2022–23 Scottish Premiership

The 2022–23 Scottish Premiership (known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the tenth season of the Scottish Premiership, the highest division of Scottish football, and the 126th edition overall of the top national league competition, not including one cancelled due to World War II. The season began on 30 July 2022.^[1]

Scottish Premiership

Season	2022–23
Dates	30 July 2022 – 28 May 2023
Champions	Celtic 9th Premiership title 53rd Scottish title
Relegated	Dundee United
Champions League	Celtic Rangers
Europa League	Aberdeen
Europa Conference League	Heart of Midlothian Hibernian
Matches played	228
Goals scored	670 (2.94 per match)
Top goalscorer	Kyogo Furuhashi (27 goals)
Biggest home win	Hibernian 6–0 Aberdeen (28 January 2023)
Biggest away win	Dundee United 0–9 Celtic (28 August 2022)
Highest scoring	Dundee United 0–9 Celtic (28 August 2022)
Longest winning run	Celtic 12 games
Longest unbeaten run	Celtic 27 games
Longest winless run	Dundee United Motherwell 11 games
Longest losing run	Dundee United St Johnstone 6 games
Highest attendance	59,621 Celtic 3–2 Rangers (8 April 2023)
Lowest attendance	1,283 Livingston 2–1 Ross County (18 March 2023)
Total attendance	3,826,451
Average attendance	16,782
← 2021–22 2023–24 →

On 7 May, Celtic successfully defended their title, securing a ninth Premiership title and 53rd Scottish league title overall, following a 2–0 victory over Heart of Midlothian.^[2][3]

Twelve teams contested the league: Aberdeen, Celtic, Dundee United, Heart of Midlothian, Hibernian, Kilmarnock, Livingston, Motherwell, Rangers, Ross County, St Johnstone and St Mirren.

Teams

The following teams changed division after the 2021–22 season.

Promoted from the Championship

• Kilmarnock

Relegated to the Championship

• Dundee

Stadia and locations

Aberdeen	Celtic	Dundee United	Heart of Midlothian
Pittodrie Stadium	Celtic Park	Tannadice Park	Tynecastle Park
Capacity: 20,866[4]	Capacity: 60,411[5]	Capacity: 14,223[6]	Capacity: 19,852[7]
Hibernian	Aberdeen Dundee United Hearts Hibernian Kilmarnock Livingston Ross County St. Johnstone St Mirren Celtic Motherwell Rangers Location of teams in the 2022–23 Scottish Premiership		Kilmarnock
Easter Road			Rugby Park
Capacity: 20,421[8]			Capacity: 15,003[9][10]
Livingston			Motherwell
Almondvale Stadium			Fir Park
Capacity: 9,713[11]			Capacity: 13,677[12]
Rangers	Ross County	St Johnstone	St Mirren
Ibrox Stadium	Victoria Park	McDiarmid Park	St Mirren Park
Capacity: 50,987[13]	Capacity: 6,541[14]	Capacity: 10,696[15]	Capacity: 7,937[16]

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Aberdeen	Barry Robson	Graeme Shinnie	Adidas	TEXO
Celtic	Ange Postecoglou	Callum McGregor	Adidas	Dafabet
Dundee United	Jim Goodwin	Ryan Edwards	Macron	QuinnBet
Heart of Midlothian	Steven Naismith (interim)	Craig Gordon	Umbro	MND Scotland (Home) Stellar Omada (Away)
Hibernian	Lee Johnson	David Marshall	Joma	Utilita
Kilmarnock	Derek McInnes	Alan Power	Hummel	Brownings The Bakers
Livingston	David Martindale	Nicky Devlin	Joma	Phoenix Drilling Ltd
Motherwell	Stuart Kettlewell	Stephen O'Donnell	Macron	Paycare
Rangers	Michael Beale	James Tavernier	Castore	32Red (Home and Away) Unibet (3rd)
Ross County	Malky Mackay	Jack Baldwin	Joma	Ross-shire Engineering
St Johnstone	Steven MacLean	Liam Gordon	Macron	Binn Group
St Mirren	Stephen Robinson	Joe Shaughnessy	Joma	Digby Brown

