The Scottish Football League Third Division was the fourth tier of the

Scottish football league system The Scottish football league system is a series of generally connected leagues for Scottish football clubs. The Scottish system is more complicated than many other national league systems, consisting of several completely separate systems or 'gr ...

between 1994 and 2013.

History

The

had operated with three divisions in 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 1975. In 1994, as part of reconstruction to allow the admission of

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 ...

and Ross County to the league, the SFL was recalibrated to give four divisions of 10 teams. The fourth tier was named the Third Division. In 1998, the Premier Division (top flight) clubs broke away to form 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). The Third Division continued as the fourth tier of the league system, but was now the third tier of the SFL. In 2013, the SFL and SPL merged to form the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL). The SPFL named its fourth tier as

Scottish League Two The Scottish League Two, known as cinch League Two for sponsorship reasons, is the fourth tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish League Two was e ...

, which effectively replaced the Third Division.

Competition

The Third Division consisted of ten teams throughout its existence. From 1994 until 2005, each season the top two teams were promoted to the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

. From 2005 until 2013, only the champion was automatically promoted to the

at the end of each season. The clubs that finished 2nd, 3rd and 4th entered a

play-off The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

with the 9th placed team of the Second Division. There was no relegation from the Third Division. The teams played each other four times with three points for a victory, one point for a draw and zero points for a loss.

Winners of the Third Division

b.Team failed to gain promotion via play-offs

Notes

* 1. Every competitor in the league is a member of the

and

Scottish Football Association The Scottish Football Association (also known as the SFA and the Scottish FA; sco, Scots Fitba Association; Scottish Gaelic: ''Comann Ball-coise na h-Alba'') is the Sport governing body, governing body of association football, football in Scot ...

. However, one club –

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 ...

– is based in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

References

External links

Official Site

Scottish Football League Third Division clubs' locations
{{UEFA fourth level leagues 4 1994 establishments in Scotland 2013 disestablishments in Scotland Defunct fourth level football leagues in Europe