Scottish Cup

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Scottish Cup

Founded	1874
Region	Scotland
Current champions	Celtic
Most successful club(s)	Celtic (36 titles)
Website	Scottish Cup
Scottish Cup 2013–14

The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,^[1] commonly known as the Scottish Cup^[2] or the William Hill Scottish Cup for sponsorship purposes,^[3] is the main national cup competition in Scottish football. It is a knockout cup competition run by and named after the Scottish Football Association.

The Scottish Cup trophy is the oldest national trophy in the world.^[4] It was first held in 1873–74, with the first winners being Queen's Park.^[4] The current holders of the Scottish Cup are Celtic, who defeated Hibernian 3-0 in the 2013 Scottish Cup Final on 26 May 2013.

Format

The competition is a knockout one. Teams are drawn against each other randomly. The team who is drawn first from each tie is the home team. If the first match finishes in a draw, a replay is played at the stadium of the second team drawn. In the replay, if the scores are still level at full-time, extra time is played and (if necessary) penalties are used to decide the winner of the tie.

The semi-final matches are played at neutral stadiums, usually the national stadium (smaller stadiums if the teams do not bring a large support) Hampden Park and the final itself is traditionally played at Hampden. Celtic Park staged the finals in 1993 and 1998 and Ibrox staged the final in 1997 while Hampden was being redeveloped. The final and semi-final do not have replays and are played to a finish. Extra time is played and penalties are used if necessary. Two finals (1990 and 2006) have been decided by penalties.

Entry criteria

All clubs that are full members of the Scottish Football Association (SFA) qualify automatically for the Scottish Cup. In addition to this, the league winners of the East of Scotland and South of Scotland Leagues, both of which contain some clubs that are not full members of the SFA, are given a place in the draw. Before 2007, only four non-league teams advanced from the Scottish Qualifying Cup (North) and (South) competitions.^[5] The Qualifying Cup competitions were scrapped in 2007 and the 36 SFA member clubs outwith the professional leagues were given direct entry to the Scottish Cup.

Clubs from Scottish Junior football (all but one of whom - Girvan - are not members of the SFA as they belong to the Scottish Junior FA) were admitted for the first time in the 2007–08 competition. Up to four Junior clubs are allowed to enter, these being the champions of the previous season's Scottish Junior Football North Premier League, the Scottish Junior Football West Premier League, the Scottish Junior Football East Region Super League, and the winner of the Scottish Junior Cup if they have not also won one of the three top regional league titles.^[6]

The competition has a staggered entry system. In the 2013–14 season, 36 clubs entered from the first round; sixteen from the Highland League, three qualifying Junior clubs and seventeen other clubs affiliated with the Scottish Football Association.^[7] Scottish League Two clubs entered in the second round along with the top two clubs from the previous season's Highland League and the winners of both the South of Scotland League and the East of Scotland League.^[7] Scottish League One and six Scottish Championship clubs started in the third round,^[7] while the remaining four Championship clubs and all 12 Scottish Premiership clubs entered in the fourth round.^[7]

European qualification

As with all domestic cup competitions in UEFA countries, the winners of the Scottish Cup qualify for the following season's UEFA Europa League (previously the UEFA Cup). If the winners have already qualified for the UEFA Champions League, the cup runners-up are awarded the Europa League place. This has been quite a regular occurrence in Scotland, with either Rangers or Celtic often winning 'The Double', while Aberdeen also achieved that feat in 1984.

In 2006, Heart of Midlothian had already qualified for the UEFA Champions League by finishing second in the SPL, and then won the 2006 Scottish Cup Final. Therefore, the Scottish Cup place in Europe passed to Gretna, the beaten finalists. In 2008, the SFA announced that in such a situation the place would in future be awarded to the highest-placed club in the SPL who had not otherwise qualified for Europe. This followed some disappointing performances by middle-ranking Scottish teams including Gretna, Dunfermline Athletic and Queen of the South. All those clubs were knocked out at the first hurdle of the UEFA Cup which reduced the nation's coefficient, the calculation used to determine the number of places allocated in UEFA tournaments. UEFA blocked the proposed change, however, insisting that a club from the cup competition should represent Scotland. Falkirk therefore qualified for the 2009-10 UEFA Europa League as runners-up of the 2009 Scottish Cup Final to league champions Rangers. Falkirk then lost in their opening European tie to FC Vaduz of Liechtenstein. In 2010, as Dundee United had qualified for the Europa League through both winning the Scottish Cup and finishing in third place in the SPL, the Europa League place passed to Motherwell, who finished fifth in the league.

"Giant killers"

Because it involves clubs of all standards playing against each other, there is the possibility for "minnows" from the lower or junior divisions to become "giant-killers" by eliminating top clubs from the tournament. Some famous cup shocks include 1938, when Second Division East Fife were the victors in the final against Kilmarnock and thus won the cup.

On 31 January 1959, Highland League outfit Fraserburgh won 1–0 against a Dundee side which had seven Scottish internationals in their side. In 1967, Berwick Rangers defeated Rangers 1–0, with Sammy Reid scoring the only goal of the match.

In 2000, Inverness Caledonian Thistle defeated Celtic 3–1.^[8] Caley would also record another victory at home to Martin O'Neill's Celtic side in 2003. The former victory prompted the newspaper headline "Super Caley Go Ballistic Celtic Are Atrocious".^[8]

Celtic, with a debutante Roy Keane in tow, also fell victim to Clyde, a side whose average age was 21, when they were beaten 2–1 at Broadwood Stadium in January 2006. On 10 April 2010, First Division club Ross County beat Celtic 2-0 to reach the final for the first time in their history.

