Scottish Premiership
The Scottish Premier League (SPL) is the top level of professional football league in Scotland. The league’s official title is the Clydesdales Bank Premier League but it is often known as the Premier League, or simply the SPL. The SPL ranks above the Scottish Football League and is tenth in the UEFA rankings for European domestic leagues.
Old Firm Domination:
The SPL was inaugurated in the 1998-1999 season and has a total of 12 clubs competing for the championship title. So far only Rangers and Celtic have ever won the title.
A season in the SPL runs from August until May and starts with each team playing every other team three times, either one home game and two away games or vice-versa. Points are awarded according to the results of each match. A win scores three points, a draw two points, and lost games do not score at all.
League Structure:
During this stage of the season there are a total of 33 games after which the league is split into two groups a ‘top six’ and ‘bottom six’. Each team then plays every other member of its group and the points earned are added to the teams’ totals. The teams remain within the groups for the rest of the season even if a team in the ‘bottom six’ eventually scores more points than a team in the ‘top six’.
League Split:
Before the start of each season the Scottish Premier League tries to fix the match schedules for the whole season so that each team plays two home games and two away. This is achieved by trying to predict the likely positions of teams in either the ‘top six’ or ‘bottom six’, and then scheduling the first phase matches accordingly. This ‘seeding’ of the teams is based on their performances in previous seasons. However, this can sometimes have the opposite result with a team playing three times at home and only once away against the same opponent, in particular in the ‘top six’. The split method has been criticized in the past and there are constant calls to abolish the system.
The teams are ranked in the league table according to the points they have earned during the season, then by goal difference, and finally by goals scored. The club with the most points at the end of the season is the champions.
The team that scores the least points is relegated to the Scottish First Division and the top-ranked team from that division is promoted to fill the vacancy.
The top two SPL clubs qualify for the UEFA Champions League and two qualify for the UEFA Cup these being the third-ranked team in the SPL and the winner of the Scottish Cup.
Two teams have dominated the SPL since it began and they are Rangers and Celtic known as the ‘Old Firm’ clubs. Since the 1984-1985 season no other teams have won the Scottish cup and since 1994-1995 both teams have finished in the top two positions almost constantly with only one exception. The Old Firm clubs have higher attendance figures and better finances giving them more power to purchase top players
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