2018–19 Scottish League Cup
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The 2018–19
Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup, also known as the Premier Sports 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 ...
(also known as the
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Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 73rd season of Scotland's second-most prestigious
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
knockout competition. The format for the 2018–19 competition was the same as the previous two seasons. It began with eight groups of five teams which included all
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 well ...
(SPFL) clubs, excluding those competing in Champions League and
Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...
qualifiers, as well as the top teams from the
2017–18 Highland Football League The 2017–18 Highland Football League (known as the Press & Journal Highland League for sponsorship reasons) was the 115th season of the Highland Football League, and the 4th season as the fifth tier of the Scottish football league system, Scotti ...
( Cove Rangers) and the
2017–18 Lowland Football League The 2017–18 Scottish Lowland Football League (known as the Ferrari Packaging Lowland League for sponsorship reasons) was the fifth season of the Lowland Football League The Scottish Lowland Football League (SLFL, commonly known as the Lowla ...
(
Spartans Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the valley of Evrotas river in Laconia, in southeastern P ...
).


Schedule


Format

The competition began with eight groups of five teams. The four clubs competing in the
UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...
(
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 ...
) and
Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...
(
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 ...
, Hibernian and
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 ...
) qualifying rounds were given a bye through to the second round. The 40 teams competing in the group stage consisted of the other eight teams that competed in the
2017–18 Scottish Premiership The 2017–18 Scottish Premiership (known as the Ladbrokes Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the fifth season of the Scottish Premiership, the highest division of Scottish football. The fixtures were published on 23 June 2017. The season ...
, and all of the teams that competed in the
2017–18 Scottish Championship The 2017–18 Scottish Championship (known as the Ladbrokes Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the 24th season in the current format of 10 teams in the second tier of Scottish football. The fixtures were published on 23 June 2017. Ten tea ...
,
2017–18 Scottish League One The 2017–18 Scottish League One (known as Ladbrokes League One for sponsorship reasons) was the 24th season in the format of 10 teams in the third-tier of Scottish football. The fixtures were published on 23 June 2017. Ten teams contested the ...
and
2017–18 Scottish League Two The 2017–18 Scottish League Two (known as Ladbrokes League Two for sponsorship reasons) was the 24th season in the current format of 10 teams in the fourth-tier of Scottish football. The last placed team entered a play-off with a team nominat ...
, as well as the
2017–18 Highland Football League The 2017–18 Highland Football League (known as the Press & Journal Highland League for sponsorship reasons) was the 115th season of the Highland Football League, and the 4th season as the fifth tier of the Scottish football league system, Scotti ...
and the
2017–18 Lowland Football League The 2017–18 Scottish Lowland Football League (known as the Ferrari Packaging Lowland League for sponsorship reasons) was the fifth season of the Lowland Football League The Scottish Lowland Football League (SLFL, commonly known as the Lowla ...
champions. The winners of each of the eight groups, as well as the four best runners-up progressed to the second round (last 16), which included the four UEFA qualifying clubs. At this stage, the competition reverted to the traditional
knock-out A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several Contact sports, full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of World Taekwondo Federation#Sparri ...
format. The four group winners with the highest points total and the clubs entering at this stage were seeded, with the four group winners with the lowest points unseeded along with the four best runners-up.


Bonus point system

In December 2015, the SPFL announced that alongside the new group stage format, a bonus point system would be introduced to provide greater excitement and increase the number of meaningful games at this stage. The traditional point system of awarding three points for a win and one point for a draw is used, however, for each group stage match that finishes in a draw, a
penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...
takes place, with the winner being awarded a bonus point.


Group stage

The group stage was made up of eight teams from the
2017–18 Scottish Premiership The 2017–18 Scottish Premiership (known as the Ladbrokes Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the fifth season of the Scottish Premiership, the highest division of Scottish football. The fixtures were published on 23 June 2017. The season ...
, and all ten teams from each of the
2017–18 Scottish Championship The 2017–18 Scottish Championship (known as the Ladbrokes Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the 24th season in the current format of 10 teams in the second tier of Scottish football. The fixtures were published on 23 June 2017. Ten tea ...
,
2017–18 Scottish League One The 2017–18 Scottish League One (known as Ladbrokes League One for sponsorship reasons) was the 24th season in the format of 10 teams in the third-tier of Scottish football. The fixtures were published on 23 June 2017. Ten teams contested the ...
and
2017–18 Scottish League Two The 2017–18 Scottish League Two (known as Ladbrokes League Two for sponsorship reasons) was the 24th season in the current format of 10 teams in the fourth-tier of Scottish football. The last placed team entered a play-off with a team nominat ...
, as well as the winners of the
2017–18 Highland Football League The 2017–18 Highland Football League (known as the Press & Journal Highland League for sponsorship reasons) was the 115th season of the Highland Football League, and the 4th season as the fifth tier of the Scottish football league system, Scotti ...
and
2017–18 Lowland Football League The 2017–18 Scottish Lowland Football League (known as the Ferrari Packaging Lowland League for sponsorship reasons) was the fifth season of the Lowland Football League The Scottish Lowland Football League (SLFL, commonly known as the Lowla ...
. The 40 teams were divided into two sections – North and South – with each section containing four top seeds, four second seeds and 12 unseeded teams. Each section was drawn into four groups with each group comprising one top seed, one second seed and three unseeded teams. The draw for the group stages took place on 25 May 2018 and was broadcast live on BT Sport 2.


