The 2023–24 Scottish League Cup, also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons, was the 78th season of Scotland's second-most prestigious football knockout competition.
Celtic were the two-time defending champions, but were eliminated in the second round by Kilmarnock.
Rangers won their record-extending 28th Scottish League Cup beating Aberdeen 1–0 in the final.
Schedule Round First match date Fixtures ClubsGroup stage 15 July 2023 80 45 → 16Second round 19 August 2023 8 16 → 8Quarter finals 26 September 2023 4 8 → 4Semi finals 4 November 2023 2 4 → 2Final 17 December 2023 1 2 → 1
Format The competition began with eight groups of five teams. The five clubs initially competing in the UEFA Champions League (Celtic and Rangers), Europa League (Aberdeen) and Europa Conference League (Heart of Midlothian and Hibernian) received a bye to the second round. The group stage consisted of 40 teams: all remaining teams that competed across the SPFL in 2022–23, the 2022–23 Highland Football League champions (Brechin City) and 2022–23 Lowland Football League champions (The Spartans). Unlike previous seasons where the remaining group stage spot was given to the runners-up of the Highland League or Lowland League, Cowdenbeath – who finished 15th in the Lowland League, having been relegated from Scottish League Two in 2022 – accepted an invitation to participate.
The winners of each of the eight groups, as well as the three best runners-up, progressed to the second round (last 16). At this stage, the competition reverted to the traditional knock-out format. The three group winners with the highest points total and the European entrants were seeded.
Bonus point system The traditional point system of awarding three points for a win and one point for a draw was used. In addition, for each group stage match that finished in a draw, a penalty shoot-out took place, with the winner being awarded a bonus point.
Group stage
The teams were seeded according to their final league positions in 2022–23 and drawn into eight groups, with each group comprising one team from each pot. The draw for the group stage took place on 8 June 2023 and was broadcast live on Viaplay & the SPFL YouTube channel.
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group E
Group F
Group G
Group H
Best runners-up
Knockout phase Second round Draw and seeding Celtic, Rangers, Aberdeen, Heart of Midlothian and Hibernian entered the competition at this stage, due to their participation in UEFA club competitions. They joined the three group winners with the best records as the eight seeded sides. The other five group winners and the three best runners up were the unseeded sides.
Teams in bold advanced to the quarter-finals.
SeededUnseededAberdeen Airdrieonians† Ayr United† Celtic Heart of Midlothian Hibernian Motherwell RangersGreenock Morton† Kilmarnock Livingston Partick Thistle† Raith Rovers† Ross County Stirling Albion* St Mirren Notes † denotes teams playing in the Championship. * denotes team playing in League One.
Matches
Quarter-finals
The draw took place on Sunday 20 August 2023 following the Kilmarnock v Celtic match live on Viaplay Sports 1.
Teams in bold advanced to the semi-finals.
PremiershipAberdeen Heart of Midlothian Hibernian Kilmarnock Livingston Rangers Ross County St Mirren
Semi-finals
The draw took place on Wednesday 27 September 2023 following the Rangers v Livingston match live on Viaplay Sports 1.
Teams in bold advanced to the final.
PremiershipAberdeen Heart of Midlothian Hibernian Rangers
Final
Media coverage The domestic broadcasting rights for the competition are held exclusively by Viaplay Sports, who will broadcast between 12 and 16 live matches per season, as well as highlights.
The following matches were broadcast live on UK television: Round Date Match Group stage 15 July 2023 Raith Rovers v Dunfermline Athletic 18 July 2023 Dundee United v Partick Thistle 22 July 2023 Motherwell v Queen's Park 25 July 2023 Falkirk v Dundee United 30 July 2023 Dundee v Inverness Caledonian Thistle Second round 19 August 2023 Rangers v Greenock Morton 20 August 2023 Kilmarnock v Celtic Quarter-Finals 26 September 2023 Kilmarnock v Heart of Midlothian 27 September 2023 Rangers v Livingston Semi-Finals 4 November 2023 Hibernian v Aberdeen 5 November 2023 Heart of Midlothian v Rangers Final 17 December 2023 Rangers v Aberdeen
References