The 2017–18 Scottish League Cup group stage was played from 14 July to 30 July 2017. A total of 40 teams competed in the group stage. The winners of each of the eight groups, as well as the four best runners-up progressed to the second round (last 16) of the 2017–18 Scottish League Cup.
Format
The group stage consisted of eight teams from the 2016–17 Scottish Premiership, ten teams from each of the 2016–17 Scottish Championship, 2016–17 Scottish League One and 2016–17 Scottish League Two, as well as the winners of the 2016–17 Highland Football League and 2016–17 Lowland Football League. The 40 teams were divided into two sections: North and South; with each section containing four top seeded teams, four second seeded teams and 12 unseeded teams. Each section was drawn into four groups with each group being made up of 1 top seed, 1 second seed and 3 unseeded sides. Seedings for the draw were confirmed on 31 May 2017, two days before the draw.
The draw for the group stages took place on Friday 2 June 2017 at 6:30pm BST at the BT Sport Studio in London and was shown live on BT Sport 2.
Teams
North
Seeding Teams in Bold qualified for the second round Top seedsSecond seedsUnseeded01. Heart of Midlothian 02. Ross County 03. Dundee 04. Inverness CT09. Hibernian 10. Falkirk 11. Dundee United 12. Dunfermline Athletic17. Raith Rovers 18. Alloa Athletic 19. Brechin City 20. East Fife 21. Peterhead 22. Arbroath
23. Forfar Athletic 24. Montrose 25. Elgin City 26. Stirling Albion 27. Cowdenbeath 28. Buckie Thistle
South
Seeding Teams in Bold qualified for the second round Top seedsSecond seedsUnseeded05. Partick Thistle 06. Kilmarnock 07. Motherwell 08. Hamilton Academical13. Greenock Morton 14. Queen of the South 15. St Mirren 16. Dumbarton29. Ayr United 30. Livingston 31. Airdrieonians 32. Queen's Park 33. Stranraer 34. Albion Rovers
35. Stenhousemuir 36. Annan Athletic 37. Edinburgh City 38. Berwick Rangers 39. Clyde 40. East Kilbride
North
Group A
Matches
Group B
Matches
Group C
Matches
Group D
Matches
South
Group E
Matches
Group F
Matches
Group G
Matches
Group H
Matches
Best runners-up
Qualified teams
Team Qualified as Qualified on Notes Falkirk Seeded for the Second Round draw Motherwell Seeded for the Second Round draw Livingston Dunfermline Athletic Hibernian Ayr United Seeded for the Second Round draw Hamilton Academical Ross County Kilmarnock Partick Thistle Dundee United Seeded for the Second Round draw Dundee
Top goalscorers
There were 267 goals scored in 80 matches in the group stage, for an average of goals per match.
RankPlayerClubGoals1 Alan TroutenAlbion Rovers7 Simon MurrayHibernian3 Sofien MoussaDundee54 Nicky ClarkDunfermline Athletic4 Sean WinterEast Kilbride Kyle LaffertyHeart of Midlothian Stephen DobbieQueen of the South Lewis VaughanRaith Rovers918 players3
References
External links Scottish Professional Football League – League Cup official website