Scottish Premiership

In Scotland, football is of course one of the most popular sports. The rivalry between Celtic Glasgow and Glasgow Rangers is well known. Both play in Scotland's top league, the Scottish Premiership, which is known as the Ladbrokes Premiership for sponsorship reasons. From 1998 to 2013, it was called the Scottish Premier League (SPL). However, the league has been in existence since 1890.

Clubs and matches

Currently, the Scottish Premiership is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL). The SPFL itself was formed by the merger of the Scottish Premiership and Scottish Football League. The Scottish Premiership now plays:

• 12 teams
• with 38 matches per season

Since the inception of the current form of the Scottish Premiership in the 2013/14 season, then, a total of 16 clubs have played here, with the aforementioned Celtic being its only winner so far.

The competition format

The scoring of matches is classic, i.e. 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, with no points awarded for a loss. Points are first, then goal difference, and finally total goals scored. The team with the most points at the end of the season is the league champion. If there is a tie, a playoff is played and the game is played on neutral ground.

The club that finishes last (i.e. twelfth) in a given season is automatically relegated to a lower league, which is called the Scottish Championship. Conversely, the winner of the lower competition, if they meet the criteria, moves to the top league.

With the formation of the SPFL, the promotion and relegation criteria include a barrage played between the eleventh team from the Scottish Premiership and the winner of the Scottish Championship. It is played over two matches, one at home and one at the opponents' ground. The winner has the right to play the following season in the top competition. This system allows two teams to be relegated or promoted at the end of each season. Before the SPFL was formed, only one club could be relegated or promoted.