Scottish Cup: Dates, draw, format and history

The second oldest football competition in the world behind the FA Cup, the Scottish Cup was first held way back in 1873/74.

Celtic have won the Scottish Cup in the last two seasons, with their most recent success arriving in May 2024 when overcoming rivals Rangers 1-0 at Hampden Park.

Scottish Cup 2024/25 dates

• Preliminary Round One: Weekend of Saturday 10th August 2024
• Preliminary Round Two: Weekend of Saturday 31st August 2024
• First Round: Weekend of Saturday 28th September 2024
• Second Round: Weekend of Saturday 26th October 2024
• Third Round: Weekend of Saturday 30th November 2024
• Fourth Round: Weekend of Saturday 18th January 2025
• Fifth Round: Weekend of Saturday 8th February 2025
• Quarter-finals: Weekend of Saturday 8th March 2025
• Semi-finals: Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th April 2025
• Final: Saturday 24th May 2025

Scottish Cup 2024/25 draw

Quarter-finals draw:

• Hearts v Dundee
• Livingston v St Johnstone
• Aberdeen v Queen's Park
• Celtic v Hibernian

Scottish Cup 2024/25 format

Participating teams in the Scottish Cup enter at different stages in relation to their league ranking, with the lowest ranked clubs entering in the preliminary round whilst Scottish Premiership clubs enter in the fourth round.

As of the 2022/23 season, 50 non-league teams contest the preliminary round, with 34 clubs from the Highland and Lowland Leagues entering at the first round stage.

The 10 Scottish League Two clubs join in the second round, League One and Championship clubs start in the third round, whilst Premiership clubs are introduced in the fourth round.

The Scottish Cup is a knockout tournament, with matches now going straight to extra-time and penalties following the preliminary round following a vote to abolish replays ahead of the 2022/23 edition of the tournament.

Scottish Cup history

Although the FA Cup is officially the oldest football competition in the world, the oldest national trophy is the Scottish Cup.

First held in the 1873/74 season in Scotland, Queen's Park beat Clydesdale 2-0 in the inaugural Scottish Cup final.

The record margin of victory recorded in the Scottish Cup arrived back in 1885, when Arbroath defeated Bon Accord by a scoreline of 36-0.

Celtic are the most successful club in Scottish Cup history, winning 42 titles and appearing in the final on 61 occasions in total.

Rangers have won the Scottish Cup the second most times with 34 titles to their name, with 54 final appearances in total.

The first ever Scottish Cup winners Queen's Park have 10 titles, all of which arrived in the first 20 years following the tournament's establishment in 1873.