| Season | 2021–22 |
|---|---|
| Dates | 31 July 2021 – 15 May 2022 |
| Champions | Celtic 8th Premiership title 52ndScottish title |
| Relegated | Dundee |
| Champions League | Celtic Rangers |
| Europa League | Heart of Midlothian |
| Europa Conference League | Dundee United Motherwell |
| Matches | 228 |
| Goals | 563 (2.47 per match) |
| Top goalscorer | Regan Charles-Cook Giorgos Giakoumakis (13 goals each) |
| Biggest home win | Celtic 7–0St Johnstone (9 April 2022) |
| Biggest away win | Dundee 0–5Ross County (27 October 2021) Motherwell 1–6 Rangers (31 October 2021) |
| Highest scoring | Motherwell 1–6 Rangers (31 October 2021) Heart of Midlothian 5–2Dundee United (6 November 2021) Celtic 7–0 St Johnstone (9 April 2022) |
| Longest winning run | Rangers 9 games |
| Longest unbeaten run | Celtic 32 games |
| Longest winless run | Dundee Motherwell St Mirren 11 games |
| Longest losing run | St Johnstone 8 games |
| Highest attendance | 59,077 Celtic 3–0 Rangers (2 February 2022) |
| Lowest attendance | 500 (6 games) |
| Total attendance | 3,317,909 |
| Average attendance | 15,800 |
2022–23 → | |
The2021–22 Scottish Premiership (known as thecinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the ninth season of theScottish Premiership, the highest division ofScottish football, and the 125th edition overall of the top national league competition, not including one cancelled due toWorld War II. Celtic claimed the league trophy back after an outstanding run with a 1–1 draw withDundee United on 11 May enough to confirm them as champions.
Twelve teams contested the league:Aberdeen,Celtic,Dundee,Dundee United,Heart of Midlothian,Hibernian,Livingston,Motherwell,Rangers,Ross County,St Johnstone andSt Mirren.
The season began on 31 July 2021.[1] In December, the Scottish Government imposed stadium capacity restrictions as part of its response to the newOmicron variant. As a result, the winter break was brought forward from 4 January to 27 December.[2] The rule of five substitutions per match was also re-introduced (as used the previous season) after the winter break.[3]
The following teams changed division after the 2020–21 season.
Promoted from theChampionship
Relegated to theChampionship
| Aberdeen | Celtic | Dundee | Dundee United |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pittodrie Stadium | Celtic Park | Dens Park | Tannadice Park |
| Capacity:20,866[4] | Capacity:60,411[5] | Capacity:11,775[6] | Capacity:14,223[7] |
| Heart of Midlothian | Hibernian | ||
| Tynecastle Park | Easter Road | ||
| Capacity:20,099[8] | Capacity:20,421[9] | ||
| Livingston | Motherwell | ||
| Almondvale Stadium | Fir Park | ||
| Capacity:9,713[10] | Capacity:13,677[11] | ||
| Rangers | Ross County | St Johnstone | St Mirren |
| Ibrox Stadium | Victoria Park | McDiarmid Park | St Mirren Park |
| Capacity:50,817[12] | Capacity:6,541[13] | Capacity:10,696[14] | Capacity:7,937[15] |
| Team | Manager | Captain | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aberdeen | Adidas | Saltire Energy | ||
| Celtic | Adidas[16] | Dafabet | ||
| Dundee | Macron[17] | Crown Engineering Services[18] | ||
| Dundee United | Macron | Eden Mill St Andrews[19] | ||
| Heart of Midlothian | Umbro | MND Scotland[20] | ||
| Hibernian | Joma[21] | Utilita[22] | ||
| Livingston | Joma | Phoenix Drilling Ltd | ||
| Motherwell | Macron | Paycare[23] | ||
| Rangers | Castore[24] | 32Red | ||
| Ross County | Joma | Ross-shire Engineering[25] | ||
| St Johnstone | Macron | Binn Group | ||
| St Mirren | Joma | Digby Brown[26] |
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Celtic | End of interim spell | 15 May 2021[27] | Pre-season | 10 June 2021[28] | ||
| Ross County | End of contract | 24 May 2021[29] | 26 May 2021[30] | |||
| Dundee United | Mutual consent | 25 May 2021[31] | 7 June 2021[32] | |||
| Rangers | Signed byAston Villa | 11 November 2021[33] | 1st | 18 November 2021[34] | ||
| Hibernian | Sacked | 9 December 2021[35] | 7th | 20 December 2021[36] | ||
| Aberdeen | 13 February 2022[37] | 9th | 19 February 2022[38] | |||
