2017–18 Scottish League Cup group stage


The 2017–18 Scottish League Cup group stage was played from 14 July to 30 July 2017. A total of 40 teams competed in the group stage. The winners of each of the eight groups, as well as the four best runners-up progressed to the [|second round] of the 2017–18 Scottish League Cup.

Format

The group stage consisted of eight teams from the 2016–17 Scottish Premiership, ten teams from each of the 2016–17 Scottish Championship, 2016–17 Scottish League One and 2016–17 Scottish League Two, as well as the winners of the 2016–17 Highland Football League and 2016–17 Lowland Football League. The 40 teams were divided into two sections: North and South; with each section containing four top seeded teams, four second seeded teams and 12 unseeded teams. Each section was drawn into four groups with each group being made up of 1 top seed, 1 second seed and 3 unseeded sides. Seedings for the draw were confirmed on 31 May 2017, two days before the draw.
The draw for the group stages took place on Friday 2 June 2017 at 6:30pm BST at the BT Sport Studio in London and was shown live on BT Sport 2.

Teams

North

Seeding

Teams in Bold qualified for the second round
Top seedsSecond seedsUnseeded

01. Heart of Midlothian

02. Ross County

03. Dundee

04. Inverness CT

09. Hibernian

10. Falkirk

11. Dundee United

12. Dunfermline Athletic

17. Raith Rovers

18. Alloa Athletic

19. Brechin City

20. East Fife

21. Peterhead

22. Arbroath

23. Forfar Athletic

24. Montrose

25. Elgin City

26. Stirling Albion

27. Cowdenbeath

28. Buckie Thistle

South

Seeding

Teams in Bold qualified for the second round
Top seedsSecond seedsUnseeded

05. Partick Thistle

06. Kilmarnock

07. Motherwell

08. Hamilton Academical

13. Greenock Morton

14. Queen of the South

15. St Mirren

16. Dumbarton

29. Ayr United

30. Livingston

31. Airdrieonians

32. Queen's Park

33. Stranraer

34. Albion Rovers

35. Stenhousemuir

36. Annan Athletic

37. Edinburgh City

38. Berwick Rangers

39. Clyde

40. East Kilbride

North

Group A

Matches

Group B

Matches

Group C

Matches

Group D

Matches

South

Group E

Matches

Group F

Matches

Group G

Matches

Group H

Matches

Best runners-up

Qualified teams

TeamQualified asQualified onNotes
FalkirkSeeded for the Second Round draw
MotherwellSeeded for the Second Round draw
Livingston
Dunfermline Athletic
Hibernian
Ayr UnitedSeeded for the Second Round draw
Hamilton Academical
Ross County
Kilmarnock
Partick Thistle
Dundee UnitedSeeded for the Second Round draw
Dundee

Top goalscorers

There were 267 goals scored in 80 matches in the group stage, for an average of goals per match.