Football records in Scotland

Football in Scotland is a popular professional sport. Founded in 1873,^[1] Scotland has the second oldest national football association in the world. The national cup competition, the Scottish Cup, was started in the 1873–74 season. Its trophy is the oldest national sporting trophy in the world.^[2] A Scottish football league system was first instituted in 1890, with the creation of the Scottish Football League. A second national cup competition, the Scottish League Cup, was created in the 1946–47 season. This page details the team and individual records set in these competitions.

League competitions

Team records

Top ten clubs by league titles won

Rank	Club	Tier One: Premiership	Tier Two: Championship	Tier Three: League One	Tier Four: League Two	Totals
1	Rangers	55*				55*
2	Celtic	54				54
3	Hibernian	4	6			10
4	Greenock Morton		6	3	1	10
5	Falkirk		7	2		9
6	Raith Rovers		6	3		9
7	Ayr United		6	3		9
8	Clyde		5	4		9
9	Partick Thistle		6	2		8
10	Heart of Midlothian	4	3			7

Clubs winning all four divisions

Rank	Club	Tier One: Premiership	Tier Two: Championship	Tier Three: League One	Tier Four: League Two
1	Rangers	55	1	1	1
2	Dumbarton	2	2	1	1

Clubs winning bottom 3 divisions

Rank	Club	Tier Two: Championship	Tier Three: League One	Tier Four: League Two
1	Greenock Morton	6	3	1
2	Hamilton Academical	3	1	1
3	Queen's Park	2	1	2
4	Dumbarton	2	1	1
5	Ross County	2	1	1
6	Livingston	1	4	2
7	Albion Rovers	1	1	1
8	Gretna	1	1	1

Top ten clubs by total number of seasons (ever) in Top Flight

Rank	Club	No. of seasons
1	Celtic	128
2	Rangers	124
3	Heart of Midlothian	122
4	Hibernian	118
6	St Mirren	114
5	Aberdeen	113
7	Motherwell	109
8	Dundee	100
9	Kilmarnock	95
10	Partick Thistle	85

Top ten clubs by ongoing, successive seasons in Top Flight

Rank	Club	First season of current spell	No. of seasons
1	Celtic	1890–91	128
2	Aberdeen	1905–06	113
3	Motherwell	1985–86	40
4	St Johnstone	2009–10	16
5	Rangers	2016–17	9
6	Hibernian	2017–18	8
7	St Mirren	2018–19	7
8	Ross County	2019–20	6
9	Heart of Midlothian	2020–21	4
10	Kilmarnock	2022–23	3

Clubs having been Champions of Scotland

Club	First title	Longest time between titles		Years	Current time since last title
		From	Until		Last title won	Years
Dumbarton	1890–91*	1890–91	1891–92	1	1891–92	132
Rangers	1890–91*	1963–64	1974–75	11	2020–21	3
Celtic	1892–93	1953–54	1965–66	12	2023–24	0
Heart of Midlothian	1894–95	1896–97	1957–58	61	1959–60	64
Hibernian	1902–03	1902–03	1947–48	45	1951–52	72
Third Lanark	1903–04	1903–04			1903–04	120
Motherwell	1931–32	1931–32			1931–32	92
Aberdeen	1954–55	1954–55	1979–80	25	1984–85	39
Dundee	1961–62	1961–62			1961–62	62
Kilmarnock	1964–65	1964–65			1964–65	59
Dundee United	1982–83	1982–83			1982–83	41

*1890–91 title was shared between Dumbarton and Rangers

Titles

Main article: List of Scottish football champions

• Most top-flight league titles: 55, Rangers^[3]
• Most consecutive league titles: 9, joint record:^[4]
  • Celtic (1965–66 to 1973–74)^[4]
  • Rangers (1988–89 to 1996–97)^[4]
  • Celtic (2011–12 to 2019–20)^[4]
• Longest gap between title wins: 61 years, Hearts (1897 to 1958)

