The 2015–16 Scottish Premiership (known as the
Ladbrokes Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the third season of the
Scottish Premiership
The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. Th ...
, the highest division of
Scottish football. The season began on 1 August 2015. Celtic were the defending champions.
Twelve teams contested the league:
Aberdeen
Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...
,
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 Foot ...
,
Dundee
Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...
,
Dundee United
Dundee United Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish professional association football, football club based in the city of Dundee. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1923. United are nickname ...
,
Hamilton Academical,
Heart of Midlothian,
Inverness CT,
Kilmarnock,
Motherwell
Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...
,
Partick Thistle,
Ross County and
St Johnstone.
Teams
Promoted from
Scottish Championship
The Scottish Championship known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association footb ...
*
Heart of Midlothian
Relegated from
Scottish Premiership
The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. Th ...
*
St Mirren
Stadia and locations
Personnel and kits
Managerial changes
Tournament format and regulations
Basic
In the initial phase of the season, the 12 teams will play a round-robin tournament whereby each team plays each one of the other teams three times. After 33 games, the league splits into two sections of six teams, with each team playing each other in that section. The league attempts to balance the fixture list so that teams in the same section play each other twice at home and twice away, but sometimes this is impossible. A total of 228 matches will be played, with 38 matches played by each team.
Promotion and relegation
Heart of Midlothian were promoted as 2014–15 Scottish Championship winners. On 2 May, bottom club Dundee United were defeated 2–1 away to their city rivals Dundee, a defeat which confined them to relegation of the
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 sys ...
. Craig Wighton, a local Dundee fan, scored the winning goal in the 92nd minute of the game. The champion of that league will be promoted to the Premiership for the 2016–17 season. The team that finishes 11th in the Premiership will play the winner of the Championship playoffs (teams that finish 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the Championship) in two playoff games, with the winner securing a Premiership spot for the 2016–17 season.
League table
Results
Matches 1–22
Teams play each other twice, once at home and 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
Top scorers
Awards
Premiership play-offs
The quarter-finals were contested between the 3rd and 4th placed teams in the
Scottish Championship
The Scottish Championship known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association footb ...
;
Hibernian and
Raith Rovers. Hibernian, the winners, advanced to the semi-finals to face the 2nd placed team in the Championship;
Falkirk
Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a 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 resident population of 32,422 at the ...
. Falkirk, the winners, advanced to the final to play-off against the 11th placed team in the Premiership,
Kilmarnock, with the winners securing a place in the
2016–17 Scottish Premiership.
Quarter-final
First leg
Second leg
Semi-final
First leg
Second leg
Final
First leg
Second leg
Attendances
Celtic FC drew the highest average home attendance in the 2015–16 edition of the Scottish Premiership.
See also
*
Nine in a row
References
External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:2015-16 Scottish Premiership
Scottish Premiership seasons
1
1
Scot
Scottish people or Scots (; ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Scotland. Historically, they emerged in the early Middle Ages from an amalgamation of two Celtic peoples, the Picts and Gaels, who founded the Kingdom of Scotland (or ...