| Dundee | 16 February 2022[39] | 11th | 17 February 2022[40] | |||
| St Mirren | Signed byAberdeen | 19 February 2022[38] | 6th | 22 February 2022[41] | ||
| Hibernian | Sacked | 19 April 2022[42] | 7th | 19 April 2022[42] |
In the initial phase of the season, the 12 teams will play a round-robin tournament whereby each team plays each one of the other teams three times. After 33 games, the league splits into two sections of six teams, with each team playing each other in that section. The league attempts to balance the fixture list so that teams in the same section play each other twice at home and twice away, but sometimes this is impossible. A total of 228 matches will be played, with 38 matches played by each team.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation[a] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Celtic(C) | 38 | 29 | 6 | 3 | 92 | 22 | +70 | 93 | Qualification for theChampions League group stage |
| 2 | Rangers | 38 | 27 | 8 | 3 | 80 | 31 | +49 | 89 | Qualification for theChampions League third qualifying round |
| 3 | Heart of Midlothian | 38 | 17 | 10 | 11 | 54 | 44 | +10 | 61 | Qualification for theEuropa League play-off round |
| 4 | Dundee United | 38 | 12 | 12 | 14 | 37 | 44 | −7 | 48 | Qualification for theEuropa Conference League third qualifying round |
| 5 | Motherwell | 38 | 12 | 10 | 16 | 42 | 61 | −19 | 46 | Qualification for theEuropa Conference League second qualifying round |
| 6 | Ross County | 38 | 10 | 11 | 17 | 47 | 61 | −14 | 41 | |
| 7 | Livingston | 38 | 13 | 10 | 15 | 41 | 46 | −5 | 49 | |
| 8 | Hibernian | 38 | 11 | 12 | 15 | 38 | 42 | −4 | 45 | |
| 9 | St Mirren | 38 | 10 | 14 | 14 | 33 | 51 | −18 | 44 | |
| 10 | Aberdeen | 38 | 10 | 11 | 17 | 41 | 46 | −5 | 41 | |
| 11 | St Johnstone(O) | 38 | 8 | 11 | 19 | 24 | 51 | −27 | 35 | Qualification for thePremiership play-off final |
| 12 | Dundee(R) | 38 | 6 | 11 | 21 | 34 | 64 | −30 | 29 | Relegation toChampionship |
Matches 1–22[edit]Teams play each other twice, once at home and once away.
Source:[46] Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win. For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants. | Matches 23–33[edit]Teams play each other once, either home or away.
Source:[46] Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win. For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.
|
After 33 matches, the league splits into two sections of six teams i.e. the top six and the bottom six, with the teams playing every other team in their section once (either at home or away). The exact matches are determined by the position of the teams in the league table at the time of the split.
Top six[edit]
Source:[47] Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win. For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants. | Bottom six[edit]
Source:[47] Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win. For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.
|
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Celtic | 13 | |
| Ross County | |||
| 3 | Celtic | 12 | |
| 4 | Aberdeen | 11 | |
| Livingston | |||
| Rangers | |||
| 7 | Aberdeen | 10 | |
| Celtic | |||
| Celtic | |||
| Heart of Midlothian | |||
| Motherwell,Dundee United | |||
| Rangers |
| Player | For | Against | Score | Date | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Celtic | Dundee | 6–0 (H) | 8 August 2021 | [48] | |
| Celtic | St Mirren | 6–0 (H) | 21 August 2021 | [49] | |
| Rangers | Motherwell | 1–6 (A) | 31 October 2021 | [50] | |
| Celtic | Dundee | 3–2 (H) | 20 February 2022 | [51] | |
| Celtic | Ross County | 4–0 (H) | 19 March 2022 | [52] | |
| Rangers | St Mirren | 0–4 (A) | 10 April 2022 | [53] | |
| Hibernian | St Johnstone | 4–0 (H) | 15 May 2022 | [54] |
| Rank | Player | Club | Clean Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Celtic | 19 | |
| 2 | Heart of Midlothian | 14 | |
| 3 | Rangers | 12 | |
| 4 | Hibernian | 11 | |
| St Mirren | |||
| 6 | St Johnstone | 10 | |
| 7 | Dundee United | 9 |
Source:[55]
These are the average attendances of the teams. Games with restricted attendances are not included in these figures.