Highest top flight finishes without titles

Position	Club	Last season in position	No. of clubs
2nd	Falkirk	1909–10	3
	Greenock Morton	1916–17
	Airdrieonians (1878)	1925–26
3rd	St Mirren	1892–93	10
	St Bernard's	1893–94
	Raith Rovers	1921–22
	East Fife	1952–53
	Partick Thistle	1962–63
	Clyde	1966–67
	Dunfermline Athletic	1968–69
	Livingston	2001–02
	St Johnstone	2012–13
	Inverness Caledonian Thistle	2014–15
4th	Cambuslang	1890–91	5
	Leith Athletic	1891–92
	Ayr United	1915–16
	Queen of the South	1933–34
	Hamilton Academical	1934–35
5th	Queen's Park	1928–29	4
	Ross County	2012–13
	Cowdenbeath	1924–25
	Clydebank (1914)	1919–20
6th	Renton	1891–92	1
7th	Abercorn	1890–91	1
8th	Vale of Leven	1890–91	1
9th	Port Glasgow Athletic	1903–04	1
10th	Clydebank (1965)	1985–86	2
	Cowlairs	1890–91
11th	Albion Rovers	1921–22	2
	Arbroath	1937–38
12th	Stirling Albion	1958–59	2
	Gretna	2007–08
18th	East Stirlingshire	1963–64	1
19th	Bo'ness	1927–28	1
20th	Alloa Athletic	1922–23	1

Top-flight appearances

• Most appearances: 127 completed seasons, Celtic (1890–present)^[5]

Largest victories

• Largest top flight home win: 11–0, Celtic v Dundee, 26 October 1895^[6]
• Largest top flight away win: 1–11, Airdrieonians v Hibernian, 24 October 1959^[6]

Streaks

• Longest top flight unbeaten run: 62 games, Celtic (20 November 1915 – 21 April 1917)^[7][8]
  • Longest top flight unbeaten run (games in all national competitions): 69 games (56 in the league), Celtic (15 May 2016 – 13 December 2017) ^[9][10]
• Most consecutive top flight wins: 25, Celtic (2003–04)
• Unbeaten league season:
  • Celtic P18 W15 D3 L0, 1897–98^[7]
  • Rangers P18 W18 D0 L0, 1898–99^[7]
  • Kilmarnock P18 W14 D4 L0, 1898–99 (second level)
  • Rangers P36 W33 D3 L0, 2013–14(third level)^[7]
  • Celtic P38 W34 D4 L0, 2016–17^[7]
  • Rangers P38 W32 D6 L0, 2020–21^[7]
  • Falkirk P36 W27 D9 L0, 2023–24 (third level)

Attendances

• Highest attendance: 118,567 - Rangers v Celtic at Ibrox Park, 2 January 1939

Individual

See also: List of footballers in Scotland by number of league goals and List of footballers in Scotland by number of league appearances

Goals

• Most top flight goals in a career: 410, Jimmy McGrory (Celtic 397, Clydebank 13)^[11]
• Most top flight goals in a season: 52, Willie MacFadyen (Motherwell, 1931–32)^[12]
• Most top flight goals in a game: 8, Jimmy McGrory (Celtic 9 Dunfermline Athletic 0, 14 January 1928)
• Most top flight hat-tricks: 48, Jimmy McGrory

Appearances

• Most top flight appearances: 626, Bob Ferrier (Motherwell)^[13]
• Most consecutive appearances with a goal scored: 14, Evelyn Morrison (Falkirk, 1928–29)

Goalkeepers

• Longest consecutive period of time without conceding a goal: 1,256 minutes, Fraser Forster (Celtic, 2013–14)^[14][15]

Titles

• Most league title wins by a manager 18, Bill Struth (Rangers)
• Most league title wins by a player 13, Sandy Archibald (Rangers)

Scottish Cup

Team records

Main article: List of Scottish Cup finals

• Most final wins: 42, Celtic^[16][17]
• Most consecutive final wins: 4, Celtic (2016–17 to 2019–20)^[16]
• Most final appearances: 61, Celtic (includes cancelled 1909 fixture)^[16]
• Most consecutive final defeats: 3, Vale of Leven (1882–83 to 1884–85)
• Most consecutive final appearances: 8, Rangers (1975–76 to 1982–83)^[17]
• Longest gap between final wins: 114 years, Hibernian (1901–02 to 2015–16)
• Most final appearances without winning: 2, Hamilton Academical (1910–11, 1934–35)^[16]
• Most final appearances without defeat: 2, St Johnstone (2013–14, 2020–21)
• Longest winning streak in finals: 14, Rangers (1929–30, 1931–32, 1933–34, 1934–35, 1935–36, 1947–48, 1948–49, 1949–50, 1952–53, 1959–60, 1961–62, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1965–66)
• Longest losing streak in finals: 10, Hibernian (1913–14, 1922–23, 1923–24, 1946–47, 1957–58, 1971–72, 1978–79, 2000–01, 2011–12, 2012–13)
• Biggest final wins: 5 goals, joint record:
  • Renton 6–1 Cambuslang, (1887–88)
  • Rangers 5–0 St Mirren, (1933–34)
  • Celtic 6–1 Hibernian, (1971–72)
• Most goals in a final: 7:
  • Renton 6–1 Cambuslang, (1887–88)
  • Celtic 4–3 Queen's Park, (1899–1900)
  • Hearts 4–3 Celtic, (1900–01)
  • Celtic 6–1 Hibernian (1971–72)
  • Motherwell 4–3 Dundee United (1990–91)
• Most goals by a runner-up: 3:
  • Queen's Park: Lost 3–4 against Celtic (1899–1900)
  • Celtic: Lost 3–4 against Hearts (1900–01)
  • Dundee United: Lost 3–4 against Motherwell (1990–91)
  • Hearts: Lost on penalties against Celtic after the game finished 3–3 (aet) (2019–20)
• Most final losses: 19, Rangers (excludes cancelled 1909 fixture)^[16]
• Most common pairing in the final: 16, Celtic v Rangers (8 Celtic wins, 7 Rangers wins)1908–09 was withheld)^[17]
• Most wins while playing at tier 2: 1, joint record:
  • East Fife F.C. (1937–38)
  • Hibernian (2015–16)

Attendances

• Highest attendance: 146,433, Celtic v Aberdeen at Hampden Park, 24 April 1937 (1936–37)

Individual

• Most cup final wins by manager: 14, Willie Maley (Celtic)
• Most cup final wins by player 8, Bobby Lennox (Celtic)
• Most overall goals: Jimmy McGrory 77 goals (Celtic 74, Clydebank 3)
• Most Scottish Cup goals in a match: John Petrie 13 (Arbroath 36, Bon Accord 0, 12 September 1885)^[18][19]

Scottish League Cup

Team records

Main article: List of Scottish League Cup finals

• Most final wins: 28, Rangers^[20]
• Most consecutive final wins: 5, Celtic (1965–66 – 1969–70)^[20]
• Most final appearances: 36, joint record: Celtic and Rangers^[20]
• Most consecutive final defeats: 4, Celtic (1970–71 – 1973–74)
• Most consecutive final appearances: 14, Celtic (1964–65 – 1977–78)^[17]
• Most final appearances without winning: 3, Dunfermline Athletic^[20] (1949–50, 1991–92, 2005–06)
• Most final appearances without losing: 3, East Fife (1947–48, 1949–50, 1953–54)
• Longest gap between final wins: 21 years, Aberdeen (1955–56 – 1976–77)
• Longest winning streak in finals: 9, Rangers (1990–91, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1996–97, 1998–99, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2007–08)
• Longest losing streak in finals: 5, joint record:
  • Kilmarnock (1952–53, 1960–61, 1962–63, 2000–01, 2006–07),
  • Dundee United (1981–82, 1984–85, 1997–98, 2007–08, 2014–15)
• Biggest final win: 6 goals:
  • Celtic 7–1 Rangers, (1957–58)
• Most goals in a final: 9:
  • Celtic 6–3 Hibernian, (1974–75)
• Most goals by a runner-up: 3:
  • Dundee: Lost 3–5 against Celtic (1967–68)
  • Hibernian: Lost 3–6 against Celtic (1974–75)
  • Aberdeen: Drew 3–3 against Rangers but lost on penalties (1987–88)
  • Hearts: Lost 3–4 against Rangers (1996–97)
  • Rangers: Drew 3–3 against Celtic but lost on penalties (2024–25)

• Most final losses: 15, Celtic^[20]
• Most common pairing in the final: 17, Celtic v Rangers (9 Rangers wins, 8 Celtic wins)^[17]
• Most wins while playing at tier 2: 1, joint record:
  • East Fife F.C. (1947–48)
  • Raith Rovers (1994–95)

Attendances

• Highest attendance: 107,609, Celtic v Rangers at Hampden Park, 25 October 1965 (1965–66)

