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Wikipedia - Scottish League Cup

The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League cup in existence. The competition had a straight knockout format but became a group and knockout competition from 2016–17.

Rangers are the record holders of the cup, winning 28 times. Rangers are also the current holders, winning their 28th title after beating Aberdeen 1–0 at Hampden Park on 17 December 2023.

The domestic television rights are held by Viaplay, whose predecessor company Premier Sports replaced BT Sport from the 2019–20 season.

History

The cup has its origins in a regional cup competition called the Southern League Cup which was introduced in 1940 when wartime restrictions led to a suspension of the Scottish Cup. This tournament was largely regional and did not involve all of the teams who comprised the Scottish Football League prior to the outbreak of war. The first official Scottish Football League Cup was contested during the 1946–47 season, when Rangers defeated Aberdeen in the final.

The competition was very popular with supporters during the first few decades of its existence. The tournament consisted of 8 or 9 groups consisting of 4 or 5 teams. The groups were seeded into 2 sets with the top 16 teams in Division 1 making up the first four groups. This guaranteed that 4 'top' teams would play 4 'lesser' teams in the quarter-finals.

Extra games when the Premier League was formed and expanded European competitions meant that by the early 1980s, its long-winded format, which involved group rounds played early in the season leading to two-legged knock-out rounds, attracted much criticism. In the mid-1980s the tournament was revamped to a shorter, single elimination knock-out format with a final played prior to Christmas, which provided the excitement of a cup final early in the season.

During the 1999–2000 competition, the semi-finals and final were moved to the springtime to avoid the congestion of fixtures caused by the early rounds of the UEFA club competitions and Scotland's representatives in Europe were given automatic byes until the third round of competition.

From the 2016–17 edition the League Cup reverted to a group stage format, with single-elimination knock-out in the last 16 onwards.

Previous finals

Sponsorship

The League Cup has been known by different names due to sponsorship:

Period Sponsor Name
1946–1978 No sponsor Scottish League Cup
1979–1981 Bell's whisky Bell's League Cup
1981–1984 No sponsor Scottish League Cup
1984–1992 Skol Lager Skol Cup
1992–1994 No sponsor Scottish League Cup
1994–1998 Coca-Cola Coca-Cola Cup
1998–1999 No sponsor Scottish League Cup
1999–2008 CIS Insurance CIS Insurance Cup
2008–2011 The Co-operative Insurance Co-operative Insurance Cup
2011–2013 Scottish Government Scottish Communities League Cup
2013–2015 No sponsor Scottish League Cup
2015 QTS Group The Scottish League Cup presented by QTS (semi-finals and final only)
2015–2016 Utilita Energy The Scottish League Cup presented by Utilita
2016–2021 Betfred Betfred Cup
2021–2022 Premier Sports Premier Sports Cup
2022–2024 Viaplay Viaplay Cup