| Pos | Team | Total | High | Low | Average | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Celtic | 1,040,998 | 59,077 | 56,052 | 57,833 | −0.2%† |
| 2 | Rangers | 837,477 | 50,023 | 47,561 | 49,263 | +0.1%† |
| 3 | Heart of Midlothian | 295,570 | 19,041 | 15,527 | 17,386 | +3.8%† |
| 4 | Hibernian | 278,877 | 20,419 | 13,227 | 15,493 | −7.4%† |
| 5 | Aberdeen | 219,921 | 18,719 | 6,295 | 12,937 | −6.5%† |
| 6 | Dundee United[a] | 130,017 | 12,806 | 4,519 | 7,648 | −10.0%† |
| 7 | Dundee[a] | 114,816 | 11,273 | 4,621 | 6,379 | +20.9%† |
| 8 | Motherwell | 96,037 | 8,446 | 3,587 | 5,649 | +1.3%† |
| 9 | St Mirren | 88,803 | 6,596 | 3,016 | 4,934 | −8.2%† |
| 10 | St Johnstone | 76,558 | 7,319 | 2,249 | 4,503 | +10.1%† |
| 11 | Ross County | 72,955 | 6,698 | 2,224 | 4,053 | −13.1%† |
| 12 | Livingston | 65,880 | 8,922 | 1,319 | 3,660 | +3.3%† |
| League total | 3,317,909 | 59,077 | 1,319 | 15,800 | +3.2%† |
| Month | Manager of the Month | Player of the Month | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manager | Club | Player | Club | |
| August | Hearts | Hibernian | ||
| September | Motherwell | Dundee United | ||
| October | Celtic | Celtic | ||
| November | Motherwell | Celtic | ||
| December | Rangers | Rangers | ||
| January | Celtic | Ross County | ||
| February | Celtic | Livingston | ||
| March | Celtic | Celtic | ||
| April | Celtic | Celtic | ||
The quarter-finals were contested by the teams placed third and fourth in the2021–22 Scottish Championship. The winners advanced to the semi-finals to face the team placed second in the Championship. The final was contested by the semi-final winners and the team placed eleventh in the Premiership, with the winners securing a place in the2022–23 Scottish Premiership.[68]
| Team | Rank |
|---|---|
| St Johnstone | 1 |
| Arbroath | 2 |
| Inverness Caledonian Thistle | 3 |
| Partick Thistle | 4 |
| Quarter-final | Semi-final | Final | |||||||||||||||||
| 1 | St Johnstone | 2 | 4 | 6 | |||||||||||||||
| 2 | Arbroath | 0 | 0 | 0 (3) | 3 | Inverness Caledonian Thistle | 2 | 0 | 2 | ||||||||||
| 3 | Inverness Caledonian Thistle | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | Inverness Caledonian Thistle | 0 | 0 | 0 (5) | ||||||||||
| 4 | Partick Thistle | 1 | 0 | 1 | |||||||||||||||
| 3 May 2022 | Partick Thistle | 1–2 | Inverness Caledonian Thistle | Glasgow |
| 19:05 | Crawford | [69] | Sutherland Samuels | Stadium:Firhill Stadium Attendance: 2,919 Referee:Steven McLean |
| 6 May 2022 | Inverness Caledonian Thistle | 1–0 (3–1agg.) | Partick Thistle | Inverness |
| 19:45 | Samuels | [70] | Stadium:Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 2,470 Referee:Kevin Clancy |
| 10 May 2022 | Inverness Caledonian Thistle | 0–0 | Arbroath | Inverness |
| 19:05 | [71] | Stadium:Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 2,201 Referee: Euan Anderson |
| 13 May 2022 | Arbroath | 0–0 (0–0agg.) (3–5p) | Inverness Caledonian Thistle | Arbroath |
| 19:45 | [72] | Stadium:Gayfield Park Attendance: 5,154 Referee:Willie Collum | ||
| Penalties | ||||
| McKenna Low Hamilton Linn | Mckay Hardy Welsh Harper Broadfoot | |||
| 20 May 2022 | Inverness Caledonian Thistle | 2–2 | St Johnstone | Inverness |
| 19:45 | McAlear | [73] | Rooney Hallberg | Stadium:Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 4,811 Referee:Bobby Madden |
| 23 May 2022 | St Johnstone | 4–0 (6–2agg.) | Inverness Caledonian Thistle | Perth |
| 19:45 |
| [74] | Stadium:McDiarmid Park Attendance: 7,355 Referee:Nick Walsh |
Sky Sports has exclusive rights to the Scottish Premiership and will show up to 48 matches, and the Premiership play-off final.[75] BBC Scotland will broadcast the Premiership quarter-final and semi-final play-off ties.[76]
Due to the impact of theCOVID-19 pandemic, clubs will continue to stream matches (not broadcast on Sky) to fans on a pay-per-view or "virtual season ticket" basis, whilst capacities in stadia are limited due to social distancing restrictions.[77]
Highlights are broadcast onBBC Scotland's flagshipSportscene programme on both Saturdays and Sundays. Sky Sports also show highlights.
Gaelic-language channelBBC Alba has rights to broadcast repeats in full of 38 Saturday 3 pm matches "as live" at 5.30 pm.
The SPFL also uploads the goals from every Premiership match onto itsYouTube channel.