The 2018–19 Scottish Challenge Cup, known as the IRN-BRU Cup due to sponsorship reasons, was the 28th season of the competition. The tournament took on a similar format from the previous season with the addition of two teams from England's National League entering the competition for the first time. This took the total number of participating clubs to 58.
Thirty teams from the Scottish Championship, Scottish League One and Scottish League Two competed, along with four teams from the Highland Football League (one eliminated in preliminary round) and four from the Lowland Football League (one eliminated in preliminary round). In addition to this, Under-21 teams of the clubs competing in the Scottish Premiership were represented. This was the third edition with two clubs from both Northern Ireland's NIFL Premiership and the Welsh Premier League and was the second time that two teams from the League of Ireland entered. A new change was the addition of two entrants from the English National League (fifth tier).
Inverness Caledonian Thistle were the defending champions after they beat Dumbarton 1–0 in the 2018 final, but they were eliminated in the first round by Dunfermline Athletic.
Ross County won the competition for the third time, defeating Connah's Quay Nomads 3–1 in the final.
Format Round Date Fixtures Clubs New entries Preliminary round 31 July–1 August 2018 2 58 → 56 Teams placed 3rd and 4th in 2017–18 Lowland Football League & teams placed 3rd and 4th in 2017–18 Highland Football League First round 14–15 August 2018 24 56 → 32 Teams from 2018–19 Scottish Championship Teams from 2018–19 Scottish League One Teams from 2018–19 Scottish League Two 3 teams from 2018–19 Highland Football League (1st, 2nd and preliminary round winner) 3 teams from 2018–19 Lowland Football League (1st, 2nd and preliminary round winner) 12 U21 teams from 2018–19 Scottish Premiership Second round 8–9 September 2018 16 32 → 16 2 teams from 2017–18 NIFL Premiership (1st and 2nd) 2 teams from 2017–18 Welsh Premier League (1st and 3rd) 2 teams from 2018 League of Ireland Premier Division (6th and 7th) 2 teams from 2017–18 National League (3rd and 4th) Third round 13–14 October 2018 8 16 → 8 Quarter-finals 17–18 November 2018 4 8 → 4 Semi-finals 16–17 February 2019 2 4 → 2 Final 24 March 2019 1 2 → 1
Preliminary round Matches
First round The draw for the first round was made on 26 June 2018 at 1pm live on the SPFL Facebook page.
North Section
Draw Teams in Bold advanced to the second round. North section01. Alloa Athletic 02. Arbroath 03. Brechin City 04. Cowdenbeath 05. Dundee United 06. Dunfermline Athletic
07. East Fife 08. Elgin City 09. Forfar Athletic 10. Inverness CT 11. Montrose 12. Peterhead
13. Raith Rovers 14. Ross County 15. Stirling Albion 16. Aberdeen U21s 17. Dundee U21s 18. Heart of Midlothian U21s
19. Hibernian U21s 20. Livingston U21s 21. St Johnstone U21s 22. Cove Rangers 23. Formartine United 24. Inverurie Loco Works
Matches
Notes
Replay
South Section
Draw Teams in Bold advanced to the second round. South section25. Airdrieonians 26. Albion Rovers 27. Annan Athletic 28. Ayr United 29. Berwick Rangers 30. Clyde
31. Dumbarton 32. Edinburgh City 33. Falkirk 34. Greenock Morton 35. Partick Thistle 36. Queen of the South
37. Queen's Park 38. Stenhousemuir 39. Stranraer 40. Celtic U21s 41. Hamilton Academical U21s 42. Kilmarnock U21s
43. Motherwell U21s 44. Rangers U21s 45. St Mirren U21s 46. Spartans 47. East Kilbride 48. East Stirlingshire
Matches
Second round
Teams from Wales (The New Saints and Connah's Quay Nomads), Northern Ireland (Crusaders and Coleraine), England (Sutton United and Boreham Wood) and the Republic of Ireland (Bohemians and Sligo Rovers) entered in the second round. Originally, Bray Wanderers were to be the second side to represent the League of Ireland however, they were subsequently thrown out by the FAI on 16 July 2018 for failing to pay their players and replaced by Limerick. A similar statement was released by the FAI hours later about Limerick who were also in financial difficulties. St Patrick's Athletic were then invited to compete as the next ranked team in line but declined. Sligo Rovers accepted the position in their place so they would represent the League of Ireland instead.
