The 2021–22 Scottish Premiership (known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the ninth season of the Scottish Premiership, the highest division of Scottish football, and the 125th edition overall of the top national league competition, not including one cancelled due to World War II. The season began on 31 July 2021. In December, the Scottish Government imposed stadium capacity restrictions as part of its response to the new Omicron variant. As a result, the winter break was brought forward from 4 January to 27 December. The rule of five substitutions per match was also re-introduced (as used the previous season) after the winter break.
Twelve teams contested the league: Aberdeen, Celtic, Dundee, Dundee United, Heart of Midlothian, Hibernian, Livingston, Motherwell, Rangers, Ross County, St Johnstone and St Mirren.
On 11 May 2022, Celtic officially claimed the Premiership title back from Rangers following a 1–1 draw with Dundee United, going undefeated in the final 32 league matches of the season.
Teams The following teams changed division after the 2020–21 season.
Promoted from the Championship Heart of Midlothian Dundee
Relegated to the Championship Hamilton Academical Kilmarnock
Stadia and locations AberdeenCelticDundeeDundee UnitedPittodrie StadiumCeltic ParkDens ParkTannadice ParkCapacity: 20,866Capacity: 60,411Capacity: 11,775Capacity: 14,223Heart of MidlothianHibernianTynecastle ParkEaster RoadCapacity: 20,099Capacity: 20,421LivingstonMotherwellAlmondvale StadiumFir ParkCapacity: 9,713Capacity: 13,677RangersRoss CountySt JohnstoneSt MirrenIbrox StadiumVictoria ParkMcDiarmid ParkSt Mirren ParkCapacity: 50,817Capacity: 6,541Capacity: 10,696Capacity: 7,937
Personnel and kits
TeamManagerCaptainKit manufacturerShirt sponsorAberdeen AdidasSaltire EnergyCeltic AdidasDafabetDundee MacronCrown Engineering ServicesDundee United MacronEden Mill St AndrewsHeart of Midlothian UmbroMND ScotlandHibernian (caretaker) JomaUtilitaLivingston JomaPhoenix Drilling LtdMotherwell MacronPaycareRangers Castore32RedRoss County JomaRoss-shire EngineeringSt Johnstone MacronBinn GroupSt Mirren JomaDigby Brown
Managerial changes Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Incoming manager Date of appointment Celtic John Kennedy End of interim spell 15 May 2021 Pre-season Ange Postecoglou 10 June 2021 Ross County John Hughes End of contract 24 May 2021 Malky Mackay 26 May 2021 Dundee United Micky Mellon Mutual consent 25 May 2021 Tam Courts 7 June 2021 Rangers Steven Gerrard Signed by Aston Villa 11 November 2021 1st Giovanni van Bronckhorst 18 November 2021 Hibernian Jack RossSacked 9 December 2021 7th Shaun Maloney 20 December 2021 Aberdeen Stephen Glass 13 February 2022 9th Jim Goodwin 19 February 2022 Dundee James McPake 16 February 2022 11th Mark McGhee 17 February 2022 St Mirren Jim Goodwin Signed by Aberdeen 19 February 2022 6th Stephen Robinson 22 February 2022 Hibernian Shaun Maloney Sacked 19 April 2022 7th David Gray (caretaker) 19 April 2022
Format In the initial phase of the season, the 12 teams will play a round-robin tournament whereby each team plays each one of the other teams three times. After 33 games, the league splits into two sections of six teams, with each team playing each other in that section. The league attempts to balance the fixture list so that teams in the same section play each other twice at home and twice away, but sometimes this is impossible. A total of 228 matches will be played, with 38 matches played by each team.
League summary
League table
Results
Matches 1–22 Teams play each other twice, once at home and once away.
Matches 23–33 Teams play each other once, either home or away.
Matches 34–38 After 33 matches, the league splits into two sections of six teams i.e. the top six and the bottom six, with the teams playing every other team in their section once (either at home or away). The exact matches are determined by the position of the teams in the league table at the time of the split.