In the 2013–14 fourth round ties, Albion Rovers, who were second bottom of League Two at the time, defeated Premiership club Motherwell.^[9] The victory was also Albion's first win over Motherwell in 34 attempts (outwith the Lanarkshire Cup).^[9]

Previous finals

Main article: List of Scottish Cup finals

Club	Wins	Last win	Runners-up	Last final lost
Celtic	36	2013	18	2002
Rangers	33	2009	17	1998
Queen's Park	10	1893	2	1900
Heart of Midlothian	8	2012	6	1996
Aberdeen	7	1990	8	2000
Kilmarnock	3	1997	5	1960
Vale of Leven	3	1879	4	1890
Clyde	3	1958	3	1949
St. Mirren	3	1987	3	1962
Hibernian	2	1902	11	2013
Dundee United	2	2010	7	2005
Motherwell	2	1991	5	2011
Third Lanark	2	1905	4	1936
Dunfermline Athletic	2	1968	3	2007
Renton	2	1888	3	1895
Falkirk	2	1957	2	2009
Dumbarton	1	1883	5	1897
Dundee	1	1910	4	2003
Airdrieonians (1878)	1	1924	3	1995
East Fife	1	1938	2	1950
Greenock Morton	1	1922	1	1948
Partick Thistle	1	1921	1	1930
St. Bernard's	1	1895	—	—
Hamilton Academical	—	—	2	1935
Albion Rovers	—	—	1	1920
Cambuslang	—	—	1	1888
Clydesdale	—	—	1	1874
Gretna	—	—	1	2006
Queen of the South	—	—	1	2008
Raith Rovers	—	—	1	1913
Ross County	—	—	1	2010
Thornliebank	—	—	1	1880

The 1909 Scottish Cup Final between Rangers and Celtic is not included in this tally.

Media coverage

Scottish Cup matches are currently broadcast live by both BBC Sport Scotland in Scotland and Sky Sports across the rest of the United Kingdom and also into Ireland.^[10]

Free/Pay TV	Broadcaster ^[10]	Live Matches ^[10]	Replays ^[10]	Highlights ^[10]
Pay	Sky Sports	Up to 9	Yes - first pick	Yes
Free	BBC Scotland	At least 5; up to 8	Yes - second pick	Yes

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 FA sells overseas rights separately from their domestic contract. In Australia, the Scottish Cup is broadcast exclusively by Setanta Sports Australia. Premium Sports hold the rights for the United States, Canada and the Caribbean.

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.

Sponsorship

The tournament has been sponsored by a number of institutions in recent years, which have also lent their name to the competition. These sponsors have included:

Scottish Health Board (–1989)
Tennents Lager (1989–2007)^[11]
Subsidised by the SFA (2007–2008)
Homecoming Scotland 2009 (2008–09)^[12]
Active Nation (2009–10)^[13]
No sponsor (2011)^[14]
William Hill (2012–2014)^[14]^[15]

The Scottish Government in association with businessman Willie Haughey sponsored the Scottish Cup for the 2008–09 and 2009–10 seasons, with the 2009 competition being called The Homecoming Scottish Cup and the 2010 competition called The Active Nation Scottish Cup.

Carling are an additional sponsor from 2010 to 2014, but they do not have naming rights for the trophy.^[16]

References

↑ SFA Handbook 2006-07 Cup Competition Rules
↑ Scottish Cup given new branding
↑ William Hill becomes title sponsor of The Scottish Cup William Hill News
↑ 4.0 4.1 History of the Cup
↑ Scottish Football Association The Scottish Cup 2007/08
↑ Junior clubs enter Scottish Cup
↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 "William Hill Scottish Cup Competition 2013-14". www.scottishfa.co.uk. Scottish Football Association. Retrieved 26 December 2013.
↑ 8.0 8.1 "Super Caley dream realistic?". BBC Sport. BBC. 22 March 2003. Retrieved 2 September 2013.
↑ 9.0 9.1 "Albion Rovers 1–0 Motherwell". BBC Sport. BBC. 30 November 2013. Retrieved 2 December 2013.
↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 BBC Sport | Scotland | TV rights boost for Scottish FA
↑ "Smith admits Scottish Cup subsidy". BBC Sport. 4 September 2008. Retrieved 11 January 2008.
↑ "Homecoming Scottish Cup Unveiled". BBC Sport. 14 October 2008. Retrieved 11 January 2008.
↑ "Scottish Cup given new branding". BBC Sport. 21 September 2009. Retrieved 21 September 2009.
↑ 14.0 14.1 "Scottish Cup in £3m sponsor deal with William Hill". BBC Sport (BBC). 25 August 2011. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
↑ "Cup News: Scottish Football Association: The Scottish FA". Scottish FA. 25 August 2011. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
↑ "Scottish FA secures four-year Carling sponsorship deal". BBC Sport. July 21, 2010. Retrieved July 21, 2010.

External links

v t e Scottish Cup

Seasons	1873–74 1874–75 1875–76 1876–77 1877–78 1878–79 1879–80 1880–81 1881–82 1882–83 1883–84 1884–85 1885–86 1886–87 1887–88 1888–89 1889–90 1890–91 1891–92 1892–93 1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–00 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14

Finals	1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

List of finals Winning managers

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