Scottish Championship

The Scottish Championship is the second-division men’s football league in Scotland, positioned just below the Scottish Premiership. Established in 2013 through the merger of the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football League, this competition is managed by the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL).

The league operates on a summer-to-spring schedule, typically starting in August and concluding in May. It consists of 10 teams, with each club playing every other team four times during the regular season—twice in the first half and twice in the second half.

The team finishing in first place is crowned champion and earns automatic promotion to the Scottish Premiership. Meanwhile, the clubs placing 2nd to 4th enter a two-legged play-off for a chance at promotion. In this play-off, the teams finishing third and fourth compete in the semifinals, with the winner facing the Championship runner-up in the final. The team that triumphs in the final then faces the 11th-placed side from the Scottish Premiership in a two-legged tie, with the victor securing a spot in the top flight for the next season.

Conversely, the bottom-placed Championship team is relegated directly to League One, Scotland’s third-tier league. The ninth-placed team enters a play-off with the second to fourth-placed teams in League One, similar to the Championship’s promotion process.

Dundee clubs, Dundee Football Club and Dundee United, have both excelled in this league, each winning the title twice in its first 11 seasons. Scottish powerhouse Rangers also claimed the Championship title in the 2015-16 season during their four-year absence from the top flight due to financial issues.