2016-17 Scottish League Cup

Scottish League Cup 2016–17
Region	Scotland
Number of teams	44
Total matches played	92
Total goals scored	285
Top goal scorer	Martyn Waghorn (7 goals)
← 2015–16	2017–18 →

The 2016–17 Scottish League Cup is the 71st season of Scotland's second-most prestigious football knockout competition. It is also known as the Betfred Cup for sponsorship reasons.

The format for the 2016–17 competition has changed from the previously used knockout-rounds. Instead, it began with eight groups of five teams which included all Scottish Professional Football League clubs (including East Stirlingshire, who were relegated from the league at the end of the 2015–16 season), excluding those competing in Champions League and Europa League qualifiers, as well as the top 2015–16 Highland Football League club (Cove Rangers) and the highest placed team from the 2015–16 Lowland Football League (Edinburgh City, who were promoted to the SPFL at the end of the 2015–16 season).

Schedule

Round	First match date	Fixtures	Clubs
Group stage	16 July 2016	80	44 → 16
Second round	9 August 2016	8	16 → 80
Quarter finals	20 September 2016	4	8 → 4
Semifinals	22 October 2016	2	4 → 2
Final	27 November 2016	1	2 → 1

Format

The competition began with eight groups of five teams. The four clubs competing in the UEFA Champions League (Celtic) and Europa League (Aberdeen, Heart of Midlothian and Hibernian) qualifying rounds were given a bye through to the second round. The 40 teams competing in the group stage consisted of the other nine teams that competed in the 2015–16 Scottish Premiership, nine from the 2015–16 Scottish Championship and all of the teams that competed in the 2015–16 Scottish League One and 2015–16 Scottish League Two, as well as the 2015–16 Highland Football League and the 2015–16 Lowland Football League champions.

The winners of each of the 8 groups, as well as the 4 best runners-up have progressed to the second round (last 16), which will include the four UEFA qualifying clubs. At this stage, the competition reverts to the traditional knock-out format. The four group winners with the highest points total and the clubs entering at this stage were seeded, with the four group winners with the lowest points unseeded along with the four best runners-up.

Bonus point system

In December 2015, the SPFL announced that alongside the new group stage format, a bonus point system would be introduced to provide greater excitement and increase the number of meaningful games at this stage. The traditional point system of awarding 3 points for a win and 1 point for a draw was used, however, for each group stage match that finished in a draw, a penalty shoot-out took place, with the winner being awarded a bonus point.

Group stage

Main article: 2016–17 Scottish League Cup group stage

The group stage was made up of nine teams from the 2015–16 Scottish Premiership, nine teams from the 2015–16 Scottish Championship and 10 teams from each of the 2015–16 Scottish League One and 2015–16 Scottish League Two, as well as the winners of the 2015–16 Highland Football League and 2015–16 Lowland Football League. The 40 teams were divided into two sections: North and South; with each section containing four top seeded teams, four second seeded teams and 12 unseeded teams. Each section was drawn into four groups with each group being made up of 1 top seed, 1 second seed and 3 unseeded sides.

The draw for the group stages took place on Friday 27 May 2016 at 7:30pm BST at the BT Sport Studio in London and was shown live on BT Sport Europe.

North section

Seeding

Teams in Bold qualified for the second round

Top seeds	Second seeds	Unseeded
01. St Johnstone 02. Ross County 03. Inverness CT 04. Dundee	09. Dundee United 10. Falkirk 11. Raith Rovers 12. Dumbarton	17. Dunfermline Athletic 18. Alloa Athletic 19. Peterhead 20. Brechin City 21. East Fife 22. Cowdenbeath 23. Forfar Athletic 24. Elgin City 25. Stirling Albion 26. Arbroath 27. Montrose 28. Cove Rangers

Groups

Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Notes
Peterhead	4	3	0	1	8	6	+2	8	Second round
East Fife	4	3	0	1	5	4	+1	8	Best runners-up
Dundee	4	2	0	2	15	5	+10	7
Forfar Athletic	4	2	0	2	4	11	−7	5
Dumbarton	4	0	0	4	7	13	−6	2

Group B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Notes
					0	0	0		Second round
					0	0	0		Best runners-up
					0	0	0
					0	0	0
					0	0	0

