Scottish League Challenge Cup

Format

The competition is a knock-out tournament organised by the Scottish Football League with entry open to its 30 member clubs that compete in the First, Second and Third Divisions, which makes up tiers 2 to 4 of the football league system in Scotland. Clubs from the Scottish Premier League are ineligible to compete. From the 2011 competition onwards, two Highland Football League clubs with Scottish Football Association membership are invited to compete, bringing the total number of competitors to 32.

History

The competition was created in the 1990–91 season to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the formation of the Scottish Football League in the 1890. It was intended to be a one-off knock-out tournament but its popularity, reflected in high attendances at matches in the later stages of the tournament, prompted it to be continued. The cup was sponsored by DIY retail company B&Q and named the B&Q Centenary Cup for the first year and changed to the B&Q Cup for four seasons afterwards.

Venues

In the rounds before the final, the venue of each match is determined when the fixture list is drawn; the first club drawn in a fixture is named the home team and chooses the venue for the match, usually its own home ground. The venue may be switched to that of the away team or changed to a neutral venue for security reasons such as being unable to host clubs with a large fan base or the venue being unavailable.

Final venue

The final match of the tournament is played at a neutral venue that is geographically close or equally distant from where the clubs contesting the match are based. This was the case with the 2010 final between Queen of the South and Ross County who are based 285 miles apart meeting almost halfway at McDiarmid Park in Perth. Seven venues have hosted the final with Fir Park in Motherwell being the first in 1990, which has hosted another three finals, the last in 1997. Other venues to have hosted the final more than once are McDiarmid Park, Broadwood Stadium and Excelsior Stadium, with Almondvale Stadium hosting the most recent in 2013.

Final venue	Location	Count	First	Last
Almondvale Stadium	Livingston	2	2012	2013
Broadwood Stadium	Cumbernauld	4	1995	2002
Dens Park	Dundee	1	2007	2007
Excelsior Stadium	Airdrie	2	1999	2005
Fir Park	Motherwell	4	1990	1997
Love Street	Paisley	1	1992	1992
McDiarmid Park	Perth	8	1994	2011

Winners and finalists

A total of 21 clubs have reached the final which has resulted in thirteen different winners, the first being Dundee in 1990. The most successful club is Falkirk with four wins from four final appearances. Ross County, Hamilton Academical and Queen of the South have also reached the final four times but with less success. Ayr United reached the final twice in the first two seasons of the tournament but lost both. Hamilton Academical and Airdrieonians are the only teams to have successfully defended their title, however, it is possible for the winner of the tournament to be unable to do so as a result of also winning the First Division in the same season and being promoted to the Scottish Premier League, making them ineligible to compete in the tournament. This has happened to Falkirk twice, Inverness Caledonian Thistle and St. Mirren.

Most winners and finalists have been from the First Division which is the top division in the Scottish Football League. Only four teams have won from outside this division. Stenhousemuir became the first team to do so in 1995 followed by Stranraer a year later in 1996 and Alloa Athletic in 1999. The last club to win from outside the First Division was Queen of the South in 2013. All winners and runners-up from below the First Division have been from the Second Division with none from the Third Division.