2023–24 Scottish Premiership

The 2023–24 Scottish Premiership (known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the eleventh season of the Scottish Premiership, the highest division of Scottish football, and the 127th edition overall of the top national league competition, not including one cancelled due to World War II. The season began on 5 August 2023.^[1]

Scottish Premiership

Season	2023–24
Dates	5 August 2023 – 19 May 2024
Champions	Celtic 10th Premiership title 54th Scottish title
Relegated	Livingston
Champions League	Celtic Rangers
Europa League	Heart of Midlothian Kilmarnock
Conference League	St Mirren
Matches played	228
Goals scored	629 (2.76 per match)
Top goalscorer	Lawrence Shankland (24 goals)
Biggest home win	Celtic 6–0 Aberdeen (12 November 2023) Celtic 7–1 Dundee (28 February 2024)
Biggest away win	Dundee 0–5 Rangers (1 November 2023) Kilmarnock 0–5 Celtic (15 May 2024)
Highest scoring	Celtic 7–1 Dundee (28 February 2024)
Longest winning run	Rangers (9 games)
Longest unbeaten run	Celtic (16 games)
Longest winless run	Livingston (17 games)
Longest losing run	Livingston (8 games)
Highest attendance	59,664 Celtic 2–1 Rangers (30 December 2023)
Lowest attendance	1,142 Livingston 2–2 Ross County (30 January 2024)
Total attendance	3,716,679
Average attendance	16,301
← 2022–23 2024–25 → All statistics correct as of 19 May 2024.

On 15 May, Celtic successfully defended their title, securing a tenth Premiership title and 54th Scottish league title overall, following a 5–0 victory away to Kilmarnock.^[2][3]

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

Teams

The following teams changed division after the 2022–23 season.

Promoted from the Championship

• Dundee

Relegated to the Championship

• Dundee United

Stadia and locations

Aberdeen	Celtic	Dundee	Heart of Midlothian
Pittodrie Stadium	Celtic Park	Dens Park	Tynecastle Park
Capacity: 20,866[4]	Capacity: 60,411[5]	Capacity: 11,775[6]	Capacity: 19,852[7]
Hibernian	Edinburgh Glasgow Aberdeen Dundee Kilmarnock Motherwell Ross County St. Johnstone St Mirren Livingston Edinburgh teams: Hearts Hibernian Glasgow teams: Celtic Rangers Location of teams in the 2023–24 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]

Heart of Midlothian

Hibernian

Premiership football clubs in Edinburgh

Celtic

Rangers

Premiership football clubs in Glasgow

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Aberdeen	Peter Leven (Interim)	Graeme Shinnie	Adidas	TEXO
Celtic	Brendan Rodgers	Callum McGregor	Adidas	Dafabet
Dundee	Tony Docherty	Joe Shaughnessy	Macron	Crown Engineering Services
Heart of Midlothian	Steven Naismith	Craig Gordon	Umbro	MND Scotland (Home) Stellar Omada (Away)
Hibernian	David Gray (Interim)	Paul Hanlon	Joma	Bevvy.com
Kilmarnock	Derek McInnes	Kyle Vassell	Hummel	James Frew Ltd
Livingston	David Martindale	Mikey Devlin	Joma	Emptez
Motherwell	Stuart Kettlewell	Liam Kelly	Macron	G4 Claims
Rangers	Philippe Clement	James Tavernier	Castore	Unibet
Ross County	Don Cowie (Interim)	Jack Baldwin	Joma	Ross-shire Engineering
St Johnstone	Craig Levein	Liam Gordon	Macron	GS Brown Construction
St Mirren	Stephen Robinson	Mark O'Hara	Macron	Digby Brown

