The 2019–20

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,Tunnock's Caramel Wafer Challenge Cup due to sponsorship reasons, was the 29th season of the competition. The total number of participating clubs is 58. The competition began on 6 August 2019 with the First Round and was due end on 28 March 2020 with the final at

McDiarmid Park McDiarmid Park is a stadium in Perth, Scotland, used mainly for association football. It has been the home ground of Scottish Premiership side St Johnstone since its opening in 1989. The stadium has an all-seated capacity of . As well as St Jo ...

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

. However, the final had to be postponed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

and was never subsequently played. Thirty teams from the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

and

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

compete, along with four teams from the

Highland Football League The Scottish Highland Football League (SHFL, commonly known as the Highland League) is a senior football league based in the north of Scotland. The league sits at level 5 on the Scottish football league system The Scottish football league syst ...

and four from the

Lowland Football League The Scottish Lowland Football League (SLFL, commonly known as the Lowland League) is a senior football league based in central and southern Scotland. The league sits at level 5 on the Scottish football league system, acting as a feeder to the ...

. In addition to this, Under-21 teams of the clubs competing in the Premiership are represented. This season there will be again two clubs from Northern Ireland's

NIFL Premiership The NIFL Premiership, known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship purposes, and colloquially as the Irish League or Irish Premiership, is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Northe ...

, two clubs from the

Welsh Premier League The Cymru Premier, known as the JD Cymru Premier for sponsorship reasons, is the national football league of Wales. It has both professional and semi-professional status clubs and is at the top of the Welsh football league system. Prior to 20 ...

, two clubs from the Republic of Ireland's

League of Ireland The League of Ireland ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally us ...

and for the second time two entrants from the English

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

(fifth tier) entered into the competition. Ross County were the cup holders after they beat

Connah's Quay Connah's Quay ( cy, Cei Connah), known locally as "The Quay" and formerly known as Wepre, is a town and community in Flintshire, lying within the Deeside conurbation along the River Dee, near the border with England. It is the largest town in F ...

3–1 in the 2019 final, but they were ineligible to defend their title following their promotion to the Premiership for the 2019–20 season.

Format

First round

The first round featured 4 clubs from the 2018-19 Scottish Highland Football League (

Cove Rangers Cove Rangers Football Club is a senior Scottish football club currently playing in the Scottish Championship. They are based in the Cove Bay area of Aberdeen and play their football at Balmoral Stadium, having left their former home at Allan ...

Brora Rangers Brora Rangers Football Club are a Scottish football club from the village of Brora, Sutherland, in the Highland council area of Scotland. They play in the Highland Football League, of which they have been champions four times, having won their ...

Fraserburgh Fraserburgh (; sco, The Broch or ; gd, A' Bhruaich) is a town in Aberdeenshire (unitary), Aberdeenshire, Scotland with a population recorded in the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census at 13,100. It lies at the far northeast corner of Aber ...

Formartine United Formartine United Football Club are a Scottish senior association football club from Pitmedden, Aberdeenshire currently playing in the Highland Football League. They joined the Highland League for the 2009–10 season, having been accepted ...

), 4 clubs from the 2018-19 Scottish Lowland Football League (

East Kilbride East Kilbride (; gd, Cille Bhrìghde an Ear ) is the largest town in South Lanarkshire in Scotland and the country's sixth-largest locality by population. It was also designated Scotland's first new town on 6 May 1947. The area lies on a rais ...

, BSC Glasgow,

Kelty Hearts Kelty Hearts Football Club is a football club based in the village of Kelty in Fife, Scotland. Formed in 1975 and nicknamed ''the Hearts'', ''the Maroon Machine'' and ''the Jambos'', they play their home games at New Central Park. Their home ...

Spartans Sparta (Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referred t ...

), 4 clubs from 2018-19 Ladbrokes League Two ( Queen's Park,

Elgin City Elgin City Football Club (also known as City or The Black and Whites) is a professional senior football club based in Elgin, Moray. Elgin was founded in 1893 and originally played their football in the Highland Football League. The club was g ...

Albion Rovers Albion Rovers Football Club is a semi-professional football team from Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. They are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League Two, the fourth tier of the Scotti ...

Berwick Rangers Berwick Rangers Football Club is a football team based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, England, just south of the border with Scotland. Founded in 1881, they currently play in the , the fifth tier of Scottish football, despite hailing fr ...

) and the 12 Under 21 teams of the 2019-20 Scottish Premiership. The draw was made on 26 June 2019 at 12:30 in the Tunnock's factory in

Uddingston Uddingston ( sco, Uddinstoun, gd, Baile Udain) is a small town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is on the north side of the River Clyde, south-east of Glasgow city centre, and acts as a dormitory suburb for the city. Geography and boundaries ...

and was broadcast live on th
SPFL YouTube Channel
The draw was regionalised and all non-Under 21 teams were seeded. The matches were played on 6 and 7 August 2019.

North Section

Draw

Teams in bold advanced to the second round.

Matches

South Section

Draw

Teams in bold advanced to the second round.

Matches

Second round

The draw was also made on 26 June 2019 at 12:30 in the Tunnock's factory in Uddingston and was broadcast live on the SPFL YouTube Channel. The draw was again regionalised but not seeded. Matches were played on 13 August 2019.

North Section

Matches

South Section

Matches

Third round

The 14 winners of the

Second Round The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds e ...

are joined by the 10 clubs from the

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship, known as the cinch Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland Scotland (, ...

and two teams from the

, the

and the

League of Ireland Premier Division The League of Ireland Premier Division ( ga, Príomhroinn Sraith na hÉireann), also known as the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, is the top level division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland f ...

. A pre-draw determined which country was allocated to Pot A, Pot B, Pot C and Pot D to avoid 2 cross-border teams from the same country playing each other. Pot E had the remaining 24 Scottish teams. Games will be played Saturday 7 September or Sunday 8 September 2019. The draw was made on 14 August 2019 at 12:30 and was broadcast live on th
SPFL YouTube Channel
Teams in bold advanced to the fourth round.

Matches

Fourth round

The draw was made on 10 September 2019 at 12:30, live on th
SPFL YouTube Channel
Teams in ''Italics'' were not known at the time of the draw. Teams in Bold advanced to the quarter-finals.

Matches

Quarter-finals

The draw was made on 16 October 2019 at 13:00, live on th
SPFL YouTube Channel
Teams in ''Italics'' were not known at the time of the draw. Teams in Bold advanced to the semi-finals.

Matches

Semi-finals

The draw was made on 20 November 2019 at 12:00 and was broadcast live on th
SPFL YouTube Channel
The fixtures were played from 14–16 February 2020.

Matches

*Note: The final was cancelled as a result of the coronavirus situation, both teams were declared joint winners.

Broadcasting rights

The following matches are to be broadcast live on UK television:

Notes

A. The 2020–21 tournament was cancelled due to the

Covid-19 pandemic in Scotland The COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland is part of the COVID-19 pandemic of coronavirus disease-2019, caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2. The first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Scotland on 1 March 2020. Community transmission was first reported on ...

References

External links

Scottish Challenge Cup at the Scottish Professional Football League
{{DEFAULTSORT:2019-20 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 ...

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,