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Hibernian	David Gray	End of caretaker spell	15 May 2022[17]	Pre-season	Lee Johnson	19 May 2022[18]
Dundee United	Tam Courts	Mutual consent	14 June 2022[19]		Jack Ross	20 June 2022[20]
Motherwell	Graham Alexander		29 July 2022[21]		Steven Hammell[note 1]	29 July 2022[21][22]
Dundee United	Jack Ross	Sacked	30 August 2022[23]	12th	Liam Fox[note 2]	30 August 2022[23][24]
Rangers	Giovanni van Bronckhorst		21 November 2022[25]	2nd	Michael Beale	28 November 2022[26]
Aberdeen	Jim Goodwin		28 January 2023[27]	7th	Barry Robson[note 3]	29 January 2023[28][29]
Motherwell	Steven Hammell		11 February 2023[30]	11th	Stuart Kettlewell[note 4]	11 February 2023[30][31]
Dundee United	Liam Fox	Mutual consent	26 February 2023[32]	12th	Jim Goodwin	1 March 2023[33]
Heart of Midlothian	Robbie Neilson	Sacked	9 April 2023[34]	4th	Steven Naismith (interim)	10 April 2023[35]
St Johnstone	Callum Davidson	Mutual consent	16 April 2023[36]	9th	Steven MacLean[note 5]	16 April 2023[36][37]

Format

In the initial phase of the season, the 12 teams played a round-robin tournament whereby each team plays each one of the other teams three times. After 33 games, the league split into two sections of six teams, with each team playing each other in that section. The league attempts to balance the fixture list so that teams in the same section play each other twice at home and twice away, but sometimes this is impossible. A total of 228 matches were played, with 38 matches played by each team.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation[a]
1	Celtic (C)	38	32	3	3	114	34	+80	99	Qualification for the Champions League group stage
2	Rangers	38	29	5	4	93	37	+56	92	Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round
3	Aberdeen	38	18	3	17	56	60	−4	57	Qualification for the Europa League play-off round
4	Heart of Midlothian	38	15	9	14	63	57	+6	54	Qualification for the Europa Conference League third qualifying round
5	Hibernian	38	15	7	16	57	59	−2	52	Qualification for the Europa Conference League second qualifying round
6	St Mirren	38	12	10	16	43	61	−18	46
7	Motherwell	38	14	8	16	53	51	+2	50
8	Livingston	38	13	7	18	36	60	−24	46
9	St Johnstone	38	12	7	19	41	59	−18	43
10	Kilmarnock	38	11	7	20	37	62	−25	40
11	Ross County (O)	38	9	7	22	37	60	−23	34	Qualification for the Premiership play-off final
12	Dundee United (R)	38	8	7	23	40	70	−30	31	Relegation to Championship

Source: ^[38][39]
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-Head points; 5) Head-to-Head goal difference; 6) Play-off (only if deciding champion, UEFA competitions qualification, second stage group allocation or relegation).^[40]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Teams play each other three times (33 matches), before the league is split into two groups (the top six and the bottom six).

Results

Matches 1–22 Teams play each other twice, once at home and once away. Home \ Away ABE CEL DUN HOM HIB KIL LIV MOT RAN ROS STJ STM Aberdeen — 0–1 1–0 2–0 4–1 4–1 5–0 2–3 2–3 0–0 2–0 4–1 Celtic 2–0 — 4–2 2–0 6–1 2–0 2–1 2–1 4–0 2–1 4–1 4–0 Dundee United 4–0 0–9 — 2–2 1–0 4–0 0–1 0–1 0–2 3–0 1–2 0–3 Heart of Midlothian 5–0 3–4 4–1 — 3–0 3–1 1–1 3–2 0–4 2–1 3–2 1–0 Hibernian 3–1 0–4 2–2 1–1 — 1–0 4–0 1–0 2–2 0–2 1–2 3–0 Kilmarnock 2–1 0–5 1–1 2–2 1–0 — 2–3 2–1 2–3 1–0 2–1 0–0 Livingston 2–1 0–3 1–1 1–0 2–1 1–0 — 1–1 1–2 0–1 1–0 1–1 Motherwell 1–2 1–2 0–0 0–3 2–3 2–2 1–0 — 1–2 1–1 1–2 2–1 Rangers 4–1 2–2 2–1 1–0 3–2 2–0 1–1 3–0 — 4–0 4–0 4–0 Ross County 1–1 1–3 1–1 1–2 0–2 1–0 0–2 0–5 0–1 — 1–2 3–2 St Johnstone 0–1 1–2 0–1 2–3 0–1 1–0 2–4 1–1 2–1 0–0 — 3–0 St Mirren 3–1 2–0 2–1 1–1 1–0 0–0 2–1 0–1 1–1 1–0 2–2 — Source: [41] Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win. For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Matches 23–33 Teams play each other once, either home or away. Home \ Away ABE CEL DUN HOM HIB KIL LIV MOT RAN ROS STJ STM Aberdeen — — — 3–0 — 2–0 1–0 3–1 2–0 — — 1–3 Celtic 4–0 — — 3–1 3–1 — 3–0 1–1 3–2 — — — Dundee United 1–3 0–2 — — 2–1 — 2–0 — — — 1–2 1–1 Heart of Midlothian — — 3–1 — — — — — 0–3 6–1 3–0 0–2 Hibernian 6–0 — — 1–0 — 2–0 — 1–3 1–4 — — — Kilmarnock — 1–4 1–0 2–1 — — — 1–1 — — 1–1 — Livingston — — — 0–0 1–4 3–1 — — 0–3 2–1 2–0 — Motherwell — — 1–2 2–0 — — 3–0 — 2–4 — 0–2 — Rangers — — 2–0 — — 3–1 — — — 2–1 2–0 5–2 Ross County 0–1 0–2 4–0 — 1–1 3–0 — 0–2 — — — — St Johnstone 0–1 1–4 — — 1–1 — — — — 0–2 — 1–1 St Mirren — 1–5 — — 0–1 0–2 3–0 1–0 — 1–0 — — Source: [41] Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win. For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Matches 34–38

