The 2016–17

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,IRN-BRU Irn-Bru ( "iron brew", ) is a Scottish carbonated soft drink, often described as "Scotland's other national drink" (after whisky). Introduced in 1901, the drink is produced in Westfield, Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire, by A.G. Barr of Glasgow ...

Cup due to sponsorship reasons, was the 26th season of the competition. The tournament took on a different format from previous seasons with a total of 54 teams participating. It was the first season with two clubs from both Northern Ireland and Wales competing alongside the 30 members of the 2016–17 Scottish Championship, 2016–17 Scottish League One and

2016–17 Scottish League Two The 2016–17 Scottish League Two (known as Ladbrokes League Two for sponsorship reasons) was the 22nd season in the current format of 10 teams in the fourth-tier of Scottish football. The last placed team (Cowdenbeath) entered a play-off with a ...

, four teams from the 2016–17 Highland Football League and four from the

2016–17 Lowland Football League The 2016–17 Scottish Lowland Football League (known as the Ferrari Packaging Lowland League for sponsorship reasons) was the fourth season of the Lowland Football League, the fifth tier of the Scottish football pyramid system. Edinburgh City we ...

as well as the Under-20 teams of the teams competing in the 2016–17 Scottish Premiership. The defending champions, Rangers, who defeated

Peterhead Peterhead (; gd, Ceann Phàdraig, sco, Peterheid ) is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is Aberdeenshire's biggest settlement (the city of Aberdeen itself not being a part of the district), with a population of 18,537 at the 2011 Census. ...

in the 2016 final, did not compete in the competition due to their promotion to the

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish ...

. Irn Bru replaced

Petrofac Petrofac Limited is an international energy services company that designs, builds, manages and maintains oil, gas, refining, petrochemicals and renewable energy infrastructure. It is registered in Jersey (number 81792), with its main corporate off ...

as the main sponsor of the competition in June 2016.

Format

First round

The draw for the first round was made on 23 June at

Hampden Park Hampden Park (Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden''), often referred to as Hampden, is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The -capacity venue serves as the national stadium of football in Scotland. It is the no ...

. The 28 teams entering at this stage were separated into 4 regional pools. This was to ensure that U20s teams were not drawn against each other and that teams from the

Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...

and Lowland Leagues were not drawn against each other.

North Section

Draw and seeding

Teams from Pool A will be drawn against teams from Pool B. Teams in Bold qualified for the Second round.

Matches

South Section

Draw and seeding

Teams from Pool C will be drawn against teams from Pool D. Teams in Bold qualified for the Second round.

Matches

Second round

The draw for the second round was made at 12:30pm on Thursday, 4 August at

and streamed live on

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by Irn-Bru's football

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account. The 14 teams advancing from the first round were joined by the top two teams from the 2015–16 Scottish League Two and the eight teams placed third to 10th from the 2015–16 Scottish League One. The second round ties will take place on Tuesday 16 or Wednesday 17 August 2016.

North Section

Draw and seeding

Teams from Pot A will be drawn against teams from Pot B. Teams in Bold advanced to the third round.

Matches

South Section

Draw and seeding

Teams from Pot C will be drawn against teams from Pot D. Teams in ''Italics'' were not known at the time of the draw. Teams in Bold advanced to the third round.

Matches

Third round

The draw for the third round was made on Thursday 18 August at 1pm at

The Kelpies ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

and was streamed live on

by Irn-Bru's football

account. The 12 teams advancing from the second round will be joined by the ten teams from the 2016–17 Scottish Championship and the bottom two teams from the 2015–16 Scottish Championship. The third round ties took place on Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 September 2016.

North Section

Draw and seeding

Teams from Pot A will be drawn against teams from Pot B. Teams in Bold advanced to the fourth round.

Matches

South Section

Draw and seeding

Teams from Pot C will be drawn against teams from Pot D. Teams in Bold advanced to the fourth round.

