List of Scottish football champions
| Scottish football champions |
|---|
 |
| Founded |
| 1890 |
| Number of teams |
| 12 |
| Current champions |
| Celtic |
| Country |
| Scotland |
| Most successful club |
| Rangers (54 times champions, including 1 shared) |
The Scottish football champions are the winners of the highest league in Scottish football, namely the Scottish Football League (SFL) from 1890 until 1998, the Scottish Premier League (SPL) from 1998 until 2013 and the Scottish Premiership thereafter.
The SFL was established in 1890, initially as an amateur league until professionalism in Scottish football was legalised in 1893.[1] At the end of the first season Dumbarton and Rangers finished level on points at the top of the table. The rules in force at the time required that the teams contest a play-off match for the championship, which finished in a 2–2 draw, and the first ever championship was thus shared between two clubs, the only occasion on which this has happened.[2] In 1893 a Second Division was formed, with the existing single division renamed the First Division. The league continued during the First World War but was suspended during the Second World War.[3]
Although there were several short spells when a third division was created, the two-division structure remained largely in place until 1975, when a major re-organisation of the league led to a new three-tier set-up and the creation of a new Premier Division at the highest level. In 1998, the teams then in the Premier Division broke away to form the SPL, which supplanted the Premier Division as the highest level of football in Scotland.[4] The SPL and SFL merged in 2013 to form the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), which branded its top division as the Scottish Premiership.[5]
Throughout its existence the championship of Scottish football has been dominated by two Glasgow clubs, Celtic and Rangers. The two rivals, who are collectively known as the "Old Firm", have claimed the majority of league titles. As of 2015, Rangers have won 54 and Celtic 46, while no other club has won the title on more than four occasions. No club outside the Old Firm has won the title since the 1984–85 season, when the Aberdeen side managed by Alex Ferguson won the Premier Division.[6] This period of unbroken dominance by the Old Firm is a record; the previous longest streak was 27 years, between 1904 and 1931.
Each of the Old Firm clubs has at one time managed a run of nine consecutive championships, Celtic from 1966 to 1974 and Rangers from 1989 to 1997. Each of the two clubs has also claimed the Double on many occasions, by winning the league and the Scottish Cup in the same season.[7] Rangers have won the most Doubles with eighteen as of April 2013, more than any other club in the world apart from Northern Ireland's Linfield.[8] Each club has also won a Double and added the Scottish League Cup to make it a Treble.[9] In the 1966–67 season Celtic took all three domestic trophies and also won the European Cup to complete the only Quadruple to date.[10]
Contents
Champions
Key:
| Champions also won the Scottish Cup |
| Champions also won the Scottish League Cup |
| Champions also won both cups |
Scottish League (1890–93)
| Year | Winner[11] | Runner-up[11] | Third[11] | Top scorer[12] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Goals | ||||
| 1890–91 | Dumbarton (1) and Rangers (1) [note 1] |
— | Celtic | Jack Bell (Dumbarton) | 20 |
| 1891–92 | Dumbarton (2) | Celtic | Heart of Midlothian | Jack Bell (Dumbarton) | 23 |
| 1892–93 | Celtic (1) | Rangers | St. Mirren | Sandy McMahon (Celtic) John Campbell (Celtic) |
11 |
Scottish League First Division (1893–1975)
Scottish League Premier Division (1975–98)
Scottish Premier League (1998–2013)
Scottish Premiership (2013–present)
| Year | Winner[11] | Runner-up[11] | Third[11] | Top scorer[12] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Goals | ||||
| 2013–14 | Celtic (45) | Motherwell | Aberdeen | Kris Commons (Celtic) | 27 |
| 2014–15 | Celtic (46) | Aberdeen | Inverness CT | Adam Rooney (Aberdeen) | 18 |
Total titles won
Eleven clubs have been champions.
- As of 16:05, 9 May 2015 (UTC)
| Club | Winners | Runners-up | Third |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rangers[note 3] | 54 | 30 | 18 |
| Celtic | 46 | 31 | 17 |
| Heart of Midlothian | 4 | 14 | 17 |
| Aberdeen | 4 | 14 | 9 |
| Hibernian | 4 | 6 | 13 |
| Dumbarton[note 3] | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Motherwell | 1 | 7 | 8 |
| Kilmarnock | 1 | 4 | 3 |
| Dundee | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| Dundee United | 1 | 0 | 8 |
| Third Lanark | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Airdrieonians (1878) | 0 | 4 | 2 |
| Falkirk | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| Morton[note 4] | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Clyde | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Partick Thistle | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| St. Johnstone | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Dunfermline Athletic | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| East Fife | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| St. Mirren | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Inverness Caledonian Thistle | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Livingston | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Raith Rovers | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| St Bernard's | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Notes
- ↑ Rangers and Dumbarton were declared joint champions after the teams finished level on points and a play-off for the title finished in a 2–2 draw.
- ↑ Celtic defeated Rangers 2–1 in a play-off for the title after the teams finished level on points.
- ↑ Now known as Greenock Morton
References
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