Cup
The Scottish Junior Cup is an annual football competition organised by the Scottish Junior Football Association. The competition has been held every year since the inception of the SJFA in 1886 and, as of the 2022–23 edition, 108 teams compete ...
. Up to three non-SFA members can qualify for the
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Aberdeenshire Cup and Shield, and run an Under-20s team in the Senior development structure (the Aberdeenshire & District League).
In 2020, as part of a long process to form an integrated footballing pyramid structure, all 63 West Region Junior clubs decided to depart and join the newly founded West of Scotland Football League, a feeder to the Lowland League. Between 2017 and 2020 more than half of the East Region clubs departed the junior ranks, joining the senior East of Scotland Football League which is also below the Lowland League. The remaining clubs in the East Premiership South made the same move to the East of Scotland League for season 2021–22, and the East Premiership North clubs formed the
Midlands League
The Midlands Football League is a junior football league based in the Tayside area of Scotland. The league sits at level 6 on the Scottish football league system, acting as a feeder to the Highland Football League.
Founded in 2021, the inau ...
at tier 6 below the Highland League. The North Region also joined the pyramid structure at the same level. The northern leagues at that level entered the pyramid later in July.
Amateur football
Again separate from the above, and generally agreed to lie 'below' the senior and junior levels, are the hundreds of clubs in membership of the Scottish Amateur Football Association which oversees 50 leagues - although this includes Sunday League football and
futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and indoor football.
Futsal is played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is t ...
competitions. Prestige centres around the historic Scottish Amateur Cup. A number of Senior and Junior clubs run reserve teams in Amateur football. Student and Police football is also affiliated to the SAFA.
As of 2022–23 there are 360 teams – in 12 geographic leagues containing a total of 31 league divisions – playing Saturday football under a regular August–May season. In addition there are 137 teams playing in four specialist Saturday Morning leagues (including one for Glasgow Colleges Amateur Football Association) in Dundee and
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated pop ...
, plus 22 teams playing in
Strathclyde Evangelical Churches Football League
Strathclyde ( in Gaelic, meaning "strath (valley) of the River Clyde") was one of nine former local government regions of Scotland created in 1975 by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and abolished in 1996 by the Local Government etc. ...
.
There are also 90 teams playing in the Summer Saturday leagues (season 2022), most of which are located in the Highland; 244 teams are in the Sunday League system.
Saturday Leagues (Winter)
Saturday Leagues (Summer)
Sunday Leagues
Welfare football
Roughly concurrent with the Scottish Amateur Football Association is the Scottish Welfare Football Association, which has a very low profile nationally. The SWFA was established in the aftermath of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, and oversees leagues mainly operating Sunday and summer or midweek football, predominantly in the north of Scotland.
From a peak of over 500 clubs, there were 158 teams in membership in November 2012, down from 238 teams in 2007.
As of Season 2022 (Summer) and 2022–23 (Winter) there are 100 teams in 8 geographic leagues, plus 13 clubs playing in Warriors Premier League.
Reserve and Youth football
The reserve and youth leagues are mostly governed by the relevant adult leagues.
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...