2022–23 Scottish Cup

The 2022–23 Scottish Cup was the 138th season of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition.

The defending champions, Rangers, who beat Heart of Midlothian in the 2022 Scottish Cup final, were defeated by Celtic in the semi-finals. VAR was used for the first time in the tournament.

Celtic lifted the trophy for the record-extending 41st time after defeating Inverness Caledonian Thistle 3–1 in the final to complete a domestic treble.

The calendar for the 2022–23 Scottish Cup was announced by the Scottish Football Association on 29 July 2022. Starting this season, replays were abolished after the preliminary round. From the first round, matches tied after 90 minutes will go to extra time, and if still tied, to penalty kicks.

The preliminary round took place on the weekend of 27 August 2022. In total, 50 clubs entered the competition at this stage. They were drawn into 24 ties, with two clubs receiving a bye to the first round.

Benburb, Bonnyton Thistle, Kilwinning Rangers, Rutherglen Glencairn, St Andrews United, Syngenta, and Tayport took part for the first time, along with Lochee United and Pollok who were qualifiers in previous seasons, having each gained their Club Licence.

Carnoustie Panmure (Midlands League champions), Drumchapel United (East, South and West of Scotland Cup-Winners Shield winners), Invergordon (North Caledonian League champions), and Tower Hearts (Amateur Cup winners) also qualified to take part in the competition for the first time.

The draw for the preliminary round was made on 2 August 2022. Two clubs, except the four qualifiers (Carnoustie Panmure, Drumchapel United, Invergordon, or Tower Hearts), were eligible to receive a bye to the first round. Teams in bold advanced to the first round.

Blackburn United Broxburn Athletic Dundonald Bluebell Haddington Athletic Hill of Beath Hawthorn Jeanfield Swifts Linlithgow Rose Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale Musselburgh Athletic Penicuik Athletic Sauchie Juniors Tynecastle Vale of Leithen First Division

Burntisland Shipyard Camelon Juniors Coldstream Dunbar United Dunipace Newtongrange Star Preston Athletic Whitehill Welfare Second Division

Dalkeith Thistle Easthouses Lily Miners Welfare Hawick Royal Albert St Andrews United Syngenta | Premier Division

Auchinleck Talbot Clydebank Cumnock Juniors Darvel Irvine Meadow Kilwinning Rangers Pollok First Division

Benburb Bonnyton Thistle Drumchapel United Rutherglen Glencairn Second Division

Glasgow University Third Division

Girvan Fourth Division

Threave Rovers | Central Scottish Amateur League

Tower Hearts Midlands League

Carnoustie Panmure Lochee United Tayport North Caledonian League

Fort William Golspie Sutherland Invergordon South of Scotland League

Newton Stewart St Cuthbert Wanderers Wigtown & Bladnoch |

Jeanfield Swifts and Tynecastle received a bye to the first round.

The first round took place on the weekend of 17 September 2022. Along with the 26 teams advancing from the preliminary round, there were 34 new entries at this stage - 18 from the Highland Football League and 16 from the Lowland Football League. The draw for the first round was made on 29 August 2022 at 15:00.

Teams in bold advanced to the second round.

Broxburn Athletic Dundonald Bluebell Hill of Beath Hawthorn Jeanfield Swifts Linlithgow Rose Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale Musselburgh Athletic Sauchie Juniors Tynecastle First Division

Camelon Juniors Dunbar United Dunipace Newtongrange Star Second Division

Syngenta | Premier Division

Auchinleck Talbot Clydebank Cumnock Juniors Darvel Kilwinning Rangers Pollok First Division

Benburb Drumchapel United Second Division

Glasgow University | Midlands League

Carnoustie Panmure Lochee United South of Scotland League

Newton Stewart |

Pollok's match against Huntly on 16 September 2022 was originally to be aired on BBC Scotland but the broadcaster pulled out citing an "exceptional demand" on their resources following the death of Elizabeth II.

Notes

The second round took place on the weekend of 22 October 2022. Along with the 30 winners from the first round, there were 10 new entries at this stage - all from League Two. The draw for the second round was made on 18 September 2022 at 18:00, live on the Scottish Cup YouTube, Facebook and Twitter pages.

Teams in bold advanced to the third round.

Hill of Beath Hawthorn Linlithgow Rose Sauchie Juniors First Division

Camelon Juniors Dunbar United Dunipace Newtongrange Star | Premier Division

Auchinleck Talbot Cumnock Juniors Darvel Kilwinning Rangers Pollok First Division

Benburb Drumchapel United Second Division

Glasgow University | Midlands League

Carnoustie Panmure |

The third round took place on the weekend of 26 November 2022. Along with the 20 winners from the second round, there were 20 new entries at this stage - all from League One and the Championship. The draw for the third round was made on 24 October 2022 at 16:00, live on the Scottish Cup YouTube, Facebook and Twitter pages.

Teams in Italics were unknown at the time of the draw. Teams in bold advanced to the fourth round.

Dunipace were drawn against Championship club Cove Rangers (65 places above them), representing the biggest league position gap between two teams in the competition's history since the pyramid system was introduced. Drumchapel United's win over FC Edinburgh from League One (61 places above them) was also a record for the biggest league position gap for a lower ranked winning club.

Formartine United Fraserburgh Wick Academy Lowland League

Broomhill East Kilbride University of Stirling | East of Scotland League Premier Division

Hill of Beath Hawthorn Linlithgow Rose Sauchie Juniors West of Scotland League Premier Division

Auchinleck Talbot Darvel Pollok East of Scotland League First Division

Dunipace West of Scotland League First Division

Drumchapel United |

The fourth round took place on the weekend of 21 January 2023. Along with the 20 winners from the third round, there are 12 new entries at this stage - all from the Premiership. The draw for the fourth round was made on 28 November 2022 following the Ayr United v Pollok match, live on BBC Scotland.

Teams in bold advanced to the fifth round. Queen's Park won 2–0 at Inverness in their fourth round match, but were expelled from the competition because they fielded an ineligible player.

University of Stirling East of Scotland League Premier Division

Linlithgow Rose West of Scotland League Premier Division

Darvel West of Scotland League First Division

Drumchapel United |

Notes

The fifth round took place on the weekend of 11 February 2023. The draw was made on 22 January 2023 and broadcast live across the Scottish Cup social channels.

Teams in Italics were unknown at the time of the draw.

Teams in bold advanced to the quarter-finals.

Falkirk League Two

Elgin City West of Scotland League Premier Division

Darvel |

The quarter-finals took place on the weekend of 11 March 2023. The draw was made on 13 February 2023 and broadcast live across the Scottish Cup social channels.

Teams in Italics were unknown at the time of the draw.

Teams in bold advanced to the semi-finals.

The semi-finals took place on the weekend of 29 April 2023. The draw was made on 13 March 2023, following the Falkirk v Ayr United match live on BBC Scotland.

Teams in bold advanced to the Final.

The Scottish Cup is broadcast by Viaplay Sports and BBC Scotland. Viaplay Sports has the first two picks of the fourth and fifth rounds, the quarter-finals as well as first pick of one semi-final and airs the final non-exclusively. BBC Scotland broadcast one match per round from the first round onwards and two matches per round from the fourth round to the quarter-finals, as well as one semi-final and the final.

The following matches were selected for live coverage on UK television: