The Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) is the national men's

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

league in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. The league was formed in June 2013 following a merger between the

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...

and the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) is a defunct 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&nbs ...

. As well as operating its league competition, which consists of the top four levels of the Scottish football league system, the SPFL also operates two domestic cup competitions, the

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 ...

and the Scottish Challenge Cup. While the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Scottish Football Association.

Background

A Scottish football league system was first created in 1890, when the

(SFL) was formed. Traditionally the league had a two divisional structure (Divisions One and Two) between which clubs were promoted and relegated at the end of each season. By the mid-1970s, this organisation was perceived to be stagnant, and it was decided to split into a three divisional structure: Premier Division (formerly Division One), First Division (formerly Division Two) and a newly added Second Division. This system came into force for the 1975–76 season. This setup continued until the 1994–95 seasonRangers and Hearts owners, Hibs and Aberdeen involved, Celtic wavering - recalling failed Scottish Super League breakaway of 1992
Stephen Halliday, The Scotsman, 20 April 2021 when a four divisional structure was introduced, along with a new Third Division, with all four divisions consisting of ten clubs. On 8 September 1997, the Premier Division clubs decided to split from the Scottish Football League and form the

(SPL), following the example of the English Premier League. This decision was fuelled by a desire by the top clubs in Scotland to control more of the revenue generated by the game and to negotiate its contracts with sponsors and broadcasters. SFL revenues had been divided proportionally between clubs in all four divisions. The SPL clubs retained all of its commercial revenues, except for an annual payment to the SFL and a parachute payment to any relegated clubs. Scottish football began to think about changing its structures again in the late 2000s, as Scottish clubs and national teams were struggling in international competition and revenues were being greatly outgrown by the neighbouring English Premier League. A review, led by former First Minister of Scotland Henry McLeish, was conducted by the Scottish Football Association and its report was published in December 2010. McLeish recommended that Scottish football should have a single league body and that the top flight should be reduced to 10 clubs. The proposal to change the top flight numbers did not proceed because of opposition from four SPL clubs, with only two needed to block any change of that nature. Talks continued about the proposed league merger. A proposal for a merged league body with a 12–12–18 structure was advanced in April 2013. This plan failed when two SPL clubs ( Ross County and St Mirren) voted against. The SPL clubs unanimously agreed a revised merger plan a few weeks later, which would retain the same league structure and redistribute more revenues to second tier clubs. The SFL submitted a counter-proposal allowing for more revenues to be given to third and fourth tier clubs, but this was rejected by the SPL, who stuck with the plan agreed by their clubs. An indicative vote of SFL clubs in May suggested that the SPL plan would be formally rejected. Some of the First Division (second tier) clubs threatened to break away from the SFL and form an "SPL2" (SPL second division). The SPL suggested it would welcome the First Division clubs if they decided to leave the SFL. A formal vote of SFL clubs was taken on 12 June. 23 clubs voted in favour, one more than was needed for the proposal to succeed. The merger was formally agreed on 28 June and football was first played under the new structure in the 2013–14 season.

League and corporate structure

On 24 July 2013 the names of the four SPFL divisions were announced – Scottish Premiership,

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 ...

, Scottish League One and

Scottish League Two The Scottish League Two, known as William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill League Two for sponsorship reasons, is the fourth tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association football, foo ...

. The merger was criticised by Alex Anderson of '' When Saturday Comes'' as bringing further uncertainty to Scottish football, holding the belief that the semi-professional clubs in the lower divisions will be put into a future regional structure. The SPFL is operated as a corporation and is owned by the 42 member clubs. Each club is a shareholder, with each having a vote on issues such as rule changes and contracts. The clubs elect a six-man board of directors to oversee the daily operations of the league. The board of directors in turn appoint a Chief Executive. Neil Doncaster became the SPFL's first Chief Executive in July 2013, after beating David Longmuir to the role. The board of directors is composed of eight members, who are elected at the company's annual general meeting.

Clubs

Listed below are the 42 member clubs of the SPFL for the 2025–26 season. ; Scottish Premiership *

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 *

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 *

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 ...

* Heart of Midlothian * Hibernian * Kilmarnock * Livingston *

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 ...

* Rangers * St Mirren ;

* Airdrieonians *

Arbroath Arbroath () or Aberbrothock ( ) is a former royal burgh and the largest town in the Subdivisions of Scotland, council area of Angus, Scotland, Angus, Scotland, with a population of 23,902. It lies on the North Sea coast, some east-northeast of ...

* Ayr United * Dunfermline Athletic * Greenock Morton * Partick Thistle * Queen's Park * Raith Rovers * Ross County * St Johnstone ; Scottish League One * Alloa Athletic * Cove Rangers * East Fife * Hamilton Academical * Inverness Caledonian Thistle * Kelty Hearts * Montrose *

Peterhead Peterhead (; , ) is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is the council area's largest settlement, with a population of 19,060 at the 2022 Census for Scotland, 2022 Census. It is the largest fishing port in the United Kingdom for total landi ...

* Queen of the South * Stenhousemuir ;

* Annan Athletic * Clyde * Dumbarton * Edinburgh City * East Kilbride * Elgin City * Forfar Athletic * Stirling Albion *

Stranraer Stranraer ( , in Scotland also ; ), also known as The Toon or The Cleyhole, is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, on Loch Ryan and the northern side of the isthmus joining the Rhins of Galloway to the mainland. Stranraer is Dumfries ...

* The Spartans

Champions

Promotion/relegation play-off winners

The SPFL retained the promotion/relegation play-off format between

divisions introduced in 2005, whilst adding a play-off tournament to the Premiership, then later a play-off between League Two and the Highland Football League and Lowland Football League in the 2014–15 season. Clubs in bold are those who were promoted from the lower to the higher tier. :^H Club promoted from the Highland Football League :^L Club promoted from the Lowland Football League

League sponsorship and media rights

One of the reasons given for the merger of the SPL and SFL was the belief that it would help to attract title sponsorship to Scottish league football; contracts between the SPL and Clydesdale Bank and the SFL and Irn-Bru expired in 2013. In October 2013, the SPFL announced a partnership with Irn-Bru, making it the league's official soft drink. Neil Doncaster stated that the SPFL would continue to seek sponsorship for the league and the

. After two seasons without a main sponsor, a two-year agreement was reached with bookmaker Ladbrokes in May 2015. This was later extended until June 2020. After a year without a title sponsor, the SPFL reached a five-year deal with used car marketplace company Cinch. In October 2023 Cinch exercised its right to walk away from the deal after three years. William Hill took over as sponsors from the 2024–25 season. The SPFL inherited media rights arrangements with

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...

and BT Sport. It emerged in May 2014 that the SPFL had repaid part of the agreed contract due to the additional costs incurred by the broadcasters in covering Rangers matches at lower division grounds. In September 2015, the SPFL announced that it had extended its agreements with Sky and BT to the end of the 2019–20 season on "improved terms". In 2018, it was announced that Sky Sports would take over exclusive live rights for the Premiership from the 2020–21 season. On 2 November 2013 the SPFL agreed a £20 million deal with sports media rights firm MP & Silva to show games internationally, but this agreement was rescinded in August 2018 when MP & Silva defaulted on its payments.

Women's football

In February 2022, a majority of clubs in the Scottish Women's Premier League (SWPL) voted to accept an offer from the SPFL to run their competitions. The SWPL had previously been operated by Scottish Women's Football.

Notes

References

External links

Official website
* (SPFL Official Twitter account) {{Football in the United Kingdom * 2013 establishments in Scotland 2 Sports leagues established in 2013 Professional sports leagues in Scotland