The 2024–25 Scottish League Cup, also known as the Premier Sports Cup for sponsorship reasons, was the 79th season of Scotland's second-most prestigious football knockout competition. Rangers were the defending champions, but they lost 4–5 on penalties to Celtic in the final.
Schedule Round First match date Fixtures ClubsGroup stage 13 July 2024 80 45 → 16Second round 17 August 2024 8 16 → 8Quarter-finals 21 September 2024 4 8 → 4Semi-finals 2 November 2024 2 4 → 2Final 15 December 2024 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 (Heart of Midlothian and Kilmarnock) and Conference League (St Mirren) received a bye to the second round. The group stage consists of 40 teams: all remaining teams that competed across the SPFL in 2023–24, the 2023–24 Highland Football League champions (Buckie Thistle) and runners-up (Brechin City), and the 2023–24 Lowland Football League champions (East Kilbride).
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 finishes 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 2023–24 and drawn into eight groups, with each group comprising one team from each pot. The draw for the group stage took place on 29 May 2024 and was broadcast live on the Premier Sports and SPFL YouTube channels.
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, Heart of Midlothian, Kilmarnock and St Mirren entered the competition at this stage, due to their participation in UEFA club competitions.
Teams in bold advanced to the quarter-finals.
SeededUnseededAberdeen Celtic Dundee Heart of Midlothian Kilmarnock Rangers Ross County St MirrenAirdrieonians† Dundee United Falkirk† Hibernian Motherwell Queen's Park† St Johnstone The Spartans**
Notes † denotes teams playing in the Championship. ** denotes team playing in League Two.
Matches
Quarter-finals Draw The draw for the quarter-finals took place on 18 August 2024 following the Celtic v Hibernian match live on Premier Sports 1.
Teams in bold advanced to the semi-finals.
PremiershipChampionshipLeague TwoAberdeen Celtic Dundee Dundee United Motherwell RangersFalkirkThe Spartans
Matches
Semi-finals Draw The draw for the semi-finals took place on 22 September 2024 following the Celtic v Falkirk match live on Premier Sports 1.
Teams in bold advanced to the final.
Aberdeen Celtic Motherwell Rangers
Matches
Final
Media coverage The domestic broadcasting rights for the competition are held exclusively by Premier Sports, who will broadcast between 12 and 16 live matches per season, as well as highlights. Premier Sports further announced they would stream up to 25 additional games from the group stage on their website. The broadcaster will also broadcast all games live from the second round onwards, either streamed or televised, subject to blackout rules.
The following matches will be broadcast live: Round Date Match Group stage 13 July 2024 (Matchday 1) Falkirk v Dundee United (streamed) Elgin City v Hibernian (streamed) Bonnyrigg Rose v Dundee (streamed) Brechin City v St. Johnstone (streamed) Motherwell v Edinburgh City (streamed) Stranraer v Ross County (streamed) Queen of the South v Aberdeen 16 July 2024 (Matchday 2) Dundee United v Stenhousemuir (streamed) Arbroath v Dundee (streamed) Dunfermline Athletic v Forfar Athletic (streamed) Montrose v Motherwell (streamed) Hibernian v Queen's Park 20 July 2024 (Matchday 3) East Kilbride v Aberdeen (streamed) Kelty Hearts v Hibernian (streamed) St. Johnstone v Greenock Morton (streamed) Clyde v Motherwell (streamed) Ross County v Raith Rovers (streamed) Dundee United v Ayr United 23 July 2024 (Matchday 4) Buckie Thistle v Dundee United (streamed) Dundee v Annan Athletic (streamed) Alloa Athletic v St. Johnstone (streamed) Hamilton Academical v Ross County (streamed) Partick Thistle v Clyde (streamed) Aberdeen v Airdrieonians27 July 2024 (Matchday 5) Aberdeen v Dumbarton (streamed) Hibernian v Peterhead (streamed) Dundee v Inverness CT (streamed) St. Johnstone v East Fife (streamed) Ross County v Stirling Albion (streamed) 28 July 2024 (Matchday 5) Motherwell v Partick Thistle Second Round17 August 2024 Aberdeen v Queen's Park (streamed) Falkirk v Heart of Midlothian (streamed) Dundee v Airdrieonians (streamed) The Spartans v Ross County (streamed) Rangers v St. Johnstone18 August 2024 Dundee United v St. Mirren (streamed) Motherwell v Kilmarnock (streamed) Celtic v Hibernian Quarter-Finals20 September 2024 Motherwell v Dundee United (streamed)21 September 2024 Aberdeen v The Spartans (streamed) Rangers v Dundee22 September 2024 Celtic v Falkirk Semi-Finals2 November 2024 Celtic v Aberdeen3 November 2024 Motherwell v Rangers Final15 December 2024 Celtic v Rangers
References