Country Scotland Founded 2013 Level on pyramid 5 | Confederation UEFA Number of teams 16 Promotion to Scottish League Two | |
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The Scottish Lowland Football League (commonly known as the Lowland League) is a football league operating in southern and central Scotland. 16 teams currently compete in the league with teams drawn from the Scottish Lowlands area of Scotland. Since 2015 it has been known as the Ferrari Packaging Lowland League for sponsorship reasons.
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Starting with the 2014–15 season, promotion to the Scottish Professional Football League is via an annual play-off with the champions of the Highland Football League, the winners playing-off with the bottom club in League Two. Additionally, the bottom placed club will face relegation to the 2015–16 East of Scotland Football League or South of Scotland Football League depending on their geographical location. Consequently, it now stands at a new Level 5 on the Scottish football pyramid, on a par with the Highland League and above the Lowlands-based regional leagues.
As a creation of the Scottish Football Association, the Lowland League is a full member of the same organisation.
History
The Lowland League was founded by a unanimous vote of members of the Scottish Football Association (SFA) on 11 June 2013, who had for some time intended on instituting a football pyramid including promotion and relegation from Scottish football's senior divisions down to its junior and amateur levels. The league would be composed of teams drawn from the South of Scotland, East of Scotland and junior leagues, who met on 17 June 2013 to elect between them the founder-members of the new league.
While most clubs were invited to submit bids to join, Preston Athletic, Spartans and Threave Rovers were offered automatic entry as they were already fully licensed by the SFA. While 27 clubs had registered their interest, the Lowland League received 17 applications to join. After the meeting on 17 June, it was announced there would be 12 teams in the league, and that they would be Dalbeattie Star, East Kilbride, Edinburgh City, Gala Fairydean Rovers, Gretna 2008, Preston Athletic, Selkirk, Spartans, Stirling University, Threave Rovers, Vale of Leithen & Whitehill Welfare.
Subsequent seasons have seen the number of participating clubs increase. Two clubs, Edinburgh University and BSC Glasgow, were admitted to the league for the 2014–15 season. They were joined the following season by Cumbernauld Colts. Civil Service Strollers and Hawick Royal Albert joined the league in June 2016.
The 2016-17 season was the first time that founding members left the league. Edinburgh City became the first club to be promoted to the Scottish League, while Threave Rovers declined the opportunity to re-apply to the league after finishing bottom and rejoined the South of Scotland Football League. The same season also saw the first team relegated into the league from Scottish League Two – East Stirlingshire.
Champions
* Team promoted to Scottish League Two.Sponsorship
On 24 September 2013, the Scottish Sun newspaper was revealed to be the first sponsor of the league. Since 2015, the league has been sponsored by Ferrari Packaging on a two-year agreement.