The Scottish Lowland Football League (SLFL, commonly known as the Lowland League and the Park's Motor Group Scottish Lowland League for sponsorship reasons) is a senior football league based in central and southern Scotland. The league sits at level 5 on the Scottish football league system, acting as a feeder to the Scottish Professional Football League, and is above three regional leagues at level 6.
Founded in 2013, it is currently composed of 18 member clubs in a single division. Geographically, the league covers an area south of Dundee in the Lowlands area of Scotland.
Since 2014–15, it has featured in the senior pyramid system. The winners take part in an end of season promotion play-off with the Highland Football League champions, with the winners then competing against the bottom club in Scottish League Two for a place in the SPFL. Promotion and relegation also exists between the three Lowlands-based regional leagues at level 6 (East, South, and West).
Season 2025–26 will be the last season in the league's current format ahead of the league splitting into Lowland League East and Lowland League West ahead of season 2026–27.
Format Teams play each other twice in the league (home and away), receiving three points for a win and one point for a draw. No points are awarded for a loss. At the end of each season, the club with the most points is crowned Lowland League champions. If points are equal, goal difference, and then goals scored determines the champion. If this still does not result in a winner, the tied teams must take part in a championship play-off match at a neutral venue to determine the final placings.
Promotion and relegation Since 2014–15, promotion to the Scottish Professional Football League is via an annual play-off, beginning with the Lowland League champions facing the champions of the Highland Football League over two legs (home and away). There is no away goals rule so if scores are equal on aggregate after full-time in the second leg, the game will go to extra time, and then penalties if required. The winners will then face a play-off against the bottom club in League Two with the same rules applying. If the League Two club loses the play-off final, they are relegated to the Lowland League or Highland League.
Promotion to the Lowland League is via a three match round robin play-off between the winners of the East of Scotland Football League, South of Scotland Football League, and West of Scotland Football League, subject to their respective champions meeting league membership criteria. If only two clubs meet the criteria, they face each other home and away. If only one club meets the criteria, they will be promoted without a play-off. If no clubs meet the criteria there will be no promotion to the Lowland League.
Based on the number of clubs remaining after the results of promotion to and from the league are known, the bottom and possibly second-bottom placed clubs will be relegated to the East of Scotland Football League, South of Scotland Football League, or West of Scotland Football League depending on their geographical location.
Scottish Cup All Lowland League clubs are full members of the Scottish Football Association and qualify automatically for the first round of the Scottish Cup.
The furthest a Lowland League team has reached in the Scottish Cup is the fifth round (last 16), achieved by The Spartans in 2014–15 (lost 1–0 to Berwick Rangers in a replay), East Kilbride in 2015–16 (lost 2–0 to Celtic) and BSC Glasgow in 2019–20 (lost 4–1 to Hibernian).
History The Lowland Football League was intended on helping institute a football pyramid including promotion and relegation from Scottish football's national divisions down to its junior and amateur levels by the Scottish Football Association.
Formation The Lowland League was founded by a unanimous vote of members of the Scottish Football Association (SFA) on 11 June 2013, The league would be composed of teams drawn from the East of Scotland, South of Scotland, and junior leagues, who met on 17 June 2013 to elect between them the founder-members of the new league.
While most clubs were invited to submit bids to join, Preston Athletic, The Spartans and Threave Rovers were offered automatic entry as they were already fully licensed by the SFA. While 27 clubs had registered their interest, the Lowland League received 17 applications to join. After the meeting on 17 June, it was announced there would be 12 teams in the league, and that they would be: Dalbeattie Star, East Kilbride, Edinburgh City, Gala Fairydean Rovers, Gretna 2008, Preston Athletic, Selkirk, The Spartans, Threave Rovers, University of Stirling, Vale of Leithen, and Whitehill Welfare.
Expansion Subsequent seasons saw the number of participating clubs increase. Two clubs, Edinburgh University and BSC Glasgow, were admitted to the league for the 2014–15 season. They were joined the following season by Cumbernauld Colts. Civil Service Strollers and Hawick Royal Albert joined in June 2016, making it a 16-team league.
Pyramid movement The end of the 2015–16 season was the first time that founding members would leave the league; Edinburgh City became the first club to be promoted to the SPFL, while Threave Rovers declined the opportunity to re-apply to the league after finishing bottom and rejoined the South of Scotland Football League. The same season also saw East Stirlingshire become the first club relegated into the league from Scottish League Two.
Another founding member would leave the league at the end of the 2016-17 season as Preston Athletic were relegated to the East of Scotland League. They were replaced by Edusport Academy who became the first club to gain promotion from the South of Scotland League.
In 2017–18, the first promotion play-off took place between the champions of the East of Scotland and South of Scotland leagues, with former SJFA East Region club Kelty Hearts winning 10–0 on aggregate over Threave Rovers to gain promotion.
Decline of Selkirk During the 2018–19 season, Selkirk resigned their membership in the league owing to insurmountable difficulties. It was agreed by the Lowland League board that all fixtures played by and to be played by Selkirk in 2018–19 would be expunged from the record along with any other data involving Selkirk for that season. The Lowland League moved forward with 15 clubs, however Whitehill Welfare, who finished bottom in the season's competition, were still relegated to the East of Scotland League. East of Scotland champions Bonnyrigg Rose were promoted to the league after gaining their SFA membership. Berwick Rangers became the second club to be relegated into the league from the SPFL, having lost the League Two play-off against Cove Rangers.
