The 2019–20

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup, also known as the Premier Sports 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 ...

(also known as the

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Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 74th season of Scotland's second-most prestigious

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

knockout competition. The format for the 2019–20 competition was the same as the previous three seasons. It began with eight groups of five teams which included all 2018–19 Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs, excluding those competing in Champions League and

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qualifiers, as well as the winners of the 2018–19 Highland Football League ( Cove Rangers) and the 2018–19 Lowland Football League (

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Schedule

Format

The competition began with eight groups of five teams. The four clubs competing in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

(

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) and

(

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...

, and

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 ...

) qualifying rounds were given a bye through to the second round. The 40 teams competing in the group stage consisted of the other eight teams that competed in the 2018–19 Scottish Premiership, and all of the teams that competed in the 2018–19 Scottish Championship,

2018–19 Scottish League One The 2018–19 Scottish League One (known as the Ladbrokes League One for sponsorship reasons) was the 25th season in the current format of 10 teams in the third-tier of Scottish football. The fixtures were published on 15 June 2018 and the seaso ...

and 2018–19 Scottish League Two, as well as the 2018–19 Highland Football League and the 2018–19 Lowland Football League champions. The winners of each of the eight groups, as well as the four best runners-up progressed to the second round (last 16), which includes the four UEFA qualifying clubs. At this stage, the competition reverts to the traditional

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format. The four group winners with the highest points total and the clubs entering at this stage are seeded, with the four group winners with the lowest points unseeded along with the four best runners-up.

Bonus point system

In December 2015, the SPFL announced that alongside the new group stage format, a bonus point system would be introduced to provide greater excitement and increase the number of meaningful games at this stage. The traditional point system of awarding three points for a win and one point for a draw is used, however, for each group stage match that finishes in a draw, a

penalty shoot-out 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 ...

takes place, with the winner being awarded a bonus point.

Group stage

The group stage was made up of eight teams from the 2018–19 Scottish Premiership, and all ten teams from each of the 2018–19 Scottish Championship,

and 2018–19 Scottish League Two, as well as the winners of the 2018–19 Highland Football League and 2018–19 Lowland Football League. The 40 teams were divided into two sections – North and South – with each section containing four top seeds, four second seeds and 12 unseeded teams. Each section was drawn into four groups with each group comprising one top seed, one second seed and three unseeded teams. The draw for the group stage took place on 28 May 2019 and was broadcast live on the SPFL YouTube channel.

North

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

South

Group E

Group F

Group G

Group H

Best runners-up

Knockout phase

Second round

Draw and seeding

The draw for the second round took place on 28 July 2019 at the conclusion of the

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Inverness Caledonian Thistle Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, commonly known as Caley Thistle, Inverness CT or just Inverness, is a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland. The team competes in , the third tier of the Scottish Professional Footba ...

match.

and

entered the competition at this stage, after receiving a bye for the group stage due to their participation in

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club competitions. The four UEFA-qualifying clubs and the four group winners with the best record were seeded for the draw. Teams in Bold advanced to the quarter-finals. ;Notes *† denotes teams playing in the Championship. ** denotes teams playing in League One.

Matches

Quarter-finals

Draw

Teams in Bold advanced to the semi-finals.

Matches

Semi-finals

Draw

Teams in Bold advanced to the final. Teams in ''Italics'' were not known at the time of the draw.

Matches

Final

Media coverage

The domestic broadcasting rights for the competition are held exclusively by

BT Sport TNT Sports (formerly BT Sport) is a group of pay television sports channels in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Now owned by Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe, Warner Bros. Discovery and BT Group, they first launched as B ...

. The following matches were broadcast live on UK television:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:2019-20 Scottish League Cup Scottish League Cup seasons League Cup

Cup A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...