The 2022–23 Scottish League Cup (also known as the Premier Sports/ Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is the 77th season of Scotland's second-most prestigious

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

knockout competition.

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 Fo ...

are the defending champions.

Schedule

Format

The format for the 2022–23 competition is similar to the previous six seasons; however, this season the group stage will not be regionalised. The competition began with eight groups of five teams. The five clubs initially competing in the UEFA Champions League (

and

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

), Europa League ( Heart of Midlothian) and Europa Conference League ( Dundee United and

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

) qualifying rounds will receive a bye to the second round. The group stage consists of 40 teams: all remaining teams that competed across the SPFL in 2021–22, and the

2021–22 Highland Football League The 2021–22 Highland Football League (known as the Breedon Highland League for sponsorship reasons) was the 119th season of the Highland Football League, and the 8th season as part of the fifth tier of the Scottish football pyramid system. Bror ...

champions ( Fraserburgh) and runners-up ( Buckie Thistle), and the

2021–22 Lowland Football League The 2021–22 Scottish Lowland Football League was the 9th season of the Lowland Football League, part of the fifth tier of the Scottish football pyramid system. Kelty Hearts were the reigning champions but were unable to defend their title afte ...

champions (

Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic Bonnyrigg Rose Football Club is a Scottish football club from the town of Bonnyrigg, Midlothian. Formed in 1881 and nicknamed ''the Rose'', the team plays in , having been promoted after winning the Lowland Football League in 2021–22. Their ...

). The winners of each of the eight groups, as well as the three best runners-up, will progress to the second round (last 16). At this stage, the competition will revert to the traditional knock-out format. The three group winners with the highest points total and the European entrants will be seeded.

Bonus point system

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 will take place, with the winner being awarded a bonus point.

Group stage

The teams were seeded according to their final league positions in 2021–22 and drawn into eight groups, with each group comprising one team from each pot. The draw for the group stage took place on 25 May 2022 and was broadcast live on FreeSports & th
SPFL YouTube channel

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Group E

Group F

Group G

Group H

Best runners-up

Knockout phase

Second round

Draw and seeding

, Dundee United, Heart of Midlothian,

and

entered the competition at this stage, due to their participation in UEFA club competitions. The draw took place on 24 July 2022, following the Aberdeen v Raith Rovers match. Teams in bold advanced to the quarter-finals.

Matches

Quarter-finals

The draw took place on 31 August 2022, following the Ross County v

match.

Matches

Semi-finals

The draw took place on 19 October 2022, following the

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

match. VAR will be used for the first time in the tournament when it is introduced at the semi-final stage.

Matches

Media coverage

The domestic broadcasting rights for the competition are held exclusively by Premier Sports, who will broadcast between 12 and 16 live matches per season, as well as highlights. The following matches were broadcast live on UK television:

Top goalscorers

Source:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2022-23 Scottish League Cup Scottish League Cup seasons League Cup League Cup