Group C

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Notes
					0	0	0		Second round
					0	0	0		Best runners-up
					0	0	0
					0	0	0
					0	0	0

Group D

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Notes
					0	0	0		Second round
					0	0	0		Best runners-up
					0	0	0
					0	0	0
					0	0	0

South section

Seeding

Teams in Bold qualified for the second round

Top seeds	Second seeds	Unseeded
05. Motherwell 06. Partick Thistle 07. Hamilton Academical 08. Kilmarnock	13. Rangers 14. Greenock Morton 15. St Mirren 16. Queen of the South	29. Ayr United 30. Livingston 31. Stranraer 32. Airdrieonians 33. Albion Rovers 34. Stenhousemuir 35. Queen's Park 36. Clyde 37. Annan Athletic 38. Berwick Rangers 39. Edinburgh City 40. East Stirlingshire

Groups

Group E

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Notes
					0	0	0		Second round
					0	0	0		Best runners-up
					0	0	0
					0	0	0
					0	0	0

Group F

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Notes
					0	0	0		Second round
					0	0	0		Best runners-up
					0	0	0
					0	0	0
					0	0	0

Group G

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Notes
					0	0	0		Second round
					0	0	0		Best runners-up
					0	0	0
					0	0	0
					0	0	0

Group H

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Notes
					0	0	0		Second round
					0	0	0		Best runners-up
					0	0	0
					0	0	0
					0	0	0

Best runners-up

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Notes
Dundee United (Q)	4	2	2	0	10	3	+7	8	Qualification to the Second round
Motherwell (Q)	4	3	0	1	9	3	+6	9
Queen of the South (Q)	4	3	0	1	6	2	+4	9
Ayr United (Q)	4	3	0	1	5	2	+3	9
Raith Rovers	4	2	1	1	5	4	+1	8
East Fife	4	2	1	1	5	4	+1	8
Kilmarnock	4	2	1	1	5	5	0	7
Falkirk	4	2	0	2	5	4	+1	6

Knockout Phase

Second round

Draw and seeding

The following teams qualified and will compete in the second round of the 2016–17 Scottish League Cup. Aberdeen, Celtic, Heart of Midlothian and Hibernian entered the competition at this stage, after receiving a bye for the group stage due to their participation in UEFA club competitions.

The draw for the second round took place at Tannadice Park following the conclusion of the Dundee United–Dunfermline Athletic match on 31 July, and was shown live on BT Sport. The four UEFA-qualifying clubs and the four group winners with the best record were seeded for the draw.

Teams in Bold advanced to the quarter-finals.

Seeded	Unseeded
Aberdeen Alloa Athletic Celtic Heart of Midlothian Hibernian Morton Partick Thistle Rangers	Ayr United Dundee United Hamilton Academical Inverness CT Motherwell Peterhead Queen of the South St Johnstone

Matches

All times are BST (UTC+1).

9 August 2016 (2016-08-09)	Alloa Athletic	1–0	Inverness CT	Alloa
19:30	Marr  28'	SPFL Report		Stadium: Recreation Park Attendance: 613 Referee: Don Robertson

9 August 2016 (2016-08-09)	Rangers	5–0	Peterhead	Glasgow
19:45	Kranjčar  19' Hill  35', 56' Kelleher  48' (o.g.) Dodoo  65'	SPFL Report	Blockley  55'	Stadium: Ibrox Stadium Attendance: 27,076 Referee: Andrew Dallas

9 August 2016 (2016-08-09)	Dundee United	3–1	Partick Thistle	Dundee
19:45	C Smith  10', 27', 30' (pen.)	SPFL Report	Welsh  65'	Stadium: Tannadice Park Attendance: 5,036 Referee: Steven McLean

9 August 2016 (2016-08-09)	Hamilton Academical	1–2	Morton	Hamilton
19:45	Imrie  8' (pen.)	SPFL Report	Forbes  59' Quitongo  63'	Stadium: New Douglas Park Referee: Stephen Finnie

9 August 2016 (2016-08-09)	Hibernian	1–3	Queen of the South	Edinburgh
19:45	Hanlon  22'	SPFL Report	Dobbie  66' Anderson  82' Dykes  86'	Stadium: Easter Road Attendance: 7,646 Referee: Euan Anderson