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Dundee	Gary Bowyer	End of contract	10 May 2023[17]	Pre-season	Tony Docherty	29 May 2023[18]
Celtic	Ange Postecoglou	Signed by Tottenham Hotspur	6 June 2023[19]		Brendan Rodgers	19 June 2023[20]
Hibernian	Lee Johnson	Sacked	27 August 2023[21]	12th	Nick Montgomery	11 September 2023[22]
Rangers	Michael Beale		1 October 2023[23]	3rd	Philippe Clement	15 October 2023[24]
St Johnstone	Steven MacLean		29 October 2023[25]	12th	Craig Levein	5 November 2023[26]
Ross County	Malky Mackay		15 November 2023[27]	11th	Derek Adams	20 November 2023[28]
Aberdeen	Barry Robson		31 January 2024[29]	8th	Neil Warnock	5 February 2024[30]
Ross County	Derek Adams	Resigned	7 February 2024[31]	11th	Don Cowie (Interim)	8 February 2024[32]
Aberdeen	Neil Warnock		9 March 2024[33]	10th	Peter Leven (Interim)	9 March 2024[34]
Hibernian	Nick Montgomery	Sacked	14 May 2024[35]	9th	David Gray (Interim)	14 May 2024[35]

Format

In the initial phase of the season, the 12 teams play a round-robin tournament whereby each team plays each of the other teams three times. After 33 games, the league splits into two sections of six teams, with each team playing each other once 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 be 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	29	6	3	95	30	+65	93	Qualification for the Champions League league stage
2	Rangers	38	27	4	7	87	32	+55	85	Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round
3	Heart of Midlothian	38	20	8	10	54	42	+12	68	Qualification for the Europa League play-off round[b]
4	Kilmarnock	38	14	14	10	46	44	+2	56	Qualification for the Europa League second qualifying round
5	St Mirren	38	13	8	17	46	52	−6	47	Qualification for the Conference League second qualifying round
6	Dundee	38	10	12	16	49	68	−19	42
7	Aberdeen	38	12	12	14	48	52	−4	48
8	Hibernian	38	11	13	14	52	59	−7	46
9	Motherwell	38	10	13	15	56	59	−3	43
10	St Johnstone	38	8	11	19	29	54	−25	35
11	Ross County (O)	38	8	11	19	38	67	−29	35	Qualification for the Premiership play-off final
12	Livingston (R)	38	5	10	23	29	70	−41	25	Relegation to Championship

Source: ^[36][37]
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).^[38]
(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).
2. As the winners of the 2023–24 Scottish Cup, Celtic, qualified for the Champions League, the berth reserved for the cup winners (Europa League play-off round) passed to the third-placed team. The berths for the Europa League second qualifying round and the Conference League second qualifying round were passed down to the fourth- and fifth-placed teams.

Results

Matches 1–22 Teams played each other twice, once at home and once away. Home \ Away ABE CEL DND HOM HIB KIL LIV MOT RAN ROS STJ STM Aberdeen — 1–3 1–1 2–1 0–2 0–1 2–1 3–3 1–1 4–0 0–0 0–3 Celtic 6–0 — 3–0 0–2 4–1 3–1 2–0 1–1 2–1 4–2 0–0 2–1 Dundee 1–0 0–3 — 1–0 1–2 2–2 1–0 1–1 0–5 0–0 2–1 4–0 Heart of Midlothian 2–0 1–4 3–2 — 2–2 0–0 1–0 0–1 0–1 2–2 1–0 2–0 Hibernian 2–0 0–0 0–0 0–1 — 1–0 2–3 2–2 0–3 2–2 2–0 2–3 Kilmarnock 2–0 2–1 2–2 0–1 2–2 — 3–1 1–0 1–0 0–1 2–1 1–1 Livingston 0–0 0–3 0–2 1–2 0–1 0–0 — 2–0 0–2 2–2 0–0 1–1 Motherwell 2–4 1–2 3–3 1–2 2–1 2–1 3–1 — 0–2 3–3 1–1 0–1 Rangers 1–3 0–1 3–1 2–1 4–0 3–1 4–0 1–0 — 3–1 2–0 2–0 Ross County 0–3 0–3 0–1 0–1 2–2 0–0 1–1 3–0 0–2 — 2–0 1–0 St Johnstone 1–1 1–3 2–2 0–2 1–0 2–1 1–1 2–2 0–2 1–0 — 1–0 St Mirren 2–2 0–3 2–1 1–0 2–2 0–1 1–0 0–0 0–3 2–0 4–0 — Source: [39] Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Matches 23–33 Teams played each other once, either home or away. Home \ Away ABE CEL DND HOM HIB KIL LIV MOT RAN ROS STJ STM Aberdeen — 1–1 0–0 — 2–2 — — — — 2–1 0–2 — Celtic — — 7–1 — — 1–1 — — — 1–0 3–1 3–0 Dundee — — — 2–3 — 2–2 — 2–3 0–0 2–0 — — Heart of Midlothian 2–0 2–0 — — 1–1 1–1 4–2 2–0 — — — — Hibernian — 1–2 2–1 — — — 3–0 — — 2–0 1–2 0–3 Kilmarnock 2–0 — — — 2–2 — 1–0 — 1–2 1–0 — 5–2 Livingston 0–0 0–3 1–4 — — — — 1–3 — — — 1–0 Motherwell 0–1 1–3 — — 1–1 1–1 — — — 5–0 — 1–1 Rangers 2–1 3–3 — 5–0 3–1 — 3–0 1–2 — — — — Ross County — — — 2–1 — — 3–2 — 3–2 — 0–1 1–1 St Johnstone — — 1–2 0–1 — 0–2 1–1 1–1 0–3 — — — St Mirren 2–1 — 2–0 1–2 — — — — 0–1 — 2–0 — Source: [39] Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Matches 34–38

After 33 matches, the league was split 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 were determined by the position of the teams in the league table at the time of the split.

Top six Home \ Away CEL DND HOM KIL RAN STM Celtic — — 3–0 — 2–1 3–2 Dundee 1–2 — — 1–1 — 1–3 Heart of Midlothian — 3–0 — — 3–3 — Kilmarnock 0–5 — 0–0 — — — Rangers — 5–2 — 4–1 — — St Mirren — — 2–2 0–1 1–2 — Source: [40] Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Bottom six Home \ Away ABE HIB LIV MOT ROS STJ Aberdeen — — 5–1 1–0 — 1–0 Hibernian 0–4 — — 3–0 — — Livingston — 1–1 — — 2–0 2–1 Motherwell — — 4–1 — — 1–2 Ross County 2–2 2–1 — 1–5 — — St Johnstone — 1–3 — — 1–1 — Source: [41] Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Lawrence Shankland	Heart of Midlothian	24
2	Matt O'Riley	Celtic	18
3	James Tavernier	Rangers	17
4	Bojan Miovski	Aberdeen	16
	Cyriel Dessers	Rangers
6	Theo Bair	Motherwell	15
7	Kyogo Furuhashi	Celtic	14
	Simon Murray	Ross County
9	Abdallah Sima	Rangers	11
10	Luke McCowan	Dundee	10
	Myziane Maolida	Hibernian

Source:^[42]

Clean sheets

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Jack Butland	Rangers	18
2	Joe Hart	Celtic	15
	Zander Clark	Heart of Midlothian
4	Will Dennis	Kilmarnock	14
5	Kelle Roos	Aberdeen	10
	Zach Hemming	St Mirren
7	David Marshall	Hibernian	9
8	Trevor Carson	Dundee	8
	Dimitar Mitov	St Johnstone
10	Shamal George	Livingston	7

Source:^[43]

Awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month
	Manager	Club	Player	Club
August	Stephen Robinson	St Mirren	Ryan Strain	St Mirren
September	Brendan Rodgers	Celtic	Matt O'Riley	Celtic
October	Derek McInnes	Kilmarnock	Abdallah Sima	Rangers
November	Steven Naismith	Heart of Midlothian	Lawrence Shankland	Heart of Midlothian
December	Derek McInnes	Kilmarnock
January	Philippe Clement	Rangers	Alan Forrest
February			Blair Spittal	Motherwell
March	Tony Docherty	Dundee	Myziane Maolida	Hibernian
April	Brendan Rodgers	Celtic	Luke McCowan	Dundee

The SPFL Premiership manager of the year was Derek McInnes of Kilmarnock.

