Scottish League Challenge Cup 2016/17

Scottish League Challenge Cup
Association	Scottish FA
First edition	1990/91
Teams	54
Game mode	Knockout system
Title holder	Dundee United (1st title)
Record winner	FC Falkirk (4 wins)
Website	spfl.co.uk

The Scottish League Challenge Cup was played for the 26th time in 2016/17 . The Scottish football competition, officially known as IRN-BRU Challenge Cup was held, started with the first round on August 2, 2016 and ended with the final on 25 March 2017 Fir Park by Motherwell . 54 clubs took part in the competition for the first time: 30 clubs from the Scottish Football League , 12 U-20 teams from clubs from the Scottish Premiership , one club each from the Highland and Lowland Football League , and two clubs each from the Northern Irish NIFL Premiership and Welsh Premier League . Defending champions Glasgow Rangers , who beat Peterhead 4-0 last year’s final , will be represented by their own U-20 team as the club made it to the Scottish Premiership. In this year's final, Dundee United and FC St. Mirren met . United reached the final for the second time after 1996 . The Saints for the third time after 1994 and 2006 . Dundee United won the final 2-1 and won the Challenge Cup for the first time in the club's history.

Events

The game rounds were played on the following dates:

• 1st round: 2nd / 3rd August 2016
• 2nd round: 16./17. August 2016
• 3rd round: 3rd / 4th September 2016
• Round of 16: 8th / 9th October 2016
• Quarter-finals: 12./13. November 2016
• Semi-finals: 18./19. February 2017
• Final: March 25, 2017

Participating teams

The following 64 teams are qualified for the competition:

Premiership 12 U-20 clubs of the 2016/17 season	Championship the 10 clubs of the 2016/17 season	League One the 10 clubs of the 2016/17 season	League Two the 10 clubs of the 2016/17 season	Highland Football League 4 clubs Lowland Football League 4 clubs	NIFL Premiership 2016/17 2 clubs from Northern Ireland Welsh Premier League 2016/17 2 clubs from Wales
Celtic Glasgow U20   Aberdeen FC U20   Hearts U20   Motherwell FC U20   St. Johnstone U20   Ross County U20   Dundee FC U20   Inverness CT U20   Hamilton A. U20   Partick Thistle U20   FC Kilmarnock U20   Rangers U20 (TV)	Dundee United   FC Falkirk   Hibernian   Raith Rovers   Greenock Morton   FC St. Mirren   Queen of the South   Dumbarton FC   Dunfermline A.   Ayr United	Livingston FC   Alloa Athletic   Peterhead FC   FC Stranraer   Airdrieonians FC   Albion Rovers   Brechin City   FC Stenhousemuir   East Fife FC   FC Queen's Park	Cowdenbeath FC   Forfar Athletic   Clyde FC   Elgin City   Annan Athletic   Berwick Rangers   Stirling Albion   Montrose FC   FC Arbroath   Edinburgh City	Brora Rangers   Cove Rangers   Cumbernauld Colts   East Stirlingshire   Formartine United   FC Spartans   Stirling University   Turriff United	Crusaders FC   Linfield FC   The New Saints FC   Bala Town

1 round

The first round was drawn on June 23, 2016. The matches were held on 2/3 and August 10, 2016.

North region

	Result
Cove Rangers	2: 1	Dundee FC U20
East Stirlingshire FC	0: 3	Montrose FC
Formartine United	2: 5	Aberdeen FC U20
Inverness CT U20	0: 3	FC Arbroath
Ross County U20	2: 3 a.d.	Brora Rangers
Stirling Albion	2: 3	Heart of Midlothian U20
FC St. Johnstone U20	1: 2	Turriff United

South region

	Result
Berwick Rangers	0: 3	FC Spartans
Celtic Glasgow U20	5: 1	Annan Athletic
Clyde FC	0: 5	Partick Thistle U20
Motherwell FC U20	2: 1	Edinburgh City
FC Queen's Park	5: 2	FC Kilmarnock U20
Cumbernauld Colts	0: 3	Hamilton Academical U20
Glasgow Rangers U20	4-0	University of Stirling

2nd round

The 2nd round was drawn on August 4, 2016. The matches took place on August 16 and 17, 2016.

North region

	Result
Aberdeen FC U20	1: 3	Forfar Athletic
Brechin City	4: 1	Cove Rangers
Elgin City	2-0	Heart of Midlothian U20
Peterhead FC	3: 2	Brora Rangers
FC Arbroath	2: 3 a.d.	East Fife FC
Turriff United	1-0	Montrose FC

South region

	Result
Albion Rovers	2-0	Hamilton Academical U20
Cowdenbeath FC	1: 2	Celtic Glasgow U20
Motherwell FC U20	1: 2	Airdrieonians FC
Partick Thistle U20	1: 1 n.V. (5: 6 p.	FC Queen's Park
FC Stranraer	7: 1	FC Spartans
Glasgow Rangers U20	1: 3	FC Stenhousemuir

3rd round

The 3rd round was drawn on August 18, 2016. The matches were held on September 3rd and 4th, 2016.

