The 2012–13 Scottish Premier League was the fifteenth and final season of the

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...

, the highest division of

Scottish football Association football ( sco, fitbaa, gd, ball-coise) is one of the national sports of Scotland and the most popular sport in the country. There is a long tradition of "football" games in Orkney, Lewis and southern Scotland, especially the Scot ...

, since its inception in 1998. The season began on 4 August 2012 and ended on 19 May 2013. Twelve teams contested the league. Ross County (champions) and

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 ...

(runners-up) were promoted from the 2011–12 First Division, replacing

Dunfermline Dunfermline (; sco, Dunfaurlin, gd, Dùn Phàrlain) is a city, parish and former Royal Burgh, in Fife, Scotland, on high ground from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. The city currently has an estimated population of 58,508. Accord ...

(relegated) and Rangers (entered administration and demoted). After the SPL clubs voted against Rangers continuing in the league, the club were accepted into the fourth tier of Scottish football, with Dundee taking their place in the SPL. On 21 April, Celtic retained their title after a 4–1 home win against

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 ...

Celtic Park Celtic Park is the home stadium of Celtic Football Club, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest football stadium in Scotland, and the eighth-largest stadium in the United Kingdom. It is also ...

. This was the final season of the Scottish Premier League before it was abolished in June 2013, when the SPL and SFL merged to form the new

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 ...

, with its top division being known as 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 ...

Teams

were relegated from the 2011–12 Scottish Premier League. Ross County, who won the

2011–12 Scottish First Division The 2011–12 Scottish Football League First Division, also known as the 2011–12 Irn Bru Scottish Football League First Division for sponsorship reasons, is the 17th season of the Scottish First Division and the 106th season of a second-tier ...

, were promoted. The 2012–13 season marks the top-flight debut for the Highland team. After failing to exit administration by an agreed CVA, Rangers was replaced with the term "Club 12" when the fixture list was published on 18 June 2012. The transfer of the club's membership share of the SPL to the new company that had bought Rangers was dependent on a vote by the remaining SPL clubs. Eight clubs publicly declared that they would oppose the membership transfer, which would mean that they could not play in the SPL. The vote took place on 4 July 2012, and Rangers were refused re-entry to the SPL by a 10-1 majority.

, who had finished second in the 2011–12 Scottish First Division, were invited to replace Rangers.

Stadia and locations

Personnel and kits

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Managerial changes

League table

Results

Matches 1–22

Teams play each other twice, once at home, once away

Matches 23–33

Teams play every other team once (either at home or away)

Matches 34–38

After 33 matches, the league splits into two sections of six teams each, with teams playing every other team in their section once (either at home or away). The exact matches are determined upon the league table at the time of the split.

Top six

Bottom six

Season statistics

Top scorers

Assists

Hat-tricks

Scoring

*First goal of the season:

Kris Commons Kristian Arran Commons (born 30 August 1983) is an English-born Scottish professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Commons started his career at Stoke City and made his debut in 2000. After four years with the club, he rej ...

for Celtic against

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 ...

(''4 August 2012'') *Fastest goal of the season: 12 seconds,

for

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 ...

against

(''16 March 2013'') *Latest goal of the season: 94 minutes,

Georgios Samaras Georgios Samaras ( el, Γεώργιος Σαμαράς, ; born 21 February 1985) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a striker. Samaras started his career at OFI Crete, before moving on to Eredivisie side Heerenveen in 200 ...

for

against

(''16 March 2013'') *Largest winning margin: 5 goals **St Mirren 0–5 Celtic (''20 October 2012'') **Celtic 5–0 Dundee (''24 February 2013'') *Highest scoring game: 9 goals **St Mirren 5–4 Ross County (''29 September 2012'') *Most goals scored in a match by a single team: 6 goals **Celtic 6–2 Dundee United (''16 February 2013'') *Most goals scored in a match by a losing team: 4 goals **St Mirren 5–4 Ross County (''29 September 2012'')

Clean sheets

*Most

clean sheets In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

: 16 **Celtic *Fewest clean sheets: 5 **Dundee

Discipline

*Most yellow cards (club): 76 **Ross County *Most yellow cards (player): 11 **

Iain Davidson Iain Davidson (born 14 January 1984) is a Scottish professional footballer and currently plays for Lowland league Football League side Cowdenbeath, in his second spell at the club. Davidson mainly plays as a defensive midfielder but can also ...

(Dundee) ** James Fowler (Kilmarnock) **

Jim Goodwin James Michael Goodwin (born 20 November 1981) is an Irish football manager and former player who manages Scottish Premiership club Aberdeen. Goodwin had a playing career from 2000 to 2019 in Scotland and England, playing in a defensive role wi ...

(St Mirren) *Most red cards (club): 6 **Dundee **Motherwell **St Johnstone *Most red cards (player): 2 **

(St Mirren) **

Owain Tudur Jones Owain Tudur Jones (born 15 October 1984) is a Welsh former footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. He represented the Wales national football team and during his club career he played for Porthmadog, Bangor City, Swansea City, Swindon ...

(Inverness CT) **

Rowan Vine Rowan Lewis Vine (born 21 September 1982) is an English former footballer. A striker, Vine previously played League football for Portsmouth, Brentford, Colchester United, Luton Town, Birmingham City, Queens Park Rangers (QPR), Hull City, Milton ...

(St Johnstone)