What are your thoughts on the 2024/25 fixture lists?
This was my fourth year in charge of the process and, as I have said before, there is no such thing as a perfect fixture list! Clubs and supporters will focus on their own schedules, which is of course understandable, but our job is to try to produce the most balanced set of fixtures for the league as a whole. The reality is that there are always things you would want to improve but, overall, I am happy with where we got to.
Who produces the fixtures?
This is our ninth season working in conjunction with GotSport, who are based in the United States. They work with a number of other European leagues including Switzerland, Poland, and Greece as well as CONMEBOL, CONCACAF, and the CBF in Brazil. GotSport use optimisation software to come up with a set of fixtures based on the information and restrictions (‘fixture recipe’) we provide. A number of versions will be produced and refined before a final decision is made on each division. I would like to thank GotSport for their help and expertise during the fixturing process.
What are some of the biggest challenges when compiling the fixtures?
The big challenge for this coming season is the changes to the UEFA competitions, which means there are now 10 dates across the new league phase. Clubs in the Champions League and Europa League will play eight matches, with six fixtures for those in the Conference League. Each tournament has one exclusive matchday, hence the total of 10 fixture dates that we have to avoid for William Hill Premiership fixtures. That loss of four fixture slots means that unfortunately a winter break is not possible.To highlight the lack of room for manoeuvre in the Premiership, the first midweek that is completely clear is January 8. To ensure the Premier Sports Cup final can be played before Christmas, the quarter-finals will take place on a weekend (September 21/22) for the first time.
What goes into the fixture recipes?
There’s a fair bit. All clubs are guaranteed to have three home and three away games in their first six fixtures. Celtic/Rangers, Dundee/Dundee United and Heart of Midlothian/Hibernian are all opposites in the fixture list. Ross County and Inverness Caledonian Thistle tend to be at home on different weekends and we have also limited clashes between Aberdeen and Cove Rangers. Clyde are groundsharing with Hamilton Academical so we have ensured no clashes at New Douglas Park. Where there are midweek fixtures, we try to balance those so clubs don’t have too many home (or away) midweeks. We try to minimise travel around the festive period but with Premiership matches this season on December 21, December 26, December 29 and January 2 unfortunately this is not always possible. Solving one problem can create issues elsewhere in the fixture list so it is a difficult balancing act.
We also consider club request dates and Police Scotland may ask us to avoid other major events. For example, Ayr United generally won’t be at home on the same day as big meetings at the nearby racecourse. Where possible, Hearts will be away from home when there are major rugby matches at Murrayfield – this year Scotland have four home autumn test games and three in the Six Nations. With Queen’s Park playing at Hampden there are a number of dates we have to avoid due to internationals and cup semi-finals and finals at the National Stadium. Queen’s Park will play their Premier Sports Cup group games and opening league fixture at the City Stadium (Lesser Hampden) as the Scottish FA is carrying out work on the Hampden Park playing surface following the summer concerts.
Following discussions with the Competitions Working Group, there was a change made to this season’s fixture process – it was felt the previous approach of flipping fixture pairings each season should be refreshed. That is, previously if you played six opponents at home and five away last season, the usual approach would have been to have flipped those to be the opposite this season. We removed that constraint to provide additional flexibility to the overall schedule. However, clubs who played 16 home games before the split last season will have 17 pre-split home games in 2024/25.
Why are clubs not at home one week and away the next?
It’s a reasonable question but it is actually not mathematically possible, even without all the other fixture constraints. We do try to limit instances of H-H or A-A (‘doubles’) as much as we can. Overall, the numbers of doubles is similar to last season.
When are the derby matches in 2024/25?
The traditional derby games will again take place over the festive period. Sky Sports will show Heart of Midlothian v Hibernian on Thursday December 26 plus Rangers v Celtic and Dundee v Dundee United on Thursday January 2. The first meeting of Celtic and Rangers in 2024/25 is scheduled for the weekend of August 31/September 1 with the first Edinburgh derby set for Easter Road on the weekend of October 26/27. The opening
weekend of the new season sees the Dundee derby at Tannadice, live on Sky Sports, while Dunfermline Athletic v Falkirk is one to look out for on the second weekend of the William Hill Championship. The festive derby matches across the William Hill Championship, League 1 and League 2 will take place on Saturday December 28.
Do last season’s champions start at home?
They do. Celtic will begin the defence of their William Hill Premiership trophy against Kilmarnock at Celtic Park on Sunday August 4, live on Sky Sports with a 4.30pm kick-off. Dundee United host Dundee in their first game back in the top flight, also on Sunday August 4 (Sky Sports at 1.30pm). Falkirk v Queen’s Park in the William Hill Championship will be the first SPFL fixture of the new season when it is broadcast live on the BBC Scotland channel on Friday August 2, kick-off 7.45pm. Stenhousemuir won their first ever league title last season and will unveil their flag before their William Hill League 1 meeting with Arbroath at Ochilview on Saturday August 3.
How many live TV games will be shown this coming season?
There will be more televised games than ever available to Scottish football fans in the forthcoming season. Our main broadcast partner Sky Sports can now show up to 60 William Hill Premiership matches exclusively live in 2024/25. We are delighted that Sky Sports are showcasing the opening weekend of the William Hill Premiership with a total of four live matches. Our new deal with Premier Sports allows them to show up to 20
William Hill Premiership games live and we are pleased to announce that they will begin their coverage with Dundee v Heart of Midlothian on Saturday August 10. BBC Scotland have the rights to up to 20 live William Hill Championship matches and BBC ALBA can show up to 12 games in William Hill League 1. The end-of-season play-offs will be covered by Sky Sports, BBC Scotland and BBC ALBA. We will announce further TV
selections as soon as possible to provide clubs and supporters with as much notice as possible.
What’s the situation with European football for 2024/25?
It’s great news that we again have three clubs – Celtic, Rangers and Heart of Midlothian – guaranteed European football in the league phase of the revamped UEFA competitions, with Kilmarnock and St Mirren aiming to join them. Celtic go straight into the Champions League and Rangers enter in qualifying round three but are assured of at least a place in the league phase of the Europa League. Hearts are in the Europa League play-offs, with a league phase spot in the Conference League available should they lose. A number of domestic fixtures will have to move to Sundays in due course because of clubs playing European ties on Thursdays. Our usual approach is to wait for UEFA confirmation of fixtures as occasionally those can change to different days.
What are the dates for the post-split cinch Premiership games?
Fixture rounds 34-38 will be played on the weekends of April 26/27, May 3/4, May 10/11, the midweek of May 13/14 and the weekend of May 17/18.
Anything else to add?
We are very much looking forward to what will be the 12th season of the SPFL following the merger of the SPL and SFL in June 2013. It’s a very exciting time for Scottish football, with record attendances last season, more matches on TV than ever before and five clubs competing in UEFA competitions again. We know how much football in this country means to so many people and I’m sure season 2024/25 will be another one to remember. It’s not long now until we kick off with the group stage of the Premier Sports Cup on Saturday July 13.
The continued growth of the women’s game has also been fantastic to see and our colleagues at the SWPL are publishing their fixture lists later today. We will also conduct the draw for the first and second rounds of the SPFL Trust Trophy early next month.
I would like to take this opportunity to wish our 42 member clubs all the very best for the new season and hope the fans enjoy their football in 2024/25.
