Scottish League One

The Scottish League One, known as William Hill League One for sponsorship reasons,^[1] is the third tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish League One was established in July 2013, after the Scottish Professional Football League was formed by a merger of the Scottish Premier League and Scottish Football League.^[2]

Scottish League One

Founded	2013; 12 years ago (2013)
Country	Scotland
Confederation	UEFA
Number of clubs	10
Level on pyramid	3
Promotion to	Scottish Championship
Relegation to	Scottish League Two
Domestic cup(s)	Scottish Cup
League cup(s)	Scottish League Cup Scottish Challenge Cup
Current champions	Arbroath (2nd title)[note 1] (2024–25)
Most championships	Dunfermline Athletic Arbroath (2 titles)[note 1]
Broadcaster(s)	BBC Alba
Website	spfl.co.uk
Current: 2024–25 Scottish League One

Format

Teams receive three points for a win and one point for a draw. No points are awarded for a loss. Teams are ranked by total points, then goal difference, and then goals scored. At the end of each season, the club with the most points is crowned league champion. If points are equal, the goal difference determines the winner. If this still does not result in a winner, the tied teams must take part in a playoff game at a neutral venue to determine the final placings.^[3]

Promotion and relegation

The champions are directly promoted to the Scottish Championship, swapping places with the bottom club of the championship.^[3] The clubs finishing 2nd, 3rd, 4th in League One, and the 9th placed team in the Championship then enter the two-legged Championship play-off. The 2nd-placed League One club plays the 3rd-placed League One club, whilst the team who finished 4th in League One will play the 9th-placed Championship side. The winners of these ties will then play each other. If a League One play-off winner prevails, that club is promoted, with the championship club being relegated. If the Championship side is victorious, they then retain their place in the Championship.^[3]

For promotion and relegation, the League One play-off system closely mirrors its Championship counterpart, in which the bottom club of League One is automatically relegated and the 9th-placed club undergoes a play-off with the 2nd, 3rd and 4th placed clubs from League Two.^[3]

Teams

Listed below are all the teams competing in the 2024–25 Scottish League One season, with details of the first season they entered the third tier; the first season of their current spell in the third tier; and the last time they won the third tier.

Team	Position in 2023–24	First season in third tier	First season of current spell in third tier	Last title (3rd tier)
Alloa Athletic	3rd, Scottish League One	1975–76	2021–22	—
Annan Athletic	8th, Scottish League One	2023–24	2023–24	—
Arbroath	10th, Scottish Championship (relegated)	1986–87	2024–25	2018–19
Cove Rangers	5th, Scottish League One	2020–21	2023–24	2021–22
Dumbarton	4th, Scottish League Two (promoted)	1954–55	2024–25	1991–92
Inverness Caledonian Thistle	9th, Scottish Championship (relegated)	1997–98	2024–25	—
Kelty Hearts	6th, Scottish League One	2022–23	2022–23	—
Montrose	4th, Scottish League One	1923–24	2018–19	1984–85
Queen of the South	7th, Scottish League One	1923–24	2022–23	2012–13
Stenhousemuir	1st, Scottish League Two (promoted)	1974–75	2024–25	—

Stadiums

See also: List of Scottish Professional Football League stadiums

Alloa Athletic	Annan Athletic	Arbroath	Cove Rangers	Dumbarton
Recreation Park	Galabank	Gayfield Park	Balmoral Stadium	Dumbarton Football Stadium
Capacity: 3,100[4]	Capacity: 2,504	Capacity: 6,600[5]	Capacity: 3,023	Capacity: 2,020[6]

Inverness Caledonian Thistle	Kelty Hearts	Montrose	Queen of the South	Stenhousemuir
Caledonian Stadium	New Central Park	Links Park	Palmerston Park	Ochilview
Capacity: 7,512[7]	Capacity: 2,181[8]	Capacity: 4,936[9]	Capacity: 8,690[10]	Capacity: 3,746[11]

Statistics

Championships

Main article: List of winners of the Scottish League One and predecessors

Season	Winner	Runner-up	Top scorer
			Player	Goals
2013–14	Rangers	Dunfermline Athletic	Michael Moffat (Ayr United)	26
2014–15	Greenock Morton	Stranraer	Declan McManus (Greenock Morton)	20
2015–16	Dunfermline Athletic	Ayr United	Faissal El Bakhtaoui (Dunfermline Athletic) Rory McAllister (Peterhead)	22
2016–17	Livingston	Alloa Athletic	Andy Ryan (Airdrieonians)	23
2017–18	Ayr United	Raith Rovers	Lawrence Shankland (Ayr United)	26
2018–19	Arbroath	Forfar Athletic	Kevin Nisbet (Raith Rovers)	30
2019–20[12]	Raith Rovers	Falkirk	David Goodwillie (Clyde)	20
2020–21	Partick Thistle	Airdrieonians	Mitch Megginson (Cove Rangers)	14
2021–22	Cove Rangers	Airdrieonians	Mitch Megginson (Cove Rangers)	18
2022–23	Dunfermline Athletic	Falkirk	Callum Gallagher (Airdrieonians) Ruari Paton (Queen of the South)	22
2023–24	Falkirk	Hamilton Academical	Callumn Morrison (Falkirk)	23
2024–25	Arbroath

Top goalscorers

As of 29 September 2023^{[13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]}

Rank	Player	Club(s)[note 2]	Goals
1	Rory McAllister	Peterhead (2014–2017; 2019–2020) Cove Rangers (2020–2022) Montrose (2022–2023)	83
2	Calum Gallagher	Rangers (2013–2014) Dumbarton (2018–2019) Airdrieonians (2019–2023)	68
	Ryan Wallace	Dunfermline Athletic (2013–2016) Albion Rovers (2016–17) Stranraer (2017) Arbroath (2018–2019) East Fife (2019–2022)
4	Alan Trouten	Brechin City (2013–2015) Ayr United (2015–2016) Brechin City (2016–2017) Albion Rovers (2017–2018) Alloa Athletic (2021–2022)	58
5	Liam Buchanan	East Fife (2013–2014) Livingston (2016–2017) Raith Rovers (2017–2019)	55

Italics denotes players still playing football,
Bold denotes players still playing in Scottish League One.

Notes

1. Scottish League One has only existed since 2013. For a complete record of clubs that have won the Scottish third tier, see List of winners of the Scottish League One and predecessors.
2. Clubs only include those where players scored goals in the Scottish League One.