The Scottish Football Association (also known as the SFA and the Scottish FA; sco, Scots Fitba Association;
Scottish Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well a ...
: ''Comann Ball-coise na h-Alba'') is the
governing body
A governing body is a group of people that has the authority to exercise governance over an organization or political entity. The most formal is a government, a body whose sole responsibility and authority is to make binding decisions in a taken g ...
of football in Scotland and has the ultimate responsibility for the control and development of football in Scotland. Members of the SFA include clubs in Scotland, affiliated national associations as well as local associations. It was formed in 1873, making it the second oldest national football association in the world. It is not to be confused with the Scottish Football Union, which is the name that the SRU was known by until the 1920s.
The Scottish Football Association, along with FIFA and the other British governing bodies, sits on the
International Football Association Board
The International Football Association Board (IFAB) is the body that determines the Laws of the Game of association football. IFAB was founded in 1886 to agree standardised Laws for international competition, and has since acted as the "guardi ...
which is responsible for the laws of the game. The SFA is also a member of FIFA and founder member of
UEFA
Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs foo ...
. It is based at Hampden Park in Glasgow. In addition, the Scottish Football Museum is located there.
The Scottish Football Association is responsible for the operation of the
Scotland national football team
The Scotland national football team gd, Sgioba Ball-coise Nàiseanta na h-Alba sco, Scotland National Fitbaa Team represents Scotland in men's international football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. It competes in the t ...
, the annual
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Queen's Park, a Glasgow club founded in 1867, took the lead, and following an advertisement in a Glasgow newspaper in 1873, representatives from seven clubs – Queen's Park, Clydesdale, Vale of Leven, Dumbreck, Third Lanark, Eastern and Granville – attended a meeting on 13 March 1873. Furthermore, Kilmarnock sent a letter stating their willingness to join.
That day, these eight clubs formed the Scottish Football Association, and resolved that:
Chief executive/Secretary
The chief executive of the Scottish Football Association oversees the development of football in Scotland and the administration of disciplinary matters, and is also responsible for the general organisation of the national side. One of the most prominent roles of the chief executive is to hire and dismiss Scotland national football team managers.
* Archibald Rae (1873–1874)
* J.C. Mackay (1874–1875)
* William Dick (1875–1880)
* James Fleming (1880–1882)
* Robert Livingstone (1882)
* John McDowall (1882–1928)
* Sir George Graham (1928–1957)
* Willie Allan (1957–1977)
* Ernie WalkerCBE (1977–1990)
* Jim Farry (1990–1999)
* David Taylor (1999–2007)
* Gordon Smith (2007–2010)
* Stewart Regan (2010–2018)
* Ian Maxwell (2018–present)
National teams
As well as the
Scotland national football team
The Scotland national football team gd, Sgioba Ball-coise Nàiseanta na h-Alba sco, Scotland National Fitbaa Team represents Scotland in men's international football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. It competes in the t ...
Futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and indoor football.
Futsal is played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is t ...
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Scottish Youth Cup. Although the SFA are not involved in the day-to-day operation of the Scottish Professional Football League or other league competitions, they do appoint
referee
A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other tit ...
s to officiate the games in these leagues, as well as dealing with player registrations and disciplinary issues.
Club licensing
The Scottish Football Association encourages quality of governance in football clubs through a system of club licence awards. All SFA member clubs are assessed annually in four areas (ground, first team, youth team, and governance) and, if appropriate, awarded a licence at platinum, gold, silver, bronze or entry level. As of June 2021, only Celtic have been awarded a platinum-level licence, while three clubs have been awarded gold-level licences: Hibernian, St Johnstone and St Mirren. All clubs in the Scottish Professional Football League, Highland Football League, and Lowland Football League are required to be licensed at entry level or above.
Midlands Football League
The Midlands Football League is a junior football league based in the Tayside area of Scotland. The league sits at level 6 on the Scottish football league system, acting as a feeder to the Highland Football League.
Founded in 2021, the in ...
:
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Lochee United
Lochee United Football Club are a Scottish football club based in the Lochee area of Dundee. Formed in 1892, they currently compete in the SJFA Midlands League and play their home games at Thomson Park.
History
After spending their early y ...
North Caledonian League
The North Caledonian Football Association is a football (soccer), football association operating throughout the Highlands and Islands of Scotland and is a recognised body of the Scottish Football Association (SFA) and as such has its senior footb ...
Broxburn Athletic
Broxburn Athletic Football Club is a Scottish football (soccer), football club based in the town of Broxburn, West Lothian, Broxburn in West Lothian. They play their home games at Albyn Park. The team currently competes in the , the sixth tier ...
,
Burntisland Shipyard
Burntisland Shipyard Football Club are a Scottish football club based in the town of Burntisland, Fife. The club competes in the and play their home matches at Recreation Park. They are full members of the Scottish Football Association.
Histo ...
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Camelon Juniors
Camelon Juniors Football Club are a Scottish football club based in Camelon, in the Falkirk district. The team plays in the , having moved from the junior leagues in 2018. Despite this move, the club has decided to retain the "Juniors" part of ...
Dalkeith Thistle
Dalkeith Thistle Football Club are a Scottish football club from the town of Dalkeith, Midlothian. Formed in 1892, the team plays in the East of Scotland Football League
The East of Scotland Football League (EoSFL) is a senior football leag ...
Hawick Royal Albert
Hawick Royal Albert Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the town of Hawick in the Scottish Borders. The club was founded in 1947 as Hawick Royal Albert and in 2019 merged with amateur side Hawick United to create Hawick Royal Al ...
Jeanfield Swifts
Jeanfield Swifts Football Club are a Scottish football club based in Perth. The team plays in the , having moved from the junior leagues in 2018. Their home ground is Riverside Stadium, located in the North Muirton area of the city, to which ...
