The 2023 Scottish Cup final was the final match of the
2022–23 Scottish Cup
The 2022–23 Scottish Cup is the 138th season of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition.
The defending champions are Rangers, who beat Heart of Midlothian in the 2022 Scottish Cup Final. VAR will be used for the first time in ...
, the 138th edition of Scotland's most prestigious knockout
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 ...
competition. It was contested by
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 ...
and
Inverness Caledonian Thistle
Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, commonly known as Caley Thistle, is a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland. The team currently competes in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional F ...
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 ...
, Glasgow, on 3 June 2023.
Background
The 2023 final was a record 60th Scottish Cup final appearance for Celtic, while it was only Inverness Caledonian Thistle's second final appearance, having won the cup in
2015
File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...
. It was the first time that the clubs had met in the final, but the eighth time they had met at any stage of the competition, the most recent meeting taking place in the fifth round in the
2016–17 season. It was also the first time since 2015 that teams in different divisions had contested the final, not including the
2020 final, where
Heart of Midlothian were in the unique position of being a
Premiership side when the competition was suspended 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 ...
, but a
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 ...
side when it resumed midway through the
2020–21 season.
The winners were due to enter the
2023–24 UEFA Europa League play-off round, however, as Celtic had already qualified for the
2023–24 UEFA Champions League, the team placed third in the
Premiership (
Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
) entered the Europa League instead.
Road to the final
Inverness Caledonian Thistle entered the Scottish Cup at the third round, securing their place in the fourth round by defeating
Stirling Albion
Stirling Albion Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the city of Stirling. The club was founded in 1945 following the demise of King's Park after World War II. The club currently competes in Scottish League Two as a member of the ...
3–2 at
Caledonian Stadium
Caledonian Stadium is a football ground in the Longman area of Inverness, Scotland, near the banks of the Moray Firth. It hosts home matches of Scottish Professional Football League club Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
History
Inverness Caledon ...
. Celtic entered at the fourth round, with a 5–0
home
A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or many humans, and sometimes various companion animals. It is a fully or semi sheltered space and can have both interior and exterior aspects to it. H ...
victory over
Greenock Morton
Greenock Morton Football Club is a Scottish professional football club, which plays in the Scottish Championship. The club was founded as Morton Football Club in 1874, making it one of the oldest senior Scottish clubs. Morton was renamed Green ...
ensuring their progression to the fifth round. Inverness Caledonian Thistle were eliminated from the competition after a 2–0 defeat to
Queen's Park in their rescheduled tie, however, they were reinstated after Queen's Park were found to have fielded an ineligible player. In the fifth round, Celtic beat
St Mirren 5–1 in Glasgow, with a flurry of late goals in the match, while Inverness Caledonian Thistle defeated
Premiership side
Livingston
Livingston may refer to:
Businesses
* Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010)
* Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline
* Livingston International, a North American custom ...
3–0 at
Almondvale Stadium
Almondvale Stadium, also known as the Tony Macaroni Arena for sponsorship purposes, but most commonly referred to as ‘The Spaghettihad’ (alluding to the Etihad Stadium), is a football stadium, located in the Almondvale area of Livingston, We ...
.
Caley Thistle also faced Premiership opposition in the quarter-finals, beating
Kilmarnock
Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...
2–1 in Inverness, while Celtic travelled to
Tynecastle Park
Tynecastle Park 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). It has also hosted Scotland international matches, and been used as a ...
to face
Heart of Midlothian, where they ran out 3–0 winners. The semi-finals were both played 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 ...
, with Inverness Caledonian Thistle facing
Falkirk
Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow.
Falkirk had a ...
on 29 April and Celtic taking on
holders Rangers the next day. In a repeat of the
2015 final, Caley Thistle defeated Falkirk, with goals from
Billy Mckay
William Robert Mckay (born 22 October 1988) is a professional footballer who plays as a striker for Scottish Championship club Inverness Caledonian Thistle. He has represented the Northern Ireland national team.
Mckay began his career with Lei ...
and
Daniel MacKay
Daniel MacKay (born 19 April 2001) is a Scottish footballer who plays as a winger for Hibernian.
He has previously played for Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Elgin City and Kilmarnock. MacKay has also represented Scotland at youth levels up to ...
taking the club to only the second Scottish Cup final in its history. They would also become the first and only team to have made the final, having been eliminated from the competition in the same season. On 30 April, Celtic beat Rangers, with
Jota
Jota may refer to:
__NOTOC__
* Iota (Ι, ι), the name of the 9th letter in the Greek alphabet;
* (figuratively) ''Something very small'', based on the fact that the letter Iota (lat. i) is the smallest character in the alphabet;
* The name of the ...
scoring the only goal of the game.
Match
Details
Media coverage
BBC Scotland
BBC Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: ''BBC Alba'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland.
It is one of the four BBC national regions, together with the BBC English Regions, BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Northern Ireland. I ...
and
Viaplay 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 an ...
will broadcast the final, in what will be the fifth season of a six-year deal in the United Kingdom to broadcast Scottish Cup matches.
References
{{Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C. matches
2022–23 in Scottish football cups
Scottish Cup finals
Sports competitions in Glasgow
Scottish Cup final
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the Scottish Cup, is a knockout cup competition in Scottish football. Organised by the Scottish Football Association, it is the third oldest existing football competition in the w ...
2020s in Glasgow
Celtic F.C. matches
Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C. matches