Draw
The draw for the second round was made on 16 August 2018 at 1pm live on the SPFL Facebook page.
Teams in Bold advanced to the third round.
Teams in Italics were not known at the time of the draw.
SPFLOther ScottishTeams from other countriesChampionship Alloa Athletic Dundee United Dunfermline Athletic Falkirk Partick Thistle Queen of the South Ross County League One Airdrieonians Arbroath Dumbarton East Fife Montrose Raith Rovers League Two Annan Athletic Edinburgh City Peterhead Queen's ParkHighland League Formartine United Lowland League East Kilbride Premiership U21s Dundee U21 Hamilton Academical U21 Livingston U21 Motherwell U21 St Mirren U21 National League Boreham Wood Sutton United NIFL Premiership Coleraine Crusaders Welsh Premier League Connah's Quay Nomads The New Saints Premier Division Bohemians Sligo Rovers
Matches
Third round Draw The draw for the third round was made on 11 September 2018 at 1pm live on the SPFL Facebook page.
Teams in Bold advanced to the quarter-finals.
SPFLTeams from other countriesChampionship Alloa Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Queen of the South Ross County League One Arbroath East Fife Montrose League Two Edinburgh City Queen's Park Premiership U21s Motherwell U21 St Mirren U21 National League Sutton United NIFL Premiership Coleraine Welsh Premier League Connah's Quay Nomads Premier Division Bohemians Sligo Rovers
Matches
Quarter-finals Draw The draw for the quarter-finals was made on 16 October 2018 at 1pm at The Hub in Edinburgh live on the SPFL Facebook page.
Teams in Bold advanced to the semi-finals.
Teams from other countriesChampionship Alloa Athletic Ross County League One East Fife League Two Edinburgh City Queen's Park Premiership U21s Motherwell U21 Welsh Premier League Connah's Quay Nomads Premier Division Bohemians
Matches
Notes
Semi-finals Draw The draw for the semi-finals was made on 21 November 2018 at 1pm at Hampden Park live on the SPFL Facebook page.
Final
Player of the Round The Golden Ball Award is a 'Player of the Round' award given to the player who is adjudged to have had the best performance of that round out of all the players in teams left competing in that round of the competition. The winner is voted for by supporters from a chosen short-list of players, which is posted on the Irn-Bru Football Twitter page.
Round Player Club Match Ref First Round Aidan Fitzpatrick Partick Thistle 5–0 v Stranraer (A) Second Round Mikey Drennan Sligo Rovers 4–1 v Livingston U21s (H) Third Round Christian Mbulu Motherwell U21s 2–0 v Sligo Rovers (H) Quarter-finals Scott Shepherd Edinburgh City 2–2 v Alloa Athletic (H) Semi-finals Ross Stewart Ross County 2–1 v East Fife (H)
Broadcasting rights The domestic broadcasting rights for the competition are held jointly by BBC Alba, S4C (for matches involving Welsh teams) and subscription channel Premier Sports. Prior to the re-format in the 2016–17 season, BBC Alba had exclusive rights.
One of the semi-final matches was also confirmed as being broadcast live on BT Sport despite no apparent previous announcement of rights.
The following matches were broadcast live on UK television: Round BBC Alba S4C Premier Sports BT Sport Second Round The New Saints v Queen's Park Third Round Arbroath v Edinburgh City Connah's Quay Nomads v Coleraine Quarter-Finals Queen's Park v Connah's Quay Nomads Semi-Finals Ross County v East Fife Connah's Quay Nomads v Edinburgh City Ross County v East Fife Final Ross County v Connah's Quay Nomads Ross County v Connah's Quay Nomads Ross County v Connah's Quay Nomads
References
External links Scottish Challenge Cup at the Scottish Professional Football League