North region

	Result
Alloa Athletic	3-0	East Fife FC
Brechin City	1: 5	Dunfermline Athletic
Dundee United	3: 2 a.d.	Peterhead FC
FC Falkirk	6: 1	Elgin City
Forfar Athletic	3: 2	Raith Rovers
Turriff United	0: 3	Hibernian Edinburgh

South region

	Result
Albion Rovers	3: 4 a.d.	FC St. Mirren
Livingston FC	5: 1	Celtic Glasgow U20
Queen of the South	7: 1	FC Stenhousemuir
FC Queen's Park	2-0	Greenock Morton
FC Stranraer	1-0	Dumbarton FC
Ayr United	3: 2 a.d.	Airdrieonians FC

Round of 16

The round of 16 was drawn on September 6, 2016. The matches were played between October 7th and 9th, 2016. From the round of 16, the four clubs from Northern Ireland and Wales took part in the competition. The replay took place on November 1, 2016.

	Result
Ayr United	1: 0 a.d.	FC Falkirk
Crusaders FC	1annul. 1	Livingston FC
Bala Town	2: 4	Alloa Athletic
Dunfermline Athletic	2: 1	FC Queen's Park
Forfar Athletic	1: 3	The New Saints FC
Hibernian Edinburgh	1: 2	FC St. Mirren
FC Stranraer	0: 1	Dundee United
Queen of the South	2: 0 a.d.	Linfield FC

¹The game between Crusaders FC and Livingston FC originally ended 1: 2. The SPFL called for a replay after Livingston FC admitted guilty of using SFA- banned Alan Lithgow for the full 90 minutes. The club also received a £ 4,000 fine.

Replay

	Result
Crusaders FC	0: 3	Livingston FC

Quarter finals

The quarter-finals were drawn on October 10, 2016. The matches took place on November 12th and 13th, 2016.

	Result
Dunfermline Athletic	0: 1	Dundee United
Queen of the South	2-0	Alloa Athletic
Livingston FC	0: 3	The New Saints FC
FC St. Mirren	2: 1	Ayr United

Semifinals

The semi-finals were drawn on November 14, 2016. The matches took place on February 18 and 19, 2017.

	Result
Queen of the South	2: 3	Dundee United
FC St. Mirren	4: 1	The New Saints FC

final

Dundee United		FC St. Mirren
	March 25, 2017 at 12:30 p.m. (BST) in Motherwell ( Fir Park ) Result: 2: 1 (1: 1) Spectators: 8,089 Referee: Nick Walsh Match report
	Cammy Bell - Stewart Murdoch , William Edjenguélé , Mark Durnan , Jamie Robson - Charlie Telfer , Willo Flood , Ali Coote (89th Coll Donaldson ), Tony Andreu , Nick van der Velden (58th Thomas Mikkelsen ) - Simon Murray (80th Alex Nicholls ) Trainer: Ray McKinnon	Billy O'Brien - Gary Irvine , Gary MacKenzie , Jack Baird , Adam Eckersley - Stevie Mallan , Stephen McGinn , Kyle Magennis (84th Conor O'Keefe ), Lewis Morgan - Rory Loy , John Sutton Trainers: Jack Ross
	1-0 Tony Andreu (37th) 2-1 Thomas Mikkelsen (75th)	1: 1 Rory Loy (38th)
	Willo Flood, Simon Murray	Rory Loy, Stevie Mallan

Web links

• Scottish Football League website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Challenge Cup expansion announced. spfl.co.uk, June 8, 2016, accessed June 9, 2016 . 
2. ↑ IRN-BRU Cup - First Round Draw. spfl.co.uk, June 23, 2016, accessed June 23, 2016 . 
3. ↑ IRN-BRU Cup second-round draw. spfl.co.uk, August 4, 2016, accessed August 4, 2016 . 
4. ↑ IRN-BRU Cup third-round draw. spfl.co.uk, August 18, 2016, accessed August 18, 2016 . 
5. ↑ IRN-BRU Cup fourth-round draw. spfl.co.uk, September 6, 2016, accessed September 7, 2016 . 
6. ^ Livingston charged by SPFL at disciplinary hearing. Scottish Professional Football League, October 24, 2016, accessed October 25, 2016 . 
7. ↑ IRN-BRU Cup quarter-final draw. spfl.co.uk, October 10, 2016, accessed October 11, 2016 . 
8. ↑ IRN-BRU Cup semi-final draw today. spfl.co.uk, November 14, 2016, accessed November 14, 2016 .