2016–17 Scottish League Cup
Country | ![]() |
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Dates | 16 July 2016 – 27 November 2016 | ||
Teams | 44 | ||
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All statistics correct as of 25 April 2016. |
The 2016–17 Scottish League Cup will be the 71st season of Scotland's second-most prestigious football knockout competition. It is also known as the Betfred Cup for sponsorship reasons.
The format for the 2016–17 competition will depart from the previously used knockout-rounds, and instead will begin with 8 groups of 5 teams, which includes all Scottish Professional Football League clubs (including East Stirlingshire, who were relegated from the league at the end of the 2015–16 season), excluding those competing in Champions League and Europa League qualifiers, as well as the top 2015–16 Highland Football League club (Cove Rangers) and the highest placed team from the 2015–16 Lowland Football League (Edinburgh City, who were promoted to the SPFL at the end of the 2015–16 season).
Contents
Schedule
Round | First match date | Fixtures | Clubs |
---|---|---|---|
Group stage | 16 July 2016[1] | 80 | 40 → 12 |
Second round | TBC 2016 | 8 | 16 → 8 |
Quarter-finals | TBC 2016 | 4 | 8 → 4 |
Semi-finals | TBC 2016 | 2 | 4 → 2 |
Final | 27 November 2016[2] | 1 | 2 → 1 |
Format
The competition will begin with eight groups of five teams. The four clubs competing in UEFA Champions League (Celtic) and Europa League (Aberdeen, Heart of Midlothian and Hibernian) qualifying rounds are given a bye through the group phase. The 40 teams competing in the group phase consist of the other 9 sides competing in the 2015–16 Scottish Premiership, 9 sides competing in the 2015–16 Scottish Championship, all of the sides competing in the 2015–16 Scottish League One and 2015–16 Scottish League Two, as well as the top 2015–16 Highland Football League club and the highest placed team from the 2015–16 Lowland Football League.[1]
The winners of each of the 8 groups, as well as the 4 best runners-up will progress to the second round (last 16), which will include the four UEFA qualifying clubs.[1] At this stage, the competition will revert to the traditional knock-out format.[1]
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.[1] The traditional point system of awarding 3 points and 1 point for a draw will be used, however, for each group stage match which finishes in a draw, a penalty shootout will take place, with the winner being awarded an extra point.[1]
Group stage
The group stage will be made up of 9 teams from the 2015–16 Scottish Premiership, 9 teams from the 2015–16 Scottish Championship, 10 sides from each of the 2015–16 Scottish League One and 2015–16 Scottish League Two, as well as the winners of the 2015–16 Highland Football League and 2015–16 Lowland Football League[1] and will see these 40 teams divided into two sections: 4 groups of 20 teams from the North section and 4 groups of 20 teams from the South sections.[3] Each section will comprise four top seeded teams, four second seeded teams and 12 unseeded teams, with each group being made up of 1 top seed, 1 second seed and 3 unseeded sides.
The draw for the group stages will take place Friday 27 May 2016 at 7:30pm BST at the Hampden Park Stadium and will be shown live on BT Sport Europe.[4]
North section
Seeding
Top seeds | Second seeds | Unseeded | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
01. St Johnstone |
09. Dundee United |
|
Groups
Group A
Source:[citation needed] |
1 ^ The home team is listed in the left-hand column. Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win. |
Group B
Source:[citation needed] |
1 ^ The home team is listed in the left-hand column. Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win. |
Group C
Source:[citation needed] |
1 ^ The home team is listed in the left-hand column. Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win. |
Group D
Source:[citation needed] |
1 ^ The home team is listed in the left-hand column. Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win. |
South section
Seeding
Top seeds | Second seeds | Unseeded | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
05. Motherwell |
13. Rangers |
|
Groups
Group E
Source:[citation needed] |
1 ^ The home team is listed in the left-hand column. Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win. |
Group F
Source:[citation needed] |
1 ^ The home team is listed in the left-hand column. Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win. |
Group G
Source:[citation needed] |
1 ^ The home team is listed in the left-hand column. Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win. |
Group H
Source:[citation needed] |
1 ^ The home team is listed in the left-hand column. Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win. |
Best runners-up
Pos |
Team |
Pld |
W |
D |
L |
GF |
GA |
GD |
Pts |
Qualification or relegation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Qualification to the Second round | |
2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Source:[citation needed]
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.
Second round
The following teams qualified and will compete in the second round of the 2016–17 Scottish League Cup. Aberdeen, Celtic, Heart of Midlothian and Hibernian entered the competition at this stage, after receiving a bye for the group stage due to their participation in UEFA club competitions.
Teams
Scottish Premiership | Scottish Championship |
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Statistics
Top goalscorers
- As of matches played on 25 April 2016
Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
---|---|---|---|
References
External links
- Use dmy dates from April 2016
- EngvarB from April 2016
- Articles with unsourced statements from May 2016
- Articles with unsourced statements from August 2024
- Articles with invalid date parameter in template
- Scottish League Cup seasons
- 2016–17 Scottish Professional Football League
- 2016–17 in Scottish football cups
- Current association football seasons