The Sky Sports Cup quarter-final draw has been made, while the Scottish Women’s Premier League has announced the introduction of a league phase for the first time from the 2026/27 season.
Quarter-Finals – Sunday 9 November
Hearts v Hibernian
Glasgow City v Aberdeen
Celtic v Queen’s Park
Rangers v Partick Thistle
The key changes of note to the competition for next season (2026/27) and beyond are outlined below:
- The first round will follow a ‘Swiss-style’ league model, involving 14 clubs
- This will be made up of the 10 clubs entitled to participate in the SPWPL 2 in that same season, as well as the four lowest-ranked teams participating in the SPWPL during that season, based upon the previous season’s league finishing positions
- Each club will play four league-stage matches in total in late-July and early-August, all before the beginning of the league season, and will be drawn based on the teams being split into two pots of seven clubs (again based on final rankings from the previous season)
- Two of those matches for each club will be against clubs from the same pot and two will be from the alternate pot. Each club will play a total of two matches at home and two away
- As is usual for league formats, winning clubs will earn three points and draws will result in a point for each club. A draw however will now also result in a penalty shootout subsequently being played in order to determine which club will receive a bonus point
- All clubs’ results will contribute to one 14-team table where every point and every goal could matter, come the conclusion of the four matches
- At the conclusion of all matches, the top six will progress automatically to the second round while teams 11 to 14 will be automatically eliminated at this stage
- The clubs that finish from positions seven to ten will compete in a seeded knockout play-off round to decide the final two clubs who will progress to the second round
- It is at the second round stage where the teams that finished third to sixth in the previous season’s SPWPL will enter the competition as seeded teams in this draw, alongside the top two teams from the first round league phase. Each of these six teams will be drawn to play the remaining six teams that progressed to this round and who will be the unseeded teams. Home teams will be decided on an alternate drawn basis between seeded and unseeded;
- The winners of these six second round ties will progress to the quarter-finals and will be joined by the previous season’s top two SPWPL clubs. This round’s ties will be determined by an unseeded draw which will continue for the remainder of the competition, in a straight knockout format as per the current format, to eventually decide the Sky Sports Cup champions.
Following on from the recent league reconstruction, SWPL clubs were also keen to explore a format change in the Sky Sports Cup that would primarily increase the jeopardy and excitement in the competition, as well as providing additional games for clubs not competing in European competition.
- To ensure SWPL competitions are as competitive and attractive as possible. This format when introduced in other competitions across the world has proven to provide enhanced jeopardy for more teams and ensures every point and goal matters in the early stages of the competition. This will supplement the number of games some clubs will play, particularly for those clubs not participating in European competition
- To improve the variety of matches in the early stages of the competition, as well as ensure clubs have greater opportunity for progression
- To provide a more competitive environment for clubs in the lead up to the commencement of the league season.
The key objectives of the changes to the Sky Sports Cup are:
