Excitement builds ahead of 2023/24 cinch SPFL kick off

The Scottish Professional Football League is preparing for an exciting new league season – with bumper crowds expected across the country on the opening weekend of the cinch SPFL.

SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster has warmly welcomed the beginning of the league campaign, which kicks off at 7.45pm on Friday when Arbroath host Dundee United in the cinch Championship at Gayfield and will be shown live on BBC Scotland.

Fans can tune in on Sky Sports to watch cinch Premiership champions Celtic host Ross County at 12.30pm on Saturday, followed by Kilmarnock v Rangers at 5.15pm.

Hibernian host St Mirren at Easter Road at 3pm on Sunday – with all other matches across the four divisions kicking off at 3pm on Saturday.

The return to league action follows a strong 2022/23 season, when a record 5,087,400 supporters attended SPFL matches – and Scotland again recorded by far the highest attendance per capita in European football across the season.

The SPFL also recently hit a new milestone, with forty million supporters now having passed through its turnstiles for SPFL matches since it was formed 10 years ago in June 2013.

Neil Doncaster said: “There’s been a lot to celebrate in Scottish football over the last 10 years, and we want to grow the game even further in the next decade and beyond.

“We’ve just enjoyed a record year for attendances in the SPFL and clubs across the country are already posting very impressive season ticket sales for this upcoming season.

“We have already welcomed 100,000 fans to games this season in the Viaplay Cup, and in recent months surpassed the 40 million fan milestone for supporters attending our matches across the last decade. On behalf of our member clubs, I’d like to thank supporters for their incredible continued support of our game.

“With five of our clubs in European competition, big league matches right across the cinch Premiership this opening weekend and over the coming months, shown live on Sky Sports, and a host of talking points across the other three divisions, there is a lot to be positive about with our national game.

“Everyone at the SPFL can’t wait for the new season to kick-off, and we hope supporters across Scotland enjoy the first round of fixtures and the rest of the league campaign.”

The SPFL recently encouraged supporters to plan ahead for the first two weekends of the league season as one of the world’s biggest cycling events is taking place in the city this month.

The 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships, taking place from 3 to 13 August, is expected to see hundreds of thousands of spectators turn out to watch the event in the city and will impact travel plans for games in the city.