Scottish Football Association

Not to be confused with Scottish Football Union.

The Scottish Football Association (also known as the SFA and the Scottish FA; Scots: Scots Fitba Association; Scottish Gaelic: Comann Ball-coise na h-Alba) is the governing body of football in Scotland and has the ultimate responsibility for the control and development of football in Scotland. 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; 149 years ago (1873-03-13)
Headquarters	Glasgow
FIFA affiliation	1910–1920 1924–1928 1946–present
UEFA affiliation	1954
IFAB affiliation	1886
President	Rod Petrie
Vice-President	Mike Mulraney
Website	www.scottishfa.co.uk

The Scottish Football Association, along with FIFA and the other British governing bodies, sits on the International Football Association Board which is responsible for the laws of the game. The SFA is also a member of FIFA and founder member of UEFA. It is based at Hampden Park in Glasgow.^[1] 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.

History

 

Logo used until 30 November 2012^[2]

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.^[3]

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.^[4]

• 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)^[5]
• Stewart Regan (2010–2018)^[6][7]
• Ian Maxwell (2018–present)^[8][9]

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.^[10] 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.^[3]

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 2021,^[11] only Celtic have been awarded a platinum-level licence, while three clubs have been awarded gold-level licences: Hibernian, St Johnstone and St Mirren. 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.

Member clubs

As of June 2022,[1] 122 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
• 26 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, Linlithgow Rose, Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale, Musselburgh Athletic, Newtongrange Star, Penicuik Athletic, Preston Athletic, Sauchie Juniors, St Andrews United, Syngenta, Tranent Juniors, Tynecastle, and Whitehill Welfare
• 3 clubs in the South of Scotland Football League:
  • Newton Stewart, St Cuthbert Wanderers, and Wigtown & Bladnoch
• 13 clubs in the West of Scotland Football League:
  • Auchinleck Talbot, Benburb, Bonnyton Thistle, Clydebank, Cumnock Juniors, Darvel, Girvan, Glasgow University, Irvine Meadow XI, Kilwinning Rangers, Pollok, Rutherglen Glencairn, and Threave Rovers

Affiliated associations

National associations

The Scottish Football Association has affiliated to it the following seven national associations:^[12]

• 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:^[12]

Aberdeenshire and District Football Association Aberdeenshire Cup Aberdeenshire Shield Aberdeenshire League East of Scotland Football Association East of Scotland Cup East of Scotland Shield King Cup East of Scotland Qualifying Cup Alex Jack Cup Fife Football Association Fife Cup Forfarshire Football Association Forfarshire FA Challegnge Cup Glasgow Football Association The City of Glasgow Cup North of Scotland Football Association North of Scotland Cup North of Scotland FA U20 League

Southern Counties Football Association Alba Cup Southern Counties FA Challenge Cup J Haig Gordon Memorial Trophy Potts Cup East, South and West of Scotland Cup Winners Shield South Region Challenge Cup Stirlingshire Football Association Stirlingshire Cup West of Scotland Football Association Renfrewshire Cup Renfrewshire Victoria Cup Wigtownshire & District Football Association Cree Lodge Cup Tweedie Cup 5 North Caledonian Football Association competitions also registered: North Caledonian League Ness Cup North Caledonian Cup Football Times Cup Jock Mackay Cup

Recognised leagues

The following six leagues with their affiliated leagues and cups are recognised by The Scottish Football Association:^[12]

• 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

References

1. "Contact Us - Scottish Football Association - Scottish FA". www.scottishfa.co.uk.
2. James Shaw [@JGBS] (30 November 2012). "James Shaw" (Tweet). Retrieved 19 May 2017 – via Twitter. Scottish FA rebrand on St Andrew's Day, coinciding with launch of fans' survey. Note subtle inclusion of Saltire.
3. . Scottish Football Association. Archived from the original on 1 July 2008. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
4. "New SFA chief ready to take flak". BBC Sport. 1 June 2007. Retrieved 6 June 2007.
5. "SFA chief executive Gordon Smith steps down from role". BBC Sport. 19 April 2010. Retrieved 19 April 2010.
6. "Regan named new Scottish FA chief executive". BBC Sport. 28 July 2010. Retrieved 30 October 2010.
7. "Scotland: Stewart Regan steps down as SFA chief executive". BBC Sport. 1 February 2018. Retrieved 1 February 2018.
8. "Ian Maxwell appointed as Chief Executive". Scottish Football Association. 23 April 2018. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
9. McLauchlin, Brian (8 May 2018). "Scottish FA & SPFL merger not likely, says Andrew McKinlay". BBC Sport. BBC. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
10. "SFA pulls the plug on Scots semi-pro team". The Scotsman. Johnston Publishing. 7 November 2008. Retrieved 18 November 2013.
11. "Licensed Clubs - June 2021" (PDF). Scottish FA. Scottish FA. 28 June 2021. (PDF) from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
12. "The Scottish Football Association Handbook 2021/2022" (PDF). (PDF) from the original on 31 December 2021.

External links

• Official website
• UEFA profile