Musselburgh Athletic
Musselburgh Athletic Football Club are a Scottish football club based in the town of Musselburgh, East Lothian. Formed in 1934, they have played under different names including Musselburgh Bruntonians, Musselburgh Juniors and Musselburgh Fern s ...
,
Newtongrange Star
Newtongrange Star Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the village of Newtongrange, Midlothian. The home ground is New Victoria Park. The facility includes an enclosed pitch with full floodlighting, covered enclosure, changing roo ...
,
Penicuik Athletic
Penicuik Athletic Football Club are a Scottish football club. They were formed in 1888 and are based at Penicuik Park, in the town of Penicuik. Penicuik Park is ten miles south west of Edinburgh on the A702 road. The team now plays in the East ...
,
Preston Athletic
Preston Athletic Football Club are a Scottish football club based in the town of Prestonpans, East Lothian. The club are nicknamed the Panners and play their home matches at Pennypit Park. The team play in dark blue.
They were founding member ...
Syngenta
Syngenta AG is a provider of agricultural science and technology, in particular seeds and pesticides with its management headquarters in Basel, Switzerland. It is owned by ChemChina, a Chinese state-owned enterprise.
Syngenta was founded ...
South of Scotland Football League
The South of Scotland Football League (SoSFL) is a senior football league based in south-west Scotland. The league sits at level 6 on the Scottish football league system, acting as a feeder to the Lowland Football League.
Founded in 1946, i ...
Cumnock Juniors
Cumnock Juniors Football Club are a Scottish football club based in Cumnock, Ayrshire.
The Nock play their home games at Townhead Park and compete in the West of Scotland Football League.
History
Birthed in 1912, they have a history of local ...
Glasgow University
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, image_size = 150px
, caption = Coat of arms
Flag
, latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis
, motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita
, ...
,
Irvine Meadow XI
Irvine Meadow XI Football Club is a Scottish football club, based in Irvine, North Ayrshire. They currently compete in the . The club's home ground is Meadow Park in central Irvine, and they play in royal blue strips.
History
Formed in 1897 ...
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Kilwinning Rangers
Kilwinning Rangers Football Club are a Scottish football club based in the town of Kilwinning, Ayrshire. Formed in 1899, the club competes in the West of Scotland Football League, and are eligible to participate in the Scottish Cup. Nicknam ...
Rutherglen Glencairn
Rutherglen Glencairn Football Club is a Scottish football (soccer), football club based in Rutherglen, South Lanarkshire, near Glasgow. Nicknamed ''The Glens'' and formed in 1896, they play at The Hamish B Allan Stadium (New Southcroft Park).
G ...
Aberdeenshire Cup
The Aberdeenshire Cup is a Scottish football tournament for all senior clubs affiliated to the Aberdeenshire and District Football Association (ADFA), being clubs from the historic counties of Aberdeenshire and Banffshire. The Aberdeenshire ...
Aberdeenshire League
The Aberdeenshire and District League, usually known as the Aberdeenshire League, is a football tournament for clubs in membership of the Aberdeenshire and District Football Association. The clubs are drawn from the historic counties of Aberde ...
King Cup
The King Cup (sometimes spelled King's), officially known as The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques' Cup ( ar, كأس خادم الحرمين الشريفين), is the Saudi Arabian football knockout cup competition, run by the Saudi Arabian Foot ...
Fife Football Association
Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i.e ...
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Fife Cup
The Fife Cup is a Scottish regional football competition for clubs in the historic county of Fife. The competition was founded by the Fifeshire Football Association in 1882. The competition was originally known as the "Fifeshire Cup" from 1882� ...
Southern Counties Football Association
Southern may refer to:
Businesses
* China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China
* Southern Airways, defunct US airline
* Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US
* Southern Airways Express, M ...
Potts Cup
Potts may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
*Doc Potts, animated television series
* Tom Potts, Child ballad 109
*The Potts, said to be the world's longest-running cartoon strip drawn by the same artist
Mathematics
* Potts model, model of interac ...
Stirlingshire Football Association
Stirlingshire or the County of Stirling, gd, Siorrachd Sruighlea) is a historic county and registration countyRegisters of Scotland. Publications, leaflets, Land Register Counties. of Scotland. Its county town is Stirling.
It borders Perth ...
West of Scotland Football Association
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...
North Caledonian Football Association
The North Caledonian Football Association is a football association operating throughout the Highlands and Islands of Scotland and is a recognised body of the Scottish Football Association (SFA) and as such has its senior football competitions ...
competitions also registered:''
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North Caledonian League
The North Caledonian Football Association is a football (soccer), football association operating throughout the Highlands and Islands of Scotland and is a recognised body of the Scottish Football Association (SFA) and as such has its senior footb ...
North Caledonian Cup
The North Caledonian Cup, originally known as the North of Scotland Junior Cup and later the North of Scotland 2nd XI Cup is an annual association football cup for competition between football clubs across the Highlands & Islands of Scotland.
...
The following six leagues with their affiliated leagues and cups are recognised by The Scottish Football Association:
* Scottish Professional Football League
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Scottish League Cup
The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay 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 exist ...
Scottish Lowland Football League
The Scottish Lowland Football League (SLFL, commonly known as the Lowland League) is a senior football league based in central and southern Scotland. The league sits at level 5 on the Scottish football league system, acting as a feeder to the S ...
South of Scotland Football League
The South of Scotland Football League (SoSFL) is a senior football league based in south-west Scotland. The league sits at level 6 on the Scottish football league system, acting as a feeder to the Lowland Football League.
Founded in 1946, i ...
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...