10 August 2016 (2016-08-10)	Celtic	5–0	Motherwell	Glasgow
19:45	Rogic  20', 76' Dembélé  34' (pen.), 64' Sinclair  61'	SPFL Report		Stadium: Celtic Park Attendance: 20,165 Referee: Kevin Clancy

10 August 2016 (2016-08-10)	St Johnstone	3–2	Heart of Midlothian	Perth
19:45	Swanson  10', 75' (pen.) McKay  80'	SPFL Report	Paterson  43' Walker  45+2' (pen.)	Stadium: McDiarmid Park Attendance: 4,214 Referee: Crawford Allan

10 August 2016 (2016-08-10)	Ayr United	1–2	Aberdeen	Ayr
19:45	Forrest  41'	SPFL Report	Meggatt 3' (o.g.) McGinn  30'	Stadium: Somerset Park Attendance: 2,653 Referee: Alan Muir

Quarter-finals

Draw and seeding

The quarter-final draw took place at Celtic Park following the conclusion of the Celtic–Motherwell match on 10 August, and was shown live on BT Sport. The draw was unseeded and ties scheduled for the midweek of September 20/21.

Teams in Bold advanced to the semi-finals.

Premiership	Championship	League One
Aberdeen Celtic Rangers St Johnstone	Dundee United Morton Queen of the South	Alloa Athletic

Matches

20 September 2016 (2016-09-20)	Morton	2–1	Dundee United	Greenock
19:45	Quitongo  24' O'Ware  31'	SPFL Report	van der Velden  55'	Stadium: Cappielow Attendance: 2,149 Referee: Andrew Dallas

20 September 2016 (2016-09-20)	Rangers	5–0	Queen of the South	Glasgow
19:45	Holt  33' Halliday  62' Waghorn  63', 71', 83'	SPFL Report		Stadium: Ibrox Stadium Attendance: 26,079 Referee: Don Robertson

21 September 2016 (2016-09-21)	Celtic	2–0	Alloa Athletic	Glasgow
19:45	Forrest  83' Dembélé  90'	SPFL Report		Stadium: Celtic Park Attendance: 15,900 Referee: Alan Muir

22 September 2016 (2016-09-22)	Aberdeen	1–0	St Johnstone	Aberdeen
19:45	Rooney  90'	SPFL Report		Stadium: Pittodrie Stadium Attendance: 8,829 Referee: Craig Thomson

Semi-finals

Draw and seeding

The semi-final draw took place at Pittodrie Stadium following the conclusion of the Aberdeen–St Johnstone match on 22 September and was shown live on BT Sport. The draw was unseeded and ties are scheduled for the weekend of October 22.

Premiership	Championship
Aberdeen Celtic Rangers	Morton

Matches

22 October 2016 (2016-10-22)	Morton	0–2	Aberdeen	Glasgow
12:15		Report	Rooney  69' McLean  88'	Stadium: Hampden Park Attendance: 16,183 Referee: Kevin Clancy

23 October 2016 (2016-10-23)	Rangers	0–1	Celtic	Glasgow
14:15		Report	Dembélé  87'	Stadium: Hampden Park Attendance: 50,697 Referee: Craig Thomson

Final

Main article: 2016 Scottish League Cup Final (November)

27 November 2016 15:00	Aberdeen	0–3	Celtic	Hampden Park, Glasgow Attendance: 49,629 Referee: John Beaton
		Report	Rogic  16' Forrest  37' Dembélé  64' (pen.)

Top goalscorers

As of matches played on 23 October 2016

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Martyn Waghorn	Rangers	7
2	Brian Graham	Ross County	6
	Greg Stewart	Dundee
4	Moussa Dembélé	Celtic	5
	Danny Swanson	St Johnstone
6	Scott Boden	Inverness CT	4
	Andy Geggan	Dunfermline Athletic
	Blair Henderson	Stirling Albion
	Rory McAllister	Peterhead
	Simon Murray	Dundee United
	Jai Quitongo	Morton
	Cammy Smith	Dundee United
	Iain Vigurs	Inverness CT

External links

• Scottish Professional Football League – League Cup official website