North


Group A


Group B


Group C


Group D


South


Group E


Group F


Group G


Group H


Best runners-up


Knockout phase


Second round


Draw and seeding

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 and
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 ...
entered the competition at this stage, after receiving a bye for the group stage due to their participation in
UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...
club competitions. The draw for the second round took place at
Tynecastle Park Tynecastle Park, also known as Tynecastle Stadium, is a football stadium in the Gorgie area of Edinburgh, which is the home ground of Scottish Professional Football League club Heart of Midlothian (Hearts). A UEFA category four stadium, it ha ...
following the conclusion of the Heart of Midlothian-
Inverness Caledonian Thistle Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, commonly known as Caley Thistle, Inverness CT or just Inverness, is a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland. The team competes in , the third tier of the Scottish Professional Footba ...
match on 29 July 2018. The four UEFA-qualifying clubs and the four group winners with the best record were seeded for the draw. Teams in Bold advanced to the quarter-finals. ;Notes *† denotes teams playing in the Championship.


Matches


Quarter-finals


Draw

The draw for the quarter-finals took place on 19 August 2018 following the conclusion of the
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 ...
-
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 ...
match. The draw was unseeded. Teams in Bold advanced to the semi-finals.


Teams


Matches


Semi-finals


Draw

The draw for the semi-finals took place on 26 September 2018 following the conclusion of the final three quarter-final matches. The draw was unseeded.


Teams


Matches


Semi-final controversy

The semi-finals were due to take place at
Hampden Park Hampden Park ( ; Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden'') is a association football, football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland, which is the national stadium of football in Scotland and home of the Scotland national football ...
on 27 and 28 October 2018, but due to
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 ...
and
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 ...
participating in the
2018–19 UEFA Europa League group stage The 2018–19 UEFA Europa League group stage began on 20 September and ended on 13 December 2018. A total of 48 teams competed in the group stage to decide 24 of the 32 places in the knockout phase of the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League. Draw The d ...
, the team who would play on the Saturday would have less than 48 hours rest before the match. As a result, the
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 ...
- who had previously committed to using Hampden as the venue for the League Cup semi-finals and final - consulted with the four clubs involved, competition broadcaster
BT Sport TNT Sports (formerly BT Sport) is a group of pay television sports channels in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Now owned by Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe, Warner Bros. Discovery and BT Group, they first launched as B ...
and
Police Scotland Police Scotland (), officially the Police Service of Scotland (), is the national police force of Scotland. It was formed in 2013, through the merging of eight regional police forces in Scotland, as well as the specialist services of the Scottis ...
to find a solution which may have included playing one match at
Murrayfield Stadium Murrayfield Stadium is a rugby union stadium located in the Murrayfield area of Edinburgh, Scotland. The stadium is owned by the Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) who has its headquarters based at the stadium, and is the national stadium of the Scotla ...
or a change in date. The SPFL announced on 27 September 2018 that both matches will be played at Hampden Park on the Sunday (28 October), with first match starting at noon and the other being played in the evening. The following day, SPFL chief executive
Neil Doncaster Neil Doncaster (born 1970) is an association football executive. He was appointed as chief executive of the Scottish Professional Football League in July 2012, having previously held the same position at the Scottish Premier League from 2009 t ...
said the decision was "the best solution" despite the "regrettable inconvenience" to supporters. The SPFL are contractually obliged to use Hampden Park as the venue for the semi-finals of the League Cup when Rangers or Celtic are involved or an attendance of over 20,000 is expected. Aberdeen and Heart of Midlothian both criticised the SPFL for the decision saying they were "appalled" and "astonished". Aberdeen released a statement to confirm their "dismay" that their match would kick-off at a "completely unacceptable" time for their supporters. The first train leaving Aberdeen on 28 October 2018 would not arrive in Glasgow until 12:14, 14 minutes after kick-off. Heart of Midlothian manager
Craig Levein Craig William Levein (born 22 October 1964) is a Scottish professional association football, football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of Scottish Premiership club St Johnstone F.C., St Johnstone. During his playing c ...
said that playing both semi-finals at Hampden on the same day is the "craziest thing", "beyond belief" and "madness" and, in a statement released by the club, chairwoman Ann Budge said she had asked the SPFL if they could be released from their contract with Hampden Park Ltd as a result of the "very special circumstances" and was then told a formal request by the SPFL had been unsuccessful. On 2 October 2018, Police Scotland Assistant Chief Constable Bernard Higgins said that they were "aware of issues and concerns" regarding the semi-final arrangements. As a result, the SPFL are reported to be considering moving the Heart of Midlothian-Celtic semi-final to Murrayfield Stadium pending a meeting with Police Scotland. On 3 October 2018, the SPFL confirmed that venues and kick-off times had been switched to 13:30 at Murrayfield and 16:30 at Hampden.


Final


Top goalscorers


Media coverage

The domestic broadcasting rights for the competition are held exclusively by
BT Sport TNT Sports (formerly BT Sport) is a group of pay television sports channels in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Now owned by Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe, Warner Bros. Discovery and BT Group, they first launched as B ...
. The following matches will be broadcast live on UK television:


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:2018-19 Scottish League Cup Scottish League Cup seasons League Cup
Cup A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...