The 2023 Scottish Challenge Cup final, also known as the SPFL Trust Trophy final for sponsorship reasons, was a football match that took place on 26 March 2023 between Raith Rovers and Hamilton Academical. It was the 30th final of the

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,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 ...

, and the eighth since the SPFL was formed. It also marked the return of non-Scottish teams to the competition for the first time since the 2019–20 edition.

Route to the final

The competition is a knock-out tournament and was contested by 49 teams from Scotland in 2022–23, as well as 2 teams each from Wales and Northern Ireland respectively.

Raith Rovers

As a 2021–22 Scottish Championship club, Raith Rovers were given a bye to the third round. The 2023 final was Raith's fourth Challenge Cup final and third consecutive final, having split the 2020 edition with Inverness Caledonian Thistle after the final was postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and were reigning champions after winning the 2022 edition against Queen of the South. They also won the 2014 final against

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

, making them undefeated in all four finals they had been involved in prior.

Hamilton Academical

As a 2021–22 Scottish Championship club, Hamilton Academical were given a bye to the third round. This was Hamilton's first Challenge Cup final since the 2012 edition. The 2023 final was Hamilton's fifth Challenge Cup final, having won the cup in

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and

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, and finishing as runners-up in

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and 2012.

Match details

References

Scottish Challenge Cup finals Scottish Challenge Cup Final 2023 Scottish Challenge Cup Final 2023

Challenge Cup Final The Challenge Cup of Rugby league was instituted in the 1896–97 Northern Rugby Football Union season, 1896–97 and the final was contested between Batley Bulldogs, Batley and St Helens R.F.C., St. Helens at Headingley Rugby Stadium, Headingley, ...

3 Scottish Challenge Cup Final {{Scotland-footy-competition-stub