stringtranslate.com

2018–19 Scottish Challenge Cup

The 2018–19 Scottish Challenge Cup, known as the IRN-BRU Cup[1] due to sponsorship reasons, was the 28th season of the competition. The tournament took on a similar format from the previous season with the addition of two teams from England's National League entering the competition for the first time. This took the total number of participating clubs to 58.

Thirty teams from the Scottish Championship, Scottish League One and Scottish League Two competed, along with four teams from the Highland Football League (one eliminated in preliminary round) and four from the Lowland Football League (one eliminated in preliminary round). In addition to this, Under-21 teams of the clubs competing in the Scottish Premiership were represented. This was the third edition with two clubs from both Northern Ireland's NIFL Premiership and the Welsh Premier League and was the second time that two teams from the League of Ireland entered. A new change was the addition of two entrants from the English National League (fifth tier).[2]

Inverness Caledonian Thistle were the defending champions after they beat Dumbarton 1–0 in the 2018 final,[3] but they were eliminated in the first round by Dunfermline Athletic.

Ross County won the competition for the third time, defeating Connah's Quay Nomads 3–1 in the final.

Format

Preliminary round

Matches

First round

The draw for the first round was made on 26 June 2018 at 1pm live on the SPFL Facebook page.

North Section

Draw

Teams in Bold advanced to the second round.

Matches

Notes
  1. ^
    A-The Livingston U21s-Forfar Athletic match was abandoned with Livingston U21s leading 1–0 after 71 minutes due poor lighting caused by a power outage. The match was replayed on 21 August 2018.

Replay

South Section

Draw

Teams in Bold advanced to the second round.

Matches

Second round

Teams from Wales (The New Saints and Connah's Quay Nomads), Northern Ireland (Crusaders and Coleraine), England (Sutton United and Boreham Wood) and the Republic of Ireland (Bohemians and Sligo Rovers) entered in the second round.[5] Originally, Bray Wanderers were to be the second side to represent the League of Ireland however, they were subsequently thrown out by the FAI on 16 July 2018 for failing to pay their players and replaced by Limerick.[6] A similar statement was released by the FAI hours later about Limerick who were also in financial difficulties.[7] St Patrick's Athletic were then invited to compete as the next ranked team in line but declined. Sligo Rovers accepted the position in their place so they would represent the League of Ireland instead.[8]

Draw

The draw for the second round was made on 16 August 2018 at 1pm live on the SPFL Facebook page.

Teams in Bold advanced to the third round.

Teams in Italics were not known at the time of the draw.

Matches

Third round

Draw

The draw for the third round was made on 11 September 2018 at 1pm live on the SPFL Facebook page.

Teams in Bold advanced to the quarter-finals.

Matches

Quarter-finals

Draw

The draw for the quarter-finals was made on 16 October 2018 at 1pm at The Hub in Edinburgh live on the SPFL Facebook page.[11]

Teams in Bold advanced to the semi-finals.

Matches

Notes
  1. ^
    B-The Bohemians-East Fife match was originally due to take place on 17 November 2018 but was rearranged as the Irish football season had finished. It was rearranged to be played on 2 February 2019 but was called off due to a frozen pitch at 14:53, seven minutes before kick-off.[12] Following discussions with the SPFL in an attempt to rearrange the fixture again, Bohemians withdrew from the competition and East Fife advanced to the semi-finals.[13]

Semi-finals

Draw

The draw for the semi-finals was made on 21 November 2018 at 1pm at Hampden Park live on the SPFL Facebook page.[14]

Final

Player of the Round

The Golden Ball Award is a 'Player of the Round' award given to the player who is adjudged to have had the best performance of that round out of all the players in teams left competing in that round of the competition. The winner is voted for by supporters from a chosen short-list of players, which is posted on the Irn-Bru Football Twitter page.

Broadcasting rights

The domestic broadcasting rights for the competition are held jointly by BBC Alba, S4C (for matches involving Welsh teams) and subscription channel Premier Sports. Prior to the re-format in the 2016–17 season, BBC Alba had exclusive rights.[20]

One of the semi-final matches was also confirmed as being broadcast live on BT Sport despite no apparent previous announcement of rights.

The following matches were broadcast live on UK television:

References

  1. ^ "Explained: Here is how the new Challenge Cup will work". pressandjournal.co.uk. Press & Journal. 9 June 2016. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
  2. ^ "Sutton United & Boreham Wood to enter Irn Bru Scottish Challenge Cup". BBC Sport. 8 June 2018. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
  3. ^ Crawford, Kenny (24 March 2018). "Dumbarton 0–1 Inverness Caledonian Thistle". bbc.co.uk/sport. BBC Sport. Retrieved 8 June 2018.
  4. ^ "IRN-BRU CUP - SEASON 2018/19" (PDF). Scottish Professional Football League. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 8 June 2018.
  5. ^ "National League sides join IRN-BRU Cup". spfl.co.uk. SPFL. 8 June 2018. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 8 June 2018.
  6. ^ "Bray Wanderers thrown out of IRN BRU Cup and banned from signing players". leagueofireland.ie. League of Ireland. 16 July 2018. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
  7. ^ "Deja Vu? FAI release statement on Limerick FC". leagueofireland.ie. League of Ireland. 16 July 2018. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
  8. ^ "Sligo Rovers to play in this season's Scottish Challenge Cup". irishmirror.ie. Irish Mirror. 1 August 2018. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
  9. ^ "Season 2018-2019". Raith Rovers FC. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
  10. ^ @sligorovers (8 September 2018). "Sligo Rovers v Livingston Colts attendance" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  11. ^ "IRN-BRU CUP DRAW LIVE ON TUESDAY". spfl.co.uk. Scottish Professional Football League. 15 October 2018. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
  12. ^ "Challenge Cup: Bohemians v East Fife called off seven minutes before kick-off". bbc.co.uk/sport. BBC Sport. 2 February 2019. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  13. ^ "Bohemians withdraw from Challenge Cupfollowing late call-off of East Fife tie". bbc.co.uk/sport. BBC Sport. 4 February 2019. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  14. ^ "IRN-BRU CUP SEMI-FINAL DRAW". spfl.co.uk. Scottish Professional Football League. 21 November 2018. Retrieved 21 November 2018.
  15. ^ @irnbrufootball (29 August 2018). "Round 1 "Golden Balls" winner" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  16. ^ @irnbrufootball (20 September 2018). "Round 2 "Golden Balls" winner" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  17. ^ @irnbrufootball (26 October 2018). "Round 3 "Golden Balls" winner" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  18. ^ @irnbrufootball (4 December 2018). "Quarter Final "Golden Balls" winner" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  19. ^ @irnbrufootball (22 February 2019). "Semi Final "Golden Balls" winner" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  20. ^ "Challenge Cup expansion announced". Scottish Professional Football League. 8 June 2016. Archived from the original on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 8 June 2018.
  21. ^ "IRN-BRU CUP TV SELECTION". Scottish Professional Football League. 20 August 2018. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
  22. ^ a b "IRN-BRU CUP R3 TV SELECTIONS". Scottish Professional Football League. 12 September 2018. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
  23. ^ "IRN-BRU CUP QUARTER-FINAL DETAILS". Scottish Professional Football League. 18 October 2018. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  24. ^ a b c "IRN-BRU CUP SEMI-FINAL DETAILS". Scottish Professional Football League. 6 November 2018. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
  25. ^ a b c "IRN-BRU CUP FINAL DETAILS CONFIRMED". Scottish Professional Football League. 22 February 2019. Retrieved 22 February 2019.

External links