After 33 matches, the league splits into two sections of six teams i.e. the top six and the bottom six, with the teams playing every other team in their section once (either at home or away). The exact matches are determined by the position of the teams in the league table at the time of the split.

Top six Home \ Away ABE CEL HOM HIB RAN STM Aberdeen — — — 0–0 — 3–0 Celtic 5–0 — — — — 2–2 Heart of Midlothian 2–1 0–2 — 1–1 — — Hibernian — 4–2 — — 1–3 2–1 Rangers 1–0 3–0 2–2 — — — St Mirren — — 2–2 — 0–3 — Source: [42] Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win. For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Bottom six Home \ Away DUN KIL LIV MOT ROS STJ Dundee United — 0–3 — — 1–3 — Kilmarnock — — 2–0 — 3–1 0–1 Livingston 2–1 — — 1–1 — — Motherwell 3–2 2–0 — — 1–0 — Ross County — — 2–0 — — 3–3 St Johnstone 1–0 — 2–0 0–2 — — Source: [42] Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win. For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Season statistics

Scoring

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Kyogo Furuhashi	Celtic	27
2	Kevin van Veen	Motherwell	25
3	Lawrence Shankland	Heart of Midlothian	24
4	Duk	Aberdeen	16
	Bojan Miovski	Aberdeen
	James Tavernier	Rangers
7	Antonio Čolak	Rangers	14
8	Josh Ginnelly	Heart of Midlothian	12
	Kevin Nisbet	Hibernian
	Fashion Sakala	Rangers

Hat-tricks

Main article: List of Scottish Professional Football League hat-tricks § Scottish Premiership

Player	For	Against	Score	Date	Ref.
Kyogo Furuhashi	Celtic	Dundee United	9–0 (A)	28 August 2022	[43]
Liel Abada
Kevin van Veen	Motherwell	Ross County	5–0 (A)	4 October 2022	[44]
James Forrest	Celtic	Hibernian	6–1 (H)	15 October 2022	[45]
Lawrence Shankland	Heart of Midlothian	Celtic	3–4 (H)	22 October 2022	[46]
Kevin Nisbet	Hibernian	Motherwell	3–2 (A)	8 January 2023	[47]
Josh Campbell		Aberdeen	6–0 (H)	28 January 2023	[48]
Lawrence Shankland	Heart of Midlothian	Ross County	6–1 (H)	22 April 2023	[49]
Jordan White	Ross County	Dundee United	3–1 (A)	13 May 2023	[50]

Clean sheets

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Joe Hart	Celtic	16
2	Kelle Roos	Aberdeen	13
3	David Marshall	Hibernian	11
	Liam Kelly	Motherwell
5	Trevor Carson	St Mirren	10
6	Ross Laidlaw	Ross County	9
7	Allan McGregor	Rangers	8
8	Shamal George	Livingston	7
9	Sam Walker	Kilmarnock	6
	Remi Matthews	St Johnstone

Source:^[51]

Attendances

These are the average attendances of the teams.

