Scottish Premiership

Competition format

Teams receive three points for a win and one point for a draw. No points are awarded for a loss. Teams are ranked by total points, then goal difference, and then goals scored. At the end of each season, the club with the most points is crowned league champion. If points are equal, the goal difference determines the winner,and then goals scored. If this still does not result in a winner, the tied teams must take part in a playoff game at a neutral venue to determine the final placings.

Split

The top flight of Scottish football has contained 12 clubs since the 2000–01 season, the longest period without change in the history of the Scottish football league system. During this period the SPL and now the SPFL have operated a "split" format. This is done to prevent the need for a 44-game schedule, based on playing each other four times. That format was used in the Scottish Premier Division, but is now considered to be too high a number of games in a league season.

A season, which runs from August until May, is divided into two phases. During the first phase, each club plays three games against every other team, either once at home and twice away or vice versa. After this first phase of matches, by which time all clubs have played 33 games, the league splits into a 'top six' and a 'bottom six'. Each club then plays a further five matches, one against each of the other five teams in their own section. Points achieved during the first phase of 33 matches are carried forward to the second phase, but the teams compete only within their own sections during the second phase. After the first phase is completed, clubs cannot move out of their own section in the league, even if they achieve more or fewer points than a higher or lower ranked team, respectively.

At the beginning of each season, the SPFL 'predicts' the likely positions of each club in order to produce a fixture schedule that ensures the best possible chance of all clubs playing each other twice at home and twice away. This is known as the league seeding and is based on clubs' performance in previous years. If a club does not finish in the half where it is predicted to finish, it faces the possibility of playing an unequal number of home and away games. For example, one club sometimes plays another three times at home and once away.

Promotion and relegation

The bottom placed Premiership club at the end of the season is relegated, and swaps places with the winner of the Scottish Championship, provided that the winner satisfies Premiership entry criteria. With the creation of the SPFL, promotion and relegation play-offs involving the top flight were introduced for the first time in 17 years. That now means the Premiership club in 11th place face the Championship play-off winners over two legs. The winner of those play-offs will earn the right to play in the Scottish Premiership the following season along with the winners of the Scottish Championship. The Scottish Football League had used playoffs between its three divisions since 2007.

European qualification

Clubs finishing in the top positions of the Premiership will gain qualification to compete in one of UEFA's European competitions. UEFA grants European places to the Scottish Football Association, determined by the Scotland's position in the UEFA coefficients ranking system. The Scottish Football Association in turn allocate a number of these European places to final Scottish Premiership positions.

Currently, the top placed team in the Scottish Premiership gains qualification to the UEFA Champions League qualifying round 2, whilst the second and third placed teams gain qualification to the UEFA Europa League at qualifying round 2 and qualifying round 1, respectively.

Clubs

The clubs listed below have competed in the Scottish Premiership since it was formed in 2013.

Championships

As of 2016, Scotland's top-flight league championship has been won 54 times by Rangers and 47 times by Celtic. Nine other clubs have won the remaining 19 championships, with three clubs tied for third place with 4 apiece. The last time the championship was won by a club other than Rangers or Celtic was 1984–85, by Aberdeen.

Records and awards

Biggest home win

Celtic 8–1 Hamilton Academical, 19 January 2016

Biggest away win

Motherwell 0–5 Celtic, 6 December 2013; Ross County 0–5 Celtic, 18 October 2014

Most points in a season

99; Celtic, 2013–14

Fewest points in a season

23; Hearts, 2013–14 (15 points deducted due to entering Administration.)

Fastest goal

Kris Boyd, for Kilmarnock against Ross County, 10 seconds, 28 January 2017

Highest transfer fee paid

Jozo Šimunović, from Dinamo Zagreb to Celtic, £5.5 million, 1 September 2015

Highest transfer fee received

Virgil van Dijk, from Celtic to Southampton, £13 million, 1 September 2015

Youngest player

Jack Aitchison, for Celtic v Motherwell, 16 years and 71 days

Youngest goalscorer

Jack Aitchison, for Celtic v Motherwell, 16 years and 71 days

Top goalscorers

Celtic striker Leigh Griffiths is the current top goalscorer in the Scottish Premiership, having scored 60 times since 2013.

As of 11 March 2017