The 2015–16 Scottish Cup was the 131st season of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. The tournament was sponsored by bookmaker William Hill in what was the fifth season of a five-year partnership. The final was contested between second-tier clubs (Hibernian and Rangers) for the first time ever with no Premiership clubs reaching the final.
The defending champions were Inverness Caledonian Thistle, who defeated Falkirk in the 2015 final, but were eventually knocked out in the Quarter Final after a replay by eventual champions, Hibernian.
Media coverage From round four onwards, selected matches from the Scottish Cup were broadcast live in Ireland and the UK by BBC Scotland and Sky Sports. BBC Scotland had the option to show one tie per round with Sky Sports showing two ties per round with one replay; also, Sky Sports broadcast both semi-finals live with one also on BBC Scotland and both channels screened the final live.
Calendar The calendar for the 2015–16 Scottish Cup qualifying rounds, as announced by Scottish Football Association.
Round Main date Number of fixtures Clubs New Entries Preliminary round 1 15 August 2015 5 92 → 87 10 Preliminary round 2 5 September 2015 5 87 → 82 5 First round 26 September 2015 18 82 → 64 31 Second round 24 October 2015 16 64 → 48 14 Third round 28 November 2015 16 48 → 32 16 Fourth round 9 January 2016 16 32 → 16 16 Fifth round 6 February 2016 8 16 → 8 None Quarter-finals 5 March 2016 4 8 → 4 None Semi-finals 16 & 17 April 2016 2 4 → 2 None Final 21 May 2016 1 2 → 1 None
Preliminary rounds Preliminary round 1 The preliminary round 1 took place on Saturday 15 August 2015. The round had 15 clubs which included 5 matches and 5 byes to the Second Preliminary Round. The teams competing in this round were made up of teams from the Scottish Highland Football League, Scottish Lowland Football League, ESL, SSL, Scottish Junior FA and the Scottish Amateur FA. It was the first time that the winners of the Scottish Amateur Cup had participated in the Scottish Cup.
Draw Hawick Royal Albert, Kelty Hearts, Auchinleck Talbot, Hermes and Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale all received byes to the preliminary round 2.
Matches
Preliminary round 2
The preliminary round 2 took place on Saturday 5 September 2015. The round had 10 clubs which included 5 matches. The teams competing in this round were made up of 5 winners from Round 1 and the 5 Byes from Round one.
Draw Matches
Replay
First round
Draw There were 18 ties taking place in Round 1 of the Scottish Cup. The draw took place on Tuesday, 28 August 2015.
Teams in italics were not known at the time of the draw. Teams in Bold advanced to the second round.
Highland Football LeagueLowland Football LeagueOtherBuckie Thistle Clachnacuddin Cove Rangers Deveronvale Formartine United Forres Mechanics Fort William Fraserburgh Huntly Inverurie Loco Works Keith Lossiemouth Nairn County Rothes Strathspey Thistle Wick AcademyBSC Glasgow Cumbernauld Colts Dalbeattie Star Edinburgh University Gala Fairydean Rovers Gretna 2008 Preston Athletic Selkirk Spartans Threave Rovers Stirling University Whitehill WelfareEast of Scotland League teams Coldstream Hawick Royal Albert Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale SJFA teams Auchinleck Talbot Banks O’Dee Kelty Hearts Linlithgow Rose SAFA teams Glasgow University
Matches
Replays
Second round Draw There were 16 ties taking place in Round 2 of the Scottish Cup. The draw took place on Thursday, 1 October 2015.
Teams in italics were not known at the time of the draw. Teams in Bold advanced to the third round.
Scottish League TwoHighland Football LeagueLowland Football LeagueOther Annan Athletic Arbroath Berwick Rangers Clyde East Fife East Stirlingshire Elgin City Montrose Queen's Park Stirling AlbionBrora Rangers Buckie Thistle Clachnacuddin Cove Rangers Formartine United Forres Mechanics Fort William Fraserburgh Huntly Inverurie Loco Works Nairn County Turriff United Wick AcademyCumbernauld Colts East Kilbride Edinburgh City Edinburgh University Spartans Stirling UniversityEast of Scotland League teams Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale SJFA teams Auchinleck Talbot Linlithgow Rose
Matches
Replays
Third round
Draw There were 16 ties taking place in Round 3 of the Scottish Cup. The draw took place on Thursday, 29 October 2015 and was conducted by former Scotland manager Alex McLeish, who won the Scottish Cup both as a player and a manager.