Impact of Covid At the start of the 2019–20 season, Edusport Academy rebranded the club as the Caledonian Braves following a vote online by members of the Our Football Club.com project. The 2019–20 league season was suspended on 13 March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A month later, the competition was ended with immediate effect with Kelty Hearts being declared champions on a points per game average based on the current standings. Vale of Leithen who were bottom of the league were also spared relegation.
West of Scotland Football League On 14 April 2020, the Lowland League announced it had approved 67 applications to join the new West of Scotland Football League, which included all 63 clubs from the Scottish Junior Football Association's West Region, and four others. Bonnyton Thistle already a member of the South of Scotland League decided to move due to being based in Kilmarnock. The West of Scotland League acts as a feeder league on the same tier as the East of Scotland Football League and South of Scotland Football League.
Kelty Hearts promotion The league consisted of 17 teams for the 2020–21 season with East of Scotland champions Bo'ness United being promoted after gaining their SFA membership in June 2020. The start of the league season was delayed until October 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and games were played behind closed doors due to Scottish Government restrictions. On 11 January 2021, the league was suspended by the Scottish Football Association due to the escalating pandemic situation. On 30 March, the league announced that a majority of clubs had voted to curtail the season, with a points per game basis used to finalise standings and Kelty Hearts were declared as the champions. Kelty became the second Lowland League club to gain promotion to the SPFL after beating Brechin City 3–1 on aggregate in the Pyramid play-off final.
B teams Celtic and Rangers were approached by the Lowland League for a proposal to admit "B" teams (also known as "Colt" teams) into the league for the 2021–22 season. The proposal was given provisional approval by the majority of member clubs with the vote being confirmed at the leagues AGM on 27 May 2021. This arrangement was renewed for the 2022–23 season, with Hearts also providing a B team. Celtic and Hearts continued for the 2023–24 season but Rangers withdrew their entry in June 2023. In January 2026, Hearts confirmed they would be discarding their B team and therefore withdrawing from the league, leaving Celtic as the only remaining side for the 2026–27 season.
Lowland League East and Lowland League West In July 2025, the SFA approved a restructure of Tier 5 which will see the Lowland League replaced by a Lowland League East and a Lowland League West, with both leagues co-existing alongside the Highland League.
Member clubs
Team Location Stadium SurfaceCapacitySeats Albion Rovers Coatbridge Cliftonhill Grass 1,238 489Auchinleck TalbotAuchinleckBeechwood ParkGrass3,500500Beith JuniorsBeithBellsdale ParkGrass1,8090 Berwick Rangers Berwick-upon-Tweed Shielfield Park Grass 4,099 1,366 Bo'ness United Bo'ness Newtown Park Artificial 2,500 0 Bonnyrigg Rose Bonnyrigg New Dundas Park Grass 2,020 72Broxburn Athletic Broxburn Albyn Park Artificial 2,050 0 Caledonian Braves Motherwell Alliance Park Artificial 500 100 Celtic B Airdrie Excelsior Stadium Artificial 10,101 10,101 Civil Service Strollers Edinburgh Christie Gillies Park Grass 1,569 100 Clydebank Clydebank Holm Park Artificial 1,200 0 Cowdenbeath Cowdenbeath Central Park Grass 4,309 1,622 Cumbernauld Colts Cumbernauld Broadwood Stadium Artificial 8,086 8,086Cumnock JuniorsCumnockTownhead ParkArtificial2,0000Dalbeattie StarDalbeattieIslecroft StadiumGrass1,320100DunipaceDennyWestfield ParkArtificial1,0000 East Stirlingshire Falkirk Falkirk Stadium Artificial 7,937 7,937 Gala Fairydean Rovers Galashiels 3G Arena, Netherdale Artificial 2,000 500 Gretna 2008 Gretna Raydale Park Artificial 1,030 138 Heart of Midlothian B Edinburgh Ainslie Park Artificial 3,500 192Hill of Beath HawthornHill of BeathKeir's ParkGrass1,0800Johnstone BurghJohnstoneKeanie ParkGrass2,3930Kilwinning RangersKilwinningBuffs ParkGrass2,8000Largs ThistleLargsBarrfields ParkArtificial3,000800 Linlithgow Rose Linlithgow Prestonfield Grass 2,264 301Lochee UnitedDundeeThomson ParkGrass2,0000Musselburgh AthleticMusselburghOlivebank StadiumGrass1,5000Newton StewartNewton StewartBlairmount ParkArtificial1,0000PollokPollokshaws, GlasgowNewlandsfield ParkGrass2,0880RenfrewRenfrewNew Western ParkArtificial1,0000TroonTroonPortland ParkGrass2,0000 Tranent Tranent Foresters Park Grass 2,300 44 University of Stirling Stirling Forthbank Stadium Grass 3,808 2,508 Notes
All grounds are equipped with floodlights.
Former members Promoted to the SPFL Edinburgh City, 2016; () Kelty Hearts, 2021; () The Spartans, 2023; () East Kilbride, 2025; () Relegated Preston Athletic, 2017; () Hawick Royal Albert United, 2018; () Whitehill Welfare, 2019; () Vale of Leithen, 2022; () Edinburgh University, 2024; () Broomhill, 2025; (Folded) Resigned Threave Rovers, 2016; () Selkirk, 2018; (Folded) Rangers B, 2023; (Withdrew)
Seasons