Top six
Bottom six
Season statistics Top scorers Rank Player Club Goals1 Giorgos GiakoumakisCeltic13 Regan Charles-CookRoss County3 Kyōgo FuruhashiCeltic124 Bruce AndersonLivingston11 Lewis FergusonAberdeen Alfredo MorelosRangers7 Liel AbadaCeltic10 Liam BoyceHeart of Midlothian JotaCeltic Christian RamirezAberdeen Kemar RoofeRangers Tony WattMotherwell / Dundee United
Hat-tricks
PlayerForAgainstScore DateRef. Kyōgo FuruhashiCelticDundee6–0 (H)8 August 2021 David TurnbullSt Mirren6–0 (H)21 August 2021 Fashion SakalaRangersMotherwell6–1 (A)31 October 2021 Giorgos GiakoumakisCelticDundee3–2 (H)20 February 2022Ross County4–0 (H)19 March 2022 Kemar RoofeRangersSt Mirren4–0 (A)10 April 2022 James ScottHibernianSt Johnstone4–0 (H)15 May 2022
Clean sheets Rank Player Club Clean sheets1 Joe HartCeltic192 Craig GordonHeart of Midlothian143 Allan McGregorRangers124 Jak AlnwickSt Mirren11 Matt MaceyHibernian6 Zander ClarkSt Johnstone107 Benjamin SiegristDundee United9 Source:
Attendances These are the average attendances of the teams. Games with restricted attendances are not included in these figures.
Awards MonthManager of the MonthPlayer of the MonthManagerClubPlayerClubAugust Robbie Neilson Hearts Martin Boyle HibernianSeptember Graham Alexander Motherwell Ian Harkes Dundee UnitedOctober Ange Postecoglou Celtic Jota CelticNovember Graham Alexander Motherwell Jota CelticDecember Giovanni van Bronckhorst Rangers Alfredo Morelos RangersJanuary Ange Postecoglou Celtic Regan Charles-Cook Ross CountyFebruary Ange Postecoglou Celtic Bruce Anderson LivingstonMarch Ange Postecoglou Celtic Giorgos Giakoumakis CelticApril Ange Postecoglou Celtic Jota Celtic Annual awards Award Winner Club Scottich Premiership Player of the Year Callum McGregor Celtic PFA Scotland Premiership Player of the Year Callum McGregor Celtic PFA Scotland SPFL Young Player of the Year Liel Abada Celtic PFA Scotland SPFL Manager of the Year Ange Postecoglou Celtic PFA Scotland Goal of the Season Tom Rogic Celtic SFWA Player of the Year Craig Gordon Heart of Midlothian PFA Scotland Team of the Year Goalkeeper Craig Gordon(Heart of Midlothian) Defenders James Tavernier(Rangers) Cameron Carter-Vickers(Celtic) Josip Juranović(Celtic) John Souttar(Heart of Midlothian) Midfielders Tom Rogić(Celtic) Callum McGregor(Celtic) Jota(Celtic) Forwards Regan Charles-Cook(Ross County) Alfredo Morelos(Rangers) Kyogo Furuhashi(Celtic)
Premiership play-offs The quarter-finals were contested by the teams placed third and fourth in the 2021–22 Scottish Championship. The winners advanced to the semi-finals to face the team placed second in the Championship. The final was contested by the semi-final winners and the team placed eleventh in the Premiership, with the winners securing a place in the 2022–23 Scottish Premiership.
Qualified teams Team Rank St Johnstone 1 Arbroath 2 Inverness Caledonian Thistle 3 Partick Thistle 4
Quarter-finals First leg
Second leg
Semi-finals First leg
Second leg
Final First leg
Second leg
Broadcasting Live matches (UK and Ireland) Sky Sports had exclusive rights to the Scottish Premiership, showing up to 48 matches and the Premiership play-off final. BBC Scotland broadcast the Premiership quarter-final and semi-final play-off ties.
Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, clubs continued to stream matches (not broadcast on Sky) to fans on a pay-per-view or "virtual season ticket" basis, whilst capacities in stadia were limited due to social distancing restrictions.
Highlights Highlights were broadcast on BBC Scotland's flagship Sportscene programme on both Saturdays and Sundays. Sky Sports also showed highlights.
Gaelic-language channel BBC Alba had rights to broadcast repeats in full of 38 Saturday 15:00 matches "as live" at 17:30.
The SPFL also uploaded the goals from every Premiership match onto its YouTube channel.
References
External links Official website