Individual

• Most cup final wins by manager: 6, Scot Symon (East Fife and Rangers), Jock Stein (Celtic) and Walter Smith (Rangers)
• Most overall goals: Joe Harper 74 goals (Aberdeen 51, Hibernian 16, Morton 7)

Transfers

Record transfer fees paid

Rank	Player	From	To	Fee	Date	Notes
1	Tore Andre Flo	Chelsea	Rangers	£12,000,000	23 November 2000	[21]
2	Arne Engels	FC Augsburg	Celtic	£10,800,000	31 August 2024	[22]
3	Odsonne Édouard	Paris Saint-Germain	Celtic	£9,000,000	15 June 2018	[23]
4	Adam Idah	Norwich	Celtic	£8,250,000	14 August 2024	[24]
5=	Christopher Jullien	Toulouse	Celtic	£7,000,000	28 June 2019	[25]
5=	Ryan Kent	Liverpool	Rangers	£7,000,000	2 September 2019	[26]
7	Michael Ball	Everton	Rangers	£6,500,000	20 August 2001	[27]
8	Jota	Benfica	Celtic	£6,465,000	1 July 2022	[28][citation needed]
9=	Cameron Carter-Vickers	Tottenham Hotspur	Celtic	£6,000,000	10 June 2022	[29]
9=	Chris Sutton	Chelsea	Celtic	£6,000,000	11 July 2000	[30]
9=	John Hartson	Coventry City	Celtic	£6,000,000	2 August 2001	[31]
9=	Auston Trusty	Sheffield United	Celtic	£6,000,000	31 August 2024

Record transfer fees received

Rank	Player	From	To	Fee	Date	Notes
1	Matt O'Riley	Celtic	Brighton	£30,000,000	27 August 2024	[32]
2=	Kieran Tierney	Celtic	Arsenal	£25,000,000	8 August 2019	[33]
2=	Jota	Celtic	Al-Ittihad	£25,000,000	3 July 2023	[34][35]
4	Moussa Dembélé	Celtic	Olympique Lyonnais	£19,700,000	31 August 2018	[36]
5	Calvin Bassey	Rangers	Ajax	£19,580,000	20 July 2022	[37]
6	Odsonne Édouard	Celtic	Crystal Palace	£14,000,000	31 August 2021	[38]
7	Kristoffer Ajer	Celtic	Brentford	£13,500,000	21 July 2021	[39][40]
8	Victor Wanyama	Celtic	Southampton	£12,500,000	11 July 2013	[41]
9=	Virgil van Dijk	Celtic	Southampton	£11,500,000	1 September 2015	[42][43]
9=	Nathan Patterson	Rangers	Everton	£11,500,000	4 January 2022	[44]

Most successful clubs by titles

Main article: List of football clubs in Scotland by major honours won

Team	Domestic			European					Total
	League titles	Scottish Cup	League Cup	Champions League	Cup Winners' Cup	Europa League	Europa Conference League	Super Cup
Celtic	54	42	22	1	-	-	-	-	119
Rangers	55	34	28	-	1	-	-	-	118
Aberdeen	4	7	6	-	1	-	-	1	19
Heart of Midlothian	4	8	4	-	-	-	-	-	16
Hibernian	4	3	3	-	-	-	-	-	10
Queen's Park	-	10	-	-	-	-	-	-	10
Kilmarnock	1	3	1	-	-	-	-	-	5
Dundee United	1	2	2	-	-	-	-	-	5
Dundee	1	1	3	-	-	-	-	-	5
Motherwell	1	2	1	-	-	-	-	-	4
St Mirren	-	3	1	-	-	-	-	-	4
East Fife	-	1	3	-	-	-	-	-	4
Dumbarton	2	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	3
Third Lanark	1	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	3
Clyde	-	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	3
St Johnstone	-	2	1	-	-	-	-	-	3
Falkirk	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	2
Dunfermline Athletic	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	2
Partick Thistle	-	1	1	-	-	-	-	-	2
Inverness Caledonian Thistle	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	1
Greenock Morton	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	1
Airdrieonians	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	1
St Bernard's	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	1
Raith Rovers	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	1
Livingston	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	1
Ross County	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	1