The SPFL Premiership player of the year was Lawrence Shankland of Heart of Midlothian.

Premiership play-offs

The quarter-final was contested by the teams placed third and fourth in the 2023–24 Scottish Championship, Partick Thistle and Airdrieonians. Partick Thistle advanced to the semi-final to face the team placed second in the Championship, Raith Rovers. The final was contested by Raith Rovers and the team placed eleventh in the Premiership, Ross County, who won the tie to secure a place in the 2024–25 Scottish Premiership.^[44]

Qualified teams

Team	Rank
Ross County	1
Raith Rovers	2
Partick Thistle	3
Airdrieonians	4

	Quarter-final							Semi-final							Final
															1	Ross County	2	4	6
								2	Raith Rovers	2	1	3 (4)			2	Raith Rovers	1	0	1
	3	Partick Thistle	2	2	4			3	Partick Thistle	1	2	3 (3)
	4	Airdrieonians	2	1	3

Quarter-final

First leg

Airdrieonians v Partick Thistle

7 May 2024	Airdrieonians	2–2	Partick Thistle	Airdrie
19:45	Todorov 5' McGill 50'	[45]	McBeth 29' Robinson 45'	Stadium: Excelsior Stadium Attendance: 3,163 Referee: Grant Irvine

Second leg

Partick Thistle v Airdrieonians

10 May 2024	Partick Thistle	2–1 (4–3 agg.)	Airdrieonians	Glasgow
19:45	Graham 18', 47'	[46]	Lyall 55'	Stadium: Firhill Stadium Attendance: 6,531 Referee: Colin Steven

Semi-final

First leg

Partick Thistle v Raith Rovers

14 May 2024	Partick Thistle	1–2	Raith Rovers	Glasgow
19:45	Alston 73'	[47]	Brown 22' Vaughan 40'	Stadium: Firhill Stadium Attendance: 5,497 Referee: Chris Graham

Second leg

Raith Rovers v Partick Thistle

17 May 2024	Raith Rovers	1–2 (a.e.t.) (3–3 agg.) (4–3 p)	Partick Thistle	Kirkcaldy
19:45	Matthews 30'	[48]	Alston 16', 45+1'	Stadium: Stark's Park Attendance: 6,070 Referee: Steven McLean
	Penalties
	Brown Turner Hamilton Easton Vaughan		Stanway McBeth Graham McMillan Diack

Final

First leg

Raith Rovers v Ross County

23 May 2024	Raith Rovers	1–2	Ross County	Kirkcaldy
20:00	Stanton 82'	[49]	Dhanda 53' (pen.) Baldwin 71'	Stadium: Stark's Park Attendance: 6,216 Referee: John Beaton

Second leg

Ross County v Raith Rovers

26 May 2024	Ross County	4–0 (6–1 agg.)	Raith Rovers	Dingwall
12:00	Murray 19', 75' White 47' Khela 86'	[50]		Stadium: Victoria Park Attendance: 5,797 Referee: Don Robertson

Attendances

Celtic FC drew the highest average home attendance in the 2023-24 edition of the Scottish Premiership.

#	Football club	Home games	Average attendance[51]
1	Celtic FC	19	58,827
2	Rangers FC	19	49,141
3	Heart of Midlothian	19	18,406
4	Hibernian FC	19	16,808
5	Aberdeen FC	19	16,055
6	Dundee FC	19	6,965
7	St. Mirren FC	19	6,646
8	Kilmarnock FC	19	6,523
9	Motherwell FC	19	5,699
10	St. Johnstone FC	19	4,547
11	Ross County FC	19	4,302
12	Livingston FC	19	3,582