The Scottish Football Pyramid: How it works, number of steps, big movers and more

Only as recently as 2013 did Scottish football establish a pyramid structure to allow regional clubs to progress into the national leagues.

We take a look at how the Scottish football pyramid works, which clubs are eligible to compete in the cups and more.

Structure of the Scottish football pyramid

The ten tiers are as follows:

Tier 1

Scottish Premiership

Tier 2

Scottish Championship

Tier 3

Scottish League One

Tier 4

Scottish League Two

Tier 5

Highland League
Lowland League

Tier 6

Midlands Football League
North Caledonian League
North Region League
East of Scotland Premier Division
South of Scotland
West of Scotland Premier Division

Tier 7

North Region League Championship
East of Scotland First Division
West of Scotland First Division

Tier 8

East of Scotland Second Division
West of Scotland Second Division

Tier 9

East of Scotland Third Division
West of Scotland Third Division

Tier 10

West of Scotland Fourth Division

Women's football pyramid

The Scottish women's football pyramid is made up of the below:

Tier 1

Scottish Women's Premier League 1

Tier 2

Scottish Women's Premier League 2

Tier 3

Scottish Women's Championship

Tier 4

Scottish Women's League One

Tier 5

SWFL North
SWFL East
SWFL South
SWFL West

Promotion and relegation rules

Promotion and relegation from the four SPFL leagues - the Premiership, Championship, League One and League Two - is relatively straightforward.

In the Premiership, there is one automatic relegation spot and one relegation play-off spot.

In the Championship, there is one automatic promotion spot for the champions and three play-off spots to compete with the team in the Premiership relegation play-off place.

Scottish League One has exactly the same structure as the Championship, whilst in League Two there is no direct relegation spot.

Instead, the bottom club in League Two contests a play-off against the winners of a play-off between the Highland League and Lowland League champions.

The fifth tier and below, outside of the SPFL, are all classified as non-league.

It is possible to achieve promotion and be relegated between the fifth tier and 10th tier.

Cup eligibility

Scottish Cup

All clubs in tier five and above in Scottish football gain automatic entry into the Scottish Cup, along with other clubs in regional divisions who are full members of the Scottish Cup.

Up to three non-SFA member clubs can achieve entry to the Scottish Cup by winning the East, South or West leagues, or the East, South and West Cup-Winners shield.

Scottish League Cup

All 42 SPFL clubs take part in the Scottish League Cup, along with the Highland and Lowland League champions and one other additional invited team.

Scottish Challenge Cup

The Scottish Challenge Cup includes the 30 SPFL clubs outside of the Premiership, along with selected Under 21s teams and four Highland and Lowland League clubs.

Scottish football pyramid success stories

Since the establishment of the current Scottish football pyramid structure, five clubs have been promoted from non-league level into the SPFL - Edinburgh City, Cove Rangers, Kelty Hearts, Bonnyrigg Rose and Spartans.

Cove Rangers have been the most successful of these sides, reaching as high as the Championship in 2022 before being relegated straight back down to League One.

Scottish football pyramid failures

Since 2013, five Scottish clubs have lost their SPFL status by being relegated from League Two - East Stirlingshire, Berwick Rangers, Brechin City, Cowdenbeath and Albion Rovers.

All five of these clubs have as of yet been unable to achieve promotion back into the SPFL.