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Celtic	1,116,725	59,621	58,295	58,775	+1.6%†
2	Rangers	933,207	50,104	46,961	49,116	−0.3%†
3	Heart of Midlothian	351,978	18,980	18,081	18,525	+6.6%†
4	Hibernian	331,926	20,179	13,930	17,469	+12.8%†
5	Aberdeen	297,087	18,666	13,014	15,636	+20.9%†
6	Dundee United	179,768	12,599	7,430	9,461	+23.7%†
7	Kilmarnock[a]	123,253	9,162	4,463	6,487	+30.1%†
8	St Mirren	121,610	7,937	4,557	6,400	+29.7%†
9	Motherwell	112,080	8,610	4,131	5,898	+4.4%†
10	St Johnstone	101,081	7,758	2,899	5,320	+18.1%†
11	Ross County	82,978	6,690	2,568	4,367	+7.7%†
12	Livingston	75,748	9,672	1,283	3,986	+8.9%†
	League total	3,826,451	59,621	1,283	16,782	+6.2%†

Source: ^{[52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63]}

1. Club was playing in the Scottish Championship in the previous season.

Awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month
	Manager	Club	Player	Club
August	Ange Postecoglou	Celtic	Kyogo Furuhashi	Celtic
September/October			Antonio Čolak	Rangers
November	David Martindale	Livingston	Sead Hakšabanović	Celtic
December	Michael Beale	Rangers	Kyogo Furuhashi	Celtic
January	Robbie Neilson	Heart of Midlothian	Kevin Nisbet	Hibernian
February	Stuart Kettlewell	Motherwell	Reo Hatate	Celtic
March	Barry Robson	Aberdeen	Duk	Aberdeen
April			Kevin van Veen	Motherwell

The SPFL Premiership manager of the year was Ange Postecoglou of Celtic.

The SPFL Premiership player of the year was Kyogo Furuhashi of Celtic.

Premiership play-offs

The quarter-finals were contested by the teams placed third and fourth in the 2022–23 Scottish Championship. The winners advanced to the semi-finals to face the team placed second in the Championship. The final was contested by the semi-final winners and the team placed eleventh in the Premiership, with the winners securing a place in the 2023–24 Scottish Premiership.^[64]

Qualified teams

Team	Rank
Ross County	1
Ayr United	2
Queen's Park	3
Partick Thistle	4

	Quarter-final							Semi-final							Final
															1	Ross County	0	3	3 (5)
								2	Ayr United	0	0	0			4	Partick Thistle	2	1	3 (4)
	3	Queen's Park	3	0	3			4	Partick Thistle	3	5	8
	4	Partick Thistle	4	4	8

Quarter-finals

First leg

Partick Thistle v Queen's Park

9 May 2023	Partick Thistle	4–3	Queen's Park	Glasgow
19:45	Turner 15' McMillan 28' Fitzpatrick 69' Graham 90+7'	[65]	Thomas 33', 87' Boateng 83'	Stadium: Firhill Stadium Attendance: 3,754 Referee: Kevin Clancy

Second leg

Queen's Park v Partick Thistle

12 May 2023	Queen's Park	0–4 (3–8 agg.)	Partick Thistle	Stenhousemuir
19:45		[66]	Graham 14' Tiffoney 28' Holt 41' Mullen 82'	Stadium: Ochilview Park Attendance: 1,581 Referee: Colin Steven

Semi-finals

First leg

Partick Thistle v Ayr United

19 May 2023	Partick Thistle	3–0	Ayr United	Glasgow
19:45	McMillan 16' Graham 50', 72'	[67]		Stadium: Firhill Stadium Attendance: 7,012 Referee: Greg Aitken

Second leg

Ayr United v Partick Thistle

26 May 2023	Ayr United	0–5 (0–8 agg.)	Partick Thistle	Ayr
19:45		[68]	McMillan 7' Tiffoney 27', 54' Lawless 63' Holt 88'	Stadium: Somerset Park Attendance: 5,811 Referee: Colin Steven

Final

First leg

Partick Thistle v Ross County

1 June 2023	Partick Thistle	2–0	Ross County	Glasgow
20:00	Fitzpatrick 9' Graham 45'	[69]		Stadium: Firhill Stadium Attendance: 7,291 Referee: David Munro

Second leg

Ross County v Partick Thistle

4 June 2023	Ross County	3–1 (a.e.t.) (3–3 agg.) (5–4 p)	Partick Thistle	Dingwall
16:30	Dhanda 71' (pen.) Murray 72' Harmon 90'	[70]	Fitzpatrick 43'	Stadium: Victoria Park Attendance: 4,533 Referee: Nick Walsh
	Penalties
	Dhanda Murray White Baldwin Harmon Watson Sims		Muirhead Holt Turner Graham McMillan Bannigan Docherty

Notes

1. Hammell was initially named as interim manager, before being appointed on a permanent basis on 11 August 2022.
2. Fox was initially named as interim manager, before being appointed on a permanent basis on 23 September 2022.
3. Robson was initially named as interim manager, before being appointed on a permanent basis on 1 May 2023.
4. Kettlewell was initially named as interim manager, before being appointed on a permanent basis on 22 February 2023.
5. MacLean was initially named as interim manager, before being appointed on a permanent basis on 27 May 2023.