References

1. "Scottish FA > About". Scottish Football Association. Retrieved 2013-02-13.
2. "Scottish Cup > History & Archives". Scottish Football Association. Retrieved 2013-02-13.
3. "Linfield overtake Rangers as Irish champions declared 'most successful club'". 2 May 2022.
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8. Brown, Alan (29 October 2001). "Celtic FC's series of 62 matches unbeaten in Division One". RSSSF. Retrieved 30 December 2013.
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10. Barnes, John (13 December 2017). "Celtic 3–1 Hamilton Academical". BBC Sport. BBC. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
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15. "Aberdeen 2–1 Celtic". BBC Sport. 25 February 2014. Retrieved 6 April 2021. Celtic goalkeeper Fraser Forster's Scottish record for the longest time without conceding a league goal was an unbroken 1,215 minutes coming into the game - it was ended at 1,256 minutes. Celtic had not let in a Scottish Premiership goal since they last played Aberdeen, in a 3–1 win back on 23 November.
16. Ross, James M. (25 July 2013). "Scotland - List of Cup Finals". RSSSF. Retrieved 30 December 2013.
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18. "PERRIE'S FEAT". Press and Journal. 14 April 1936. Retrieved 1 January 2022. (via) British Newspaper Archive
19. A day when Scottish football scorched the record books The Scotsman, retrieved 14 July 2007. Archived from the original Archived 14 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine on 27 March 2008.
20. Ross, James M. "Scotland - List of League Cup Finals". RSSSF. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
21. "Flo goes to Rangers". BBC Sport. 23 November 2000.
22. "Celtic buy Engels and Trusty as they work on McCowan deal". BBC Sport. 2024-08-29. Retrieved 2024-09-03.
23. "Celtic sign French striker Edouard in record deal". AFP. 15 June 2018. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
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27. "Ball makes Rangers move". BBC Sport. 17 August 2011.
28. Devlin, Kieran (1 July 2022). "Celtic sign Filipe Jota from Benfica in £6.4m deal". The Athletic. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
29. Atkinson, Mark (10 June 2022). "Cameron Carter-Vickers: Celtic complete permanent transfer - fee, length of contract, what player and coach had to say". msn.com. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
30. "O'Neill secures Sutton". BBC Sport. 11 July 2000. Retrieved 6 August 2013.
31. "Celtic sign trio on deadline day". BBC Sport. 2 August 2001. Retrieved 6 August 2013.
32. Loudon, Calum (2024-08-26). "Celtic confirm sale of Matt O'Riley to Brighton in record deal worth up to £30m". STV News. Retrieved 2024-09-03.
33. "Kieran Tierney: Celtic defender completes £25m Arsenal move". BBC Sport. 8 August 2019. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
34. "Jota: Portuguese winger leaves Celtic to join Al-Ittihad in Saudi Arabia". BBC Sport. 3 July 2023. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
35. "Jota: Al-Ittihad sign Portuguese winger from Celtic in £25m deal". Sky Sports. 3 July 2023. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
36. "Moussa Dembele: Celtic striker joins Lyon in £19.7m move". BBC Sport. 31 August 2018. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
37. Coyle, Andy (20 July 2022). "Rangers sell defender Calvin Bassey to Ajax for club record fee". STV Sport. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
38. "Odsonne Edouard nears £14m Crystal Palace move as Giorgos Giakoumakis & Jota join". BBC Sport. 31 August 2021. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
39. "Kris Ajer posts heartfelt message with special mention to John Kennedy after sealing Celtic exit". The Glasgow Times. 21 July 2021. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
40. "Brentford sign Ajer from Celtic in £13.5m deal". MSN.com. 21 July 2021. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
41. "Victor Wanyama completes £12.5m move to Southampton from Celtic". The Guardian. 11 July 2013. Retrieved 17 September 2015.
42. Hynter, David (1 September 2015). "Virgil van Dijk signs for Southampton from Celtic for £11.5m". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 September 2015.
43. Celtic reportedly received further funds when van Dijk was sold by Southampton to Liverpool in January 2018, due to a sell-on clause in the deal agreed between Celtic and Southampton (BBC Sport).
44. "Nathan Patterson: Everton complete signing of Scotland right-back from Rangers". BBC Sport. 4 January 2022.

External links

• "League Records". Statto.com. Retrieved 24 August 2012.