The 2017–18

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,IRN-BRU Cup due to sponsorship reasons, is the 27th season of the competition. The tournament took on a similar format from the previous season, however, two teams from the Republic of Ireland's Airtricity League (

Sligo Rovers Sligo Rovers Football Club is an Irish professional association football, football club playing in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland. The club is based in Sligo in the west of Ireland. The club was founded in 1928 and have been in ...

and Bray Wanderers) entered the competition for the first time taking the total number of participating clubs to 56. This was the second season with two clubs from both Northern Ireland and Wales competing alongside the 30 members of the 2017–18 Scottish Championship, 2017–18 Scottish League One and

2017–18 Scottish League Two The 2017–18 Scottish League Two (known as Ladbrokes League Two for sponsorship reasons) was the 24th season in the current format of 10 teams in the fourth-tier of Scottish football. The last placed team entered a play-off with a team nominat ...

, four teams from the 2017–18 Highland Football League and four from the 2017–18 Lowland Football League as well as the Under-20 teams of the teams competing in the 2017–18 Scottish Premiership. The Welsh teams were The New Saints and Connah's Quay Nomads while the Northern Irish teams were

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding ...

and Linfield.

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 ...

were the defending champions after they beat St Mirren 2–1 in the 2017 final, but were eliminated in the Quarter-finals by

. Irn Bru replaced Petrofac as the main sponsor of the competition in June 2016.

Format

First round

The draw for the first round was made at 1 pm on 27 June 2017 at the Summerlee Industrial Museum in

Coatbridge Coatbridge (, ) is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, about east of Glasgow city centre, set in the central Lowlands. Along with neighbouring town Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Airdrie, Coatbridge forms the area known as the Monklands (popula ...

and was streamed live on th
SPFL's Facebook page
The draw was regionalised into northern and southern sections with each section containing 14 SPFL clubs, four

Highland Football League The Scottish Highland Football League (SHFL, commonly known as the Highland League) is a senior football league based in the north of Scotland. The league sits at level 5 on the Scottish football league system, acting as a feeder to the Scott ...

or Lowland Football League clubs and six U20s teams with any team able to face any other within their section.

North Section

Draw

Teams in Bold advanced to the second round.

Matches

South Section

Draw

Teams in Bold advanced to the second round.

Matches

;Notes

Second round

Draw

The draw for the second round was made at 1 pm on 17 August 2017 at the Falkirk Wheel and streamed live on the SPFL's

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

page. The draw was unseeded but the six non-Scottish teams were kept apart with one team from each country drawn at home and one away. Linfield were allocated an away tie due to the unavailability of

Windsor Park The National Football Stadium at Windsor Park (officially the Clearer Twist National Stadium at Windsor Park for sponsorship reasons), or the National Football Stadium, also known as Windsor Park is a association football, football stadium in B ...

played at home. Teams in ''Italics'' were not known at the time of the draw. Teams in Bold advanced to the third round.

Matches

The SPFL launched an investigation after two different methods of

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

were used in the second round matches that required the tiebreaker. Montrose's 6–5 win over Ayr United used the traditional ABAB method where one team follows the other whereas The New Saints' 6–5 win over Livingston used the trial ABBA method where one team goes first before the other takes two consecutively and then the first team takes their second. SPFL rules state that the ABAB method should be used. The mix up is suspected to have come after confusion between the Irish referee and Welsh linesmen in The New Saints- Livingston match over which method was to be used. The result of the investigation is not expected to impact the result of The New Saints- Livingston tie.

Third round

Draw

The draw for the third round was made at 1 pm on 5 September 2017 at the Riverside Museum and was streamed live on the SPFL's

page. The draw was unseeded and there were no longer any requirements for non-SPFL sides to be kept apart. Teams in Bold advanced to the third round.

Matches

Quarter-finals

Draw

The draw for the quarter-finals was made at 1 pm on 10 October 2017 at the

Forth Road Bridge The Forth Road Bridge is a suspension bridge in Central Belt, east central Scotland. The bridge opened in 1964 and at the time was the List of longest suspension bridge spans, longest suspension bridge in the world outside the United States. ...

Visitor Centre and was streamed live on the SPFL's

page. The draw was unseeded. Teams in Bold advanced to the semi-finals.

Matches

Semi-finals

Draw

The draw for the semi-finals was made at 1pm on 14 November 2017 at the SEC Armadillo and was streamed live on the SPFL's

page. The draw was unseeded. Teams in Bold advanced to the final.

Matches

Final

Statistics

Top goalscorers

Player of the Round

The Golden Ball Award is a 'Player of the Round' award given to the player who is adjudged to have had the best performance of that round out of all the players in teams left competing in that round of the competition. The winner is voted for by supporters from a chosen short-list of players, which is posted on the Irn-Bru Football Twitter page.

Broadcasting rights

The domestic broadcasting rights for the competition are held jointly by

BBC Alba BBC Alba is a Scottish Gaelic-language free-to-air public broadcast television channel jointly owned by the BBC and MG Alba. The channel was launched on 19 September 2008 and is on-air for up to seven hours a day. The name ' is the Scottish Gae ...

S4C S4C (, ''Sianel Pedwar Cymru'', meaning ''Channel Four Wales'') is a Welsh language free-to-air public broadcast television channel. Launched on 1 November 1982, it was the first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speakin ...

(for matches involving Welsh teams) and subscription channel Premier Sports. Prior to the re-format in the 2016–17 season,

had exclusive rights. The following matches are to be broadcast live on UK television:

References

External links

Scottish Challenge Cup at the Scottish Professional Football League
{{DEFAULTSORT:2017-18 Scottish Challenge Cup Scottish Challenge Cup seasons

Challenge Cup The Rugby Football League Challenge Cup, commonly known just as the Challenge Cup is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, it is the world's old ...

2017–18 in Northern Ireland association football 2017–18 in Welsh football