The competition was launched in 2002–03 along with the Scottish Women's Premier League, and the first winners wereKilmarnock.[1] It supplanted theScottish Women's Football League Cup (Kilmarnock were also its last winners) which continued as a lower-division competition.
The SWPL Cup changed to run on a summer schedule played in a single calendar year (from around March to November) from the 2009 edition[2][3] until the COVID-19 pandemic ended the 2020 season prematurely (leavingthat year's edition unfinished) and caused the SWPL to revert to a winter format in all competitions for the following season, which was retained after pandemic restrictions ended.
The competition has been won most often byHibernian, seven times.
Up to 2015, eight of the twelve Premier League teams were drawn to play in the first round. The four winners and the other four teams then played in the quarter-finals. All matches were played over one leg.[4]
Since the addition of the division SWPL 2 in2016, all teams from the Premier League's two divisions have taken part in the cup. The last edition with the straight-knockout format was the2019 Scottish Women's Premier League Cup
In a large change to the format forthe 2020 edition of the Cup, a 16-team group stage was inaugurated, planned to qualify teams for the eight-team knockout phase, with the League's top two clubs given a bye to the quarter-finals; but the SWPL was abandoned early in the 2020 season, due to the COVID-19 outbreak, and the League reverted to the winter format as a result. The league cup was not played in the 2020–21 season. The group phase was played with all clubs in the 2021–22 SWPL Cup,[5] which was completed and won byCeltic.[6]
A new trophy was introduced for the2022–23 season made by Thomas Lyte,[7] along with revamped branding and logo.[8]
Scotland
2025–26 Scottish Women's Premier League Cup