The 2019–20

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,Tunnock's Caramel Wafer Challenge Cup due to sponsorship reasons, was the 29th season of the competition. The total number of participating clubs is 58. The competition began on 6 August 2019 with the First Round and was due to end on 28 March 2020 with the final at

McDiarmid Park McDiarmid Park is a stadium in Perth, Scotland, Perth, Scotland, used mainly for association football. It has been the home ground of Scottish Premiership side St Johnstone F.C., St Johnstone since its opening in 1989. The stadium has an All-seat ...

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

. However, the final had to be postponed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and was never subsequently played. Thirty teams from 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 ...

, League One and League Two compete, along with four teams from the

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 ...

and four from the

Lowland Football League The Scottish Lowland Football League (SLFL, commonly known as the Lowland League) and the Park’s Motor Group Scottish Lowland League for sponsorship reasons is a senior football league based in central and southern Scotland. The league sits a ...

. In addition to this, Under-21 teams of the clubs competing in the Premiership are represented. This season there will be again two clubs from Northern Ireland's

NIFL Premiership The NIFL Premiership, known as the Sports Direct Premiership for sponsorship purposes, and Irish Premiership colloquially, is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Northern Ireland Football L ...

, two clubs from the

Welsh Premier League The Cymru Premier, known as the JD Cymru Premier for sponsorship reasons, is the national football league of Wales. It has both professional and semi-professional status clubs and is at the top of the Welsh football league system. It was found ...

, two clubs from the Republic of Ireland's

League of Ireland The League of Ireland is a national association football Sports league, league consisting of professional clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Derry, Derry City in Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland. It was ...

and for the second time two entrants from the English

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

(fifth tier) entered into the competition. Ross County were the cup holders after they beat

Connah's Quay Connah's Quay (), known locally as "The Quay" and formerly known as Wepre, is a town and community in Flintshire, on the River Dee and next to the border with England. With a population of 16,771, it is the largest town in Flintshire. The ...

3–1 in the 2019 final, but they were ineligible to defend their title following their promotion to the Premiership for the 2019–20 season.

Format

First round

The first round featured 4 clubs from the 2018-19 Scottish Highland Football League ( Cove Rangers, Brora Rangers,

Fraserburgh Fraserburgh (; ), locally known as the Broch, is a town in Aberdeenshire (unitary), Aberdeenshire, Scotland, with a population recorded in the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census as 13,100. It lies in Buchan in the northeastern corner of th ...

, Formartine United), 4 clubs from the 2018-19 Scottish Lowland Football League (

East Kilbride East Kilbride (; ), sometimes referred to as EK, is the largest town in South Lanarkshire in Scotland, and the country's sixth-largest locality by population. Historically a small village, it was designated Scotland's first "new town" on 6 Ma ...

, BSC Glasgow, Kelty Hearts,

Spartans Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the valley of Evrotas river in Laconia, in southeastern P ...

), 4 clubs from 2018–19 Ladbrokes League Two ( Queen's Park, Elgin City, Albion Rovers,

Berwick Rangers Berwick Rangers Football Club is a football team based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed in England, who play in the Scottish football system. Founded in 1881, they currently play in the , the fifth tier of Scottish football, despite being ba ...

) and the 12 Under 21 teams of the 2019-20 Scottish Premiership. The draw was made on 26 June 2019 at 12:30 in the Tunnock's factory in

Uddingston Uddingston (, ) is a small town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is on the north side of the River Clyde, south-east of Glasgow city centre, and acts as a dormitory suburb for the city. Geography and boundaries Uddingston is located to t ...

and was broadcast live on th
SPFL YouTube Channel
The draw was regionalised and all non-Under 21 teams were seeded. The matches were played on 6 and 7 August 2019.

North Section

Draw

Teams in bold advanced to the second round.

Matches

South Section

Draw

Teams in bold advanced to the second round.

Matches

Second round

The draw was also made on 26 June 2019 at 12:30 in the Tunnock's factory in Uddingston and was broadcast live on the SPFL YouTube Channel. The draw was again regionalised but not seeded. Matches were played on 13 August 2019.

North Section

Matches

South Section

Matches

Third round

The 14 winners of the

Second Round The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of Un ...

are joined by the 10 clubs from 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 ...

and two teams from the

, the

and the

League of Ireland Premier Division The League of Ireland Men's Premier Division (), also known as the SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the Republic of Ireland and the highest level of the Republic of I ...

. A pre-draw determined which country was allocated to Pot A, Pot B, Pot C and Pot D to avoid 2 cross-border teams from the same country playing each other. Pot E had the remaining 24 Scottish teams. Games will be played Saturday 7 September or Sunday 8 September 2019. The draw was made on 14 August 2019 at 12:30 and was broadcast live on th
SPFL YouTube Channel
Teams in bold advanced to the fourth round.

Matches

Fourth round

The draw was made on 10 September 2019 at 12:30, live on th
SPFL YouTube Channel
Teams in ''Italics'' were not known at the time of the draw. Teams in Bold advanced to the quarter-finals.

Matches

Quarter-finals

The draw was made on 16 October 2019 at 13:00, live on th
SPFL YouTube Channel
Teams in ''Italics'' were not known at the time of the draw. Teams in Bold advanced to the semi-finals.

Matches

Semi-finals

The draw was made on 20 November 2019 at 12:00 and was broadcast live on th
SPFL YouTube Channel
The fixtures were played from 14 to 16 February 2020.

Matches

*Note: The final was cancelled as a result of the coronavirus situation, both teams were declared joint winners.

Broadcasting rights

The following matches are to be broadcast live on UK television:

Notes

A. The 2020–21 tournament was cancelled due to the

Covid-19 pandemic in Scotland The COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland is part of the COVID-19 pandemic of COVID-19, coronavirus disease-2019, caused by the virus Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, SARS-CoV-2. The first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Scotland on 1 M ...

References

External links

Scottish Challenge Cup at the Scottish Professional Football League
{{DEFAULTSORT:2019-20 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 ...

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,2019–20 in Northern Ireland association football 2019–20 in Welsh football