Scottish Football Association

Members of the SFA include clubs in Scotland, affiliated national associations as well as local associations. It was formed in 1873, making it the second oldest national football association in the world. It is not to be confused with the Scottish Football Union, which is the name that the SRU was known by until the 1920s.

Scottish Football Association

UEFA
Founded	13 March 1873; 151 years ago (1873-03-13)
Headquarters	Hampden Park, Glasgow, G42 9AY
FIFA affiliation	1910–1920 1924–1928 1946–present
UEFA affiliation	1954
IFAB affiliation	1886
President	Mike Mulraney
Vice-President	Les Gray
Website	www.scottishfa.co.uk

The Scottish Football Association is a member of both UEFA and FIFA and holds a permanent seat on the International Football Association Board (IFAB) which is responsible for the Laws of the Game. It is based at Hampden Park in Glasgow. In addition, the Scottish Football Museum is located there.

The Scottish Football Association is responsible for the operation of the Scotland national football team, the annual Scottish Cup and several other duties important to the functioning of the game in Scotland.

Formation

 

Following the formation of Scotland's earliest football clubs in the 1860s, football experienced a rapid growth but there was no formal structure, and matches were often arranged in a haphazard and irregular fashion.

Queen's Park, a Glasgow club founded in 1867, took the lead, and following an advertisement in a Glasgow newspaper in 1873, representatives from seven clubs – Queen's Park, Clydesdale, Vale of Leven, Dumbreck, Third Lanark, Eastern and Granville – attended a meeting on 13 March 1873. Furthermore, Kilmarnock sent a letter stating their willingness to join.

That day, these eight clubs formed the Scottish Football Association, and resolved that:

The clubs here represented form themselves into an association for the promotion of football according to the rules of The Football Association and that the clubs connected with this association subscribe for a challenge cup to be played for annually, the committee to propose the laws of the competition.

Founding members

The following eight football clubs founded the Scottish Football Association:

Chief Executive/Secretary

The chief executive of the Scottish Football Association oversees the development of football in Scotland and the administration of disciplinary matters, and is also responsible for the general organisation of the national side. One of the most prominent roles of the chief executive is to hire and dismiss Scotland national football team managers.

• Archibald Rae (1873–1874)
• J.C. Mackay (1874–1875)
• William Dick (1875–1880)
• James Fleming (1880–1882)
• Robert Livingstone (1882)
• John McDowall (1882–1928)
• Sir George Graham (1928–1957)
• Willie Allan (1957–1977)
• Ernie Walker CBE (1977–1990)
• Jim Farry (1990–1999)
• David Taylor (1999–2007)
• Gordon Smith (2007–2010)
• Stewart Regan (2010–2018)
• Ian Maxwell (2018–present)

National teams

As well as the Scotland national football team, the Scottish Football Association is also currently responsible for organising the Scotland B national football team, as well as men's national teams at under-21, under-19, under-18 and under-17 levels. There was also a semi-professional team, but this was disbanded in 2008. In women's football, there is the full Scotland women's national football team, under-19 and under-17 teams. In Futsal there is a full national side.

Club competitions

The Scottish Football Association organises the Scottish Cup and the Scottish Youth Cup. Although the SFA are not involved in the day-to-day operation of the Scottish Professional Football League or other league competitions, they do appoint referees to officiate the games in these leagues, as well as dealing with player registrations and disciplinary issues.

Club licensing

The Scottish Football Association encourages quality of governance in football clubs through a system of club licence awards. All SFA member clubs are assessed annually in four areas (ground, first team, youth team, and governance) and, if appropriate, awarded a licence at platinum, gold, silver, bronze or entry level. As of June 2023,^[update] only Celtic and Rangers have been awarded a platinum-level licence, while two others (Hibernian and St Johnstone) hold gold-level licences. All clubs in the Scottish Professional Football League, Highland Football League, and Lowland Football League are required to be licensed at entry level or above.

Performance Schools

The Scottish Football Association established a number of performance schools around Scotland in 2012 with the aim of developing footballing talent in young people and at grassroots level. The programme is for under-12 players, and will provide them with 800 hours of additional coaching. As of June 2023^[update], seven performance schools exist:

• Hazlehead Academy – Aberdeen (Head Coach: Stuart Glennie)
• St John's Roman Catholic High School – Dundee (Head Coach: Iain Jenkins)
• Broughton High School – Edinburgh (Head Coach: Keith Wright)
• Graeme High School – Falkirk (Head Coach: Ian Ross)
• Holyrood Secondary School – Glasgow (Head Coach: Joe McBride)
• Grange Academy – Kilmarnock (Head Coach: James Grady)
• Braidhurst High School – Motherwell (Head Coach: Stephen Clarke)

As of June 2023,^[update] 124 clubs are full members of the Scottish Football Association, comprising:

• All 42 clubs in the Scottish Professional Football League
• All 18 clubs in the Highland Football League
• All 16 clubs in the Lowland Football League
• 2 clubs in the Midlands Football League:
  • Lochee United and Tayport
• 2 clubs in the North Caledonian League:
  • Fort William and Golspie Sutherland
• 24 clubs in the East of Scotland Football League:
  • Blackburn United, Broxburn Athletic, Burntisland Shipyard, Camelon Juniors, Coldstream, Dalkeith Thistle, Dunbar United, Dundonald Bluebell, Dunipace, Easthouses Lily Miners Welfare, Haddington Athletic, Hawick Royal Albert, Hill of Beath Hawthorn, Jeanfield Swifts, Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale, Musselburgh Athletic, Newtongrange Star, Penicuik Athletic, Preston Athletic, Sauchie Juniors, St Andrews United, Tynecastle, Vale of Leithen, and Whitehill Welfare
• 5 clubs in the South of Scotland Football League:
  • Creetown, Dalbeattie Star, Newton Stewart, St Cuthbert Wanderers, and Wigtown & Bladnoch
• 15 clubs in the West of Scotland Football League:
  • Auchinleck Talbot, Benburb, Bonnyton Thistle, Carluke Rovers, Clydebank, Cumnock Juniors, Darvel, Girvan, Glasgow University, Glenafton Athletic, Irvine Meadow XI, Kilwinning Rangers, Pollok, Rutherglen Glencairn, and Threave Rovers

National associations

The Scottish Football Association has affiliated to it the following seven national associations:

• Scottish Amateur Football Association
• Scottish Junior Football Association
• Scottish Para Football Association
• Scottish Schools Football Association
• Scottish Welfare Football Association
• Scottish Women's Football
• Scottish Youth Football Association

Local associations

There are 10 local associations affiliated and the competitions they manage are also listed below:

Recognised leagues

The following six leagues with their affiliated leagues and cups are recognised by The Scottish Football Association:

• Scottish Professional Football League
  • Scottish League Cup
  • Scottish Challenge Cup
• Scottish Highland Football League
  • Highland League Cup
  • SHFL U17 League
• Scottish Lowland Football League
  • Lowland League Cup
  • Lowlands Development League
  • Lowlands Development League Cup
  • Lowlands Development Challenge Cup
  • Lowlands Development Knock Out Cup
• East of Scotland Football League
  • East of Scotland Football League Cup
• West of Scotland Football League
  • West of Scotland Football League Cup
  • Strathclyde Cup
• South of Scotland Football League
  • South of Scotland Football League Cup