The Scottish football champions are the winners of the highest league in

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 ...

, namely the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km south ...

(SFL) from 1890 until 1998, 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' ...

(SPL) from 1998 until 2013 and 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 ...

thereafter. The SFL was established in 1890, initially as an amateur league until professionalism in Scottish football was legalised in 1893. At the end of the first season

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990. Dumbarton was the ca ...

and Rangers finished level on points at the top of the table. The rules in force at the time required that the teams contest a play-off match for the championship, which finished in a 2–2 draw, and the first ever championship was thus shared between two clubs, the only occasion on which this has happened. In 1893 a lower division was formed, with the existing division renamed Division One. The higher tier continued during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

but the league was suspended altogether during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Although there were several short spells when a third level was created, the two-division structure remained largely in place until 1975, when a major re-organisation of the league led to a new three-tier setup and the creation of a new Premier Division at the highest level. In 1998, the teams then in the Premier Division broke away to form the SPL, which supplanted the Premier Division as the highest level of football in Scotland. The SPL and SFL merged in 2013 to form the

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 ...

(SPFL), which branded its top division as the Scottish Premiership. Throughout its existence the championship of Scottish football has been dominated by two

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

clubs,

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 Rangers. The two rivals, who are collectively known as the "

Old Firm The Old Firm is the collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are by far the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply em ...

", have claimed the vast majority of league titles. As of 2022, Rangers have won 55 and Celtic 52, while no other club has won the title on more than four occasions. No club outside the Old Firm has won the title since the 1984–85 season, when the

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 ...

side managed by

Alex Ferguson Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a Scottish former football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest football managers of all time ...

won the Premier Division. The current 37-year period of dominance by the Old Firm is a record; the previous longest streak was 27 years, between 1904 and 1931. Each of the Old Firm clubs has managed a run of nine consecutive championships: Celtic from 1966 to 1974 and again from 2012 to 2020, and Rangers from 1989 to 1997. Each of the two clubs has also claimed the

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * Th ...

, by winning the league and the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,2021–22 season, Celtic have won 19 doubles and Rangers 18. Only Linfield in Northern Ireland (24) and

South China South China () is a geographical and cultural region that covers the southernmost part of China. Its precise meaning varies with context. A notable feature of South China in comparison to the rest of China is that most of its citizens are not n ...

in Hong Kong (20) have won more doubles. The only other club to have won a league and Scottish Cup double is Aberdeen, in 1983–84. Additionally, both old Firm clubs have completed a treble seven times by also winning the

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay 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 existen ...

. In the 1966–67 season, Celtic took all three domestic trophies, and also won the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

to complete the only

quadruple Quadruple may refer to: * 4-tuple, an ordered list of elements, with four elements * Quad (figure skating), a figure skating jump * Quadruple (computing), a term used as alternative for nibble in some contexts * Quadruple-precision floating-point ...

to date.

Champions

Key:

Scottish Football League (1890–1893)

Scottish Football League Division One (1893–1946)

Scottish Football League Division 'A' (1946–1955)

Scottish Football League Division One (1955–1975)

Scottish Football League Premier Division (1975–1998)

Scottish Premier League (1998–2013)

Scottish Premiership (2013–present)

Total titles won

*Clubs participating in the 2022–23 Scottish Premiership are denoted in bold type. *Clubs no longer active are denoted in ''italics''.

By city/town

* Teams in ''Italics'' are defunct, and cannot win any more championships * Teams in Bold currently participate in the Scottish Premiership

Notes

References

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Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

champions A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the Victory, victor in a challenge, Competition, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and w ...

Champions A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the Victory, victor in a challenge, Competition, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and w ...