Teams in italics were not known at the time of the draw. Teams in Bold advanced to the fourth round.
Scottish ChampionshipScottish League OneScottish League TwoHighland Football LeagueLowland Football LeagueOtherAlloa Athletic Dumbarton Falkirk Greenock Morton Livingston Raith RoversAirdrieonians Albion Rovers Ayr United Brechin City Cowdenbeath Dunfermline Athletic Forfar Athletic Peterhead Stenhousemuir StranraerAnnan Athletic Arbroath Elgin City Queen's Park Stirling AlbionBuckie Thistle Cove Rangers Formartine United Fraserburgh Huntly Inverurie Loco Works Wick AcademyCumbernauld Colts East KilbrideEast of Scotland League teams Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale SJFA teams Linlithgow Rose
Matches
Replays
Fourth round Draw There were 16 ties taking place in Round 4 of the Scottish Cup. The draw took place on Tuesday, 1 December 2015.
Teams in italics were not known at the time of the draw. Teams in Bold advanced to the fifth round.
Scottish PremiershipScottish ChampionshipScottish League OneScottish League TwoOtherAberdeen Celtic Dundee Dundee United Hamilton Academical Heart of Midlothian Inverness Caledonian Thistle Kilmarnock Motherwell Partick Thistle Ross County St JohnstoneDumbarton Falkirk Greenock Morton Hibernian Livingston Queen of the South Raith Rovers Rangers St MirrenAirdrieonians Cowdenbeath Dunfermline Athletic Forfar Athletic StranraerAnnan Athletic Stirling AlbionHighland Football League Cove Rangers Lowland Football League East Kilbride East of Scotland League Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale SJFA East Region Super League Linlithgow Rose
Matches
Replays
Fifth round Draw There were 8 ties taking place in Round 5 of the Scottish Cup. The draw took place on Monday, 11 January 2016.
Teams in italics were not known at the time of the draw. Teams in Bold advanced to the quarter-finals.
Scottish PremiershipScottish ChampionshipScottish League TwoOtherCeltic Dundee Dundee United Heart of Midlothian Inverness Caledonian Thistle Kilmarnock Motherwell Partick Thistle Ross CountyDumbarton Greenock Morton Hibernian RangersAnnan AthleticLowland Football League East Kilbride SJFA teams Linlithgow Rose
Matches
Replays
Quarter-finals Draw There were four ties taking place in the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup. The draw took place on Monday, 8 February 2016 and was conducted by Scottish Cup winner and former Celtic midfielder Ľubomír Moravčík. The draw, broadcast live on Sky Sports News, has become infamous since it had to be aborted due to one ball breaking open in the pot. After a delay, the draw was completed successfully at the second attempt.
All matches were played on the weekend of 5/6 March 2016.
Teams in italics were not known at the time of the draw. Teams in Bold advanced to the semi-finals.
Scottish PremiershipScottish ChampionshipCeltic Dundee Dundee United Inverness Caledonian Thistle Ross CountyGreenock Morton Hibernian Rangers
Matches
Replays
Semi-finals Draw The draw took place on Sunday, 6 March 2016 live on Sky Sports News HQ. Both matches were played on the weekend of 16/17 April 2016.
Teams in italics were not known at the time of the draw. Teams in Bold advanced to the final.
Scottish PremiershipScottish ChampionshipCeltic Dundee UnitedHibernian Rangers
Matches
Final
Statistics Top goalscorers
RankPlayerClubGoals1 Peter WeathersonAnnan Athletic52 Leigh GriffithsCeltic4 Anthony StokesHibernian Ruari MacLennanLinlithgow Rose Martyn WaghornRangers Brian GrahamRoss County7 9 players3
NB: Scorers include only those goals from players which were scored from the second round onwards
References
External links Scottish Cup Archive Scottish Football Association William Hill Scottish Cup Competition 2015-16 Scottish Football Association (Archived) William Hill Scottish Cup Preliminary Rounds drawn – Scottish Football Association, 10 July 2015