2016–17 Scottish Youth Cup
The 2016–17 Scottish Youth Cup was the 34th season of the Scottish Youth Cup, the national knockout tournament at youth level organised by the Scottish Football Association for its full and associate member clubs. The tournament was for the under-20 age group, to complement current youth development strategies, having formerly been an under-19 competition. Players born after 1 January 1997 are eligible to play.
Motherwell were the defending champions after they beat Heart of Midlothian 5–2 in the 2016 final.
Calendar
| Round | Match date | Fixtures | Clubs |
| First Round | 28 August 2016 | 7 | 55 → 48 |
| Second Round | 25 September 2016 | 16 | 48 → 32 |
| Third Round | 6 November 2016 | 16 | 32 → 16 |
| Fourth Round | 4 December 2016 | 8 | 16 → 8 |
| Quarter-finals | 4 | 8 → 4 | |
| Semi-finals | 2 | 4 → 2 | |
| Final | 1 | 2 → 1 |
Format
The sixteen clubs who reached the fourth round of the 2015–16 competition receive a bye to the third round of this season's tournament. The remaining thirty-nine clubs enter the first round and are initially divided into three regional groups to reduce travelling. The tournament becomes an all-in national competition from the third round onwards.First round
The draw for the first and second rounds took place on 3 August 2016. The following clubs were involved in the first round draw:| North Section | Central Section | South Section |
01. Aberdeen 02. Banks O' Dee 03. Buckie Thistle 04. Clachnacuddin 05. Deveronvale 06. Forfar Athletic 07. Formartine United 08. Fraserburgh 09. Inverurie Loco Works 10. Keith 11. Lossiemouth 12. Montrose 13. Turriff United | 01. Albion Rovers 02. Alloa Athletic 03. Berwick Rangers 04. BSC Glasgow 05. Clyde 06. Cowdenbeath 07. Dunfermline Athletic 08. East Kilbride 09. Edinburgh City 10. Edusport Academy 11. Falkirk 12. Hamilton Academical 13. Heriot-Watt University 14. Hibernian 15. Livingston 16. Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale 17. Partick Thistle 18. Preston Athletic 19. Queen's Park 20. Raith Rovers 21. Spartans 22. Stirling Albion 23. Tynecastle 24. Whitehill Welfare | 01. Annan Athletic 02. Stranraer Both teams in the South Section received a bye to the Second Round |
North Section
Three ties was drawn in this group with the following clubs receiving a bye to the second round:- Montrose
- Formartine United
- Forfar Athletic
- Buckie Thistle
- Clachnacuddin
- Banks O' Dee
- Lossiemouth
The dates for the first round ties were announced on 26 August 2016.
Central Section
Four ties were drawn in this group with all the following clubs receiving byes to the second round:- Albion Rovers
- Spartans
- Hamilton Academical
- Cowdenbeath
- Hibernian
- East Kilbride
- Falkirk
- Raith Rovers
- Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale
- Edinburgh City
- Stirling Albion
- Tynecastle
- Livingston
- BSC Glasgow
- Whitehill Welfare
- Preston Athletic
The dates for the first round ties were announced on 26 August 2016.
Second round
North Section
| Home Team | Score | Away Team |
| Buckie Thistle | Clachnacuddin | |
| Banks O' Dee | Montrose | |
| Formartine United | Lossiemouth | |
| Winners of Match Two | Forfar Athletic | |
| Winners of Match Three | Winners of Match One |
Central Section
| Home Team | Score | Away Team |
| Winners of Match Seven | Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale | |
| Edinburgh City | Preston Athletic | |
| Spartans | Whitehill Welfare | |
| Livingston | Winners of Match Five | |
| Stirling Albion | Queen's Park | |
| Falkirk | Albion Rovers | |
| East Kilbride | BSC Glasgow | |
| Hamilton Academical | Raith Rovers | |
| Cowdenbeath | Winners of Match Six | |
| Tynecastle | Hibernian |
South Section
| Home Team | Score | Away Team |
| Stranraer | Annan Athletic |
Third round
The following sixteen clubs entered at this stage by virtue of having reached the fourth round of last season's competition:| Third Round entrants |
01. Airdrieonians 02. Ayr United 03. Celtic 04. Cumbernauld Colts 05. Dundee 06. Dundee United 07. Heart of Midlothian 08. Inverness CT 09. Kilmarnock 10. Morton 11. Motherwell 12. Queen of the South 13. Rangers 14. Ross County 15. St Johnstone 16. St Mirren |