Matches

Fourth round

The 12 teams advancing from the third round were to be joined by the four teams that finished first and second in the 2015–16 NIFL Premiership and the

2015–16 Welsh Premier League The 2015–16 Welsh Premier League (known as the Dafabet Welsh Premier League for sponsorship reasons) was the 24th season of the Welsh Premier League, the highest football league within Wales since its establishment in 1992. The New Saints were t ...

Draw and seeding

The draw for the fourth round was made at the

Oriam Oriam is Scotland's national performance centre for sport, based at Heriot-Watt University's Riccarton campus in Edinburgh. The Scottish Rugby Union and the Scottish Football Association use it as a training facility, Heart of Midlothian F.C. r ...

National Performance Centre,

Heriot Watt University Heriot-Watt University ( gd, Oilthigh Heriot-Watt) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and subsequently granted univ ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

on Tuesday, 6 September at 12pm. The draw was made by

John Hartson John Hartson (born 5 April 1975) is a Welsh former professional footballer, coach and sports television pundit for S4C, Sky Sports, Premier Sports TV and BT Sport. As a player he was a striker, notably for Scottish club Celtic where his time ...

and IRN-BRU super fan Michael Douglas. There was no seeding for the draw however, teams for Northern Ireland and Wales could not be drawn against each other. As a result they were placed into two separate pots (A and B) before being drawn against the remaining Scottish teams (Pot C). The Welsh teams were drawn first followed by the Northern Irish teams with one of each playing at home and one away. Teams in Bold advanced to the quarter-finals.

Matches

Replay

;Notes

Quarter-finals

Draw

The draw for the quarter-finals was made at the Titan Crane on the

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Clydebank Clydebank ( gd, Bruach Chluaidh) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, it borders the village of Old Kilpatrick (with Bowling, West Dunbartonshire, Bowling and Milton, West Dunbartonshire, Mil ...

on Monday, 10 October at 2pm and was streamed live on

by Irn-Bru's football

account. The draw was made by former

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

and

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 the ...

striker

Kevin Gallacher Kevin William Gallacher (born 23 November 1966) is a Scottish former professional footballer and football pundit and co-commentator. He played as a forward from 1983 until 2002, notably in the Premier League with Blackburn Rovers where he was p ...

and

Rio 2016 The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

silver medallist Dan Wallace. There was no seeding for the draw however, as with the previous round, teams from Northern Ireland and Wales, should they qualify, would not be drawn against each other. The ties took place on the weekend of 12 and 13 November. Teams in Bold advanced to the semi-finals.

Matches

Semi-finals

Draw

The draw for the semi-finals was made at the Toryglen Regional Football Centre in

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 popul ...

on Monday, 14 November and streamed live on

by Irn-Bru's football

account. The draw was made by former

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

and

striker

Paul Dickov Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity * Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

and current

and Hibernian striker Abi Harrison. There was no seeding for the draw and the ties are due to take place on the weekend of 18 and 19 February 2017. Teams in Bold advanced to the final.

Matches

Final

Statistics

Top goalscorers

Player of the Round

The Golden Ball Award is a 'Player of the Round' award given to the player who is adjudged to have had the best performance of that round out of all the players in teams left competing in that round of the competition. The winner is voted for by supporters from a chosen short-list of players on th
official Irn-Bru Football twitter page

Broadcasting rights

The domestic broadcasting rights for the competition are held jointly by

BBC Alba BBC Alba is a Scottish Gaelic-language free-to-air public broadcast television channel jointly owned by the BBC and MG Alba. The channel was launched on 19 September 2008 and is on-air for up to seven hours a day with BBC Radio nan Gàidheal s ...

, S4C (for matches involving Welsh teams) and subscription channel

Premier Sports Viaplay Sports and Premier Sports are a group of pay television sports channels owned by Viaplay Group. Viaplay Sports holds exclusive live UK and Republic of Ireland TV rights to La Liga, Scottish League Cup, Elite Ice Hockey League, NHL and ...

. Prior to the re-format in the 2016–17 season,

had exclusive rights. The following matches are to be broadcast live on UK television:

References

External links

Scottish Challenge Cup at the Scottish Professional Football League
{{DEFAULTSORT:2016-17 Scottish Challenge Cup Scottish Challenge Cup seasons

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...