2018–19 Scottish Premiership


The 2018–19 Scottish Premiership was the sixth season of the Scottish Premiership, the highest division of Scottish football. The fixtures were published on 15 June 2018 and the season began on 4 August 2018.
Twelve teams contested the league: Aberdeen, Celtic, Dundee, Hamilton Academical, Heart of Midlothian, Hibernian, Kilmarnock, Livingston, Motherwell, Rangers, St Johnstone and St Mirren.
On 4 May 2019, Celtic won their eighth consecutive title and 50th overall after a 3-0 win over Aberdeen.

Teams

To Premiership
St Mirren secured the Championship title and promotion to the Premiership on 14 April 2018 after a goalless draw with Livingston, who were also promoted after winning the play-off final.
To Championship
Ross County were relegated to the Championship on 12 May 2018 after a 1–1 draw with St Johnstone. Partick Thistle were also relegated following a 3–1 aggregate defeat to Livingston in the play-off final.

Stadia and locations

Personnel and kits

TeamManagerCaptainKit manufacturerShirt sponsor
Aberdeen AdidasSaltire Energy
Celtic New BalanceDafabet
Dundee PumaMcEwan Fraser Legal
Hamilton Academical AdidasEuro Mechanical Handling
Heart of Midlothian UmbroSave the Children
Hibernian MacronMarathonbet
Kilmarnock NikeQTS
Livingston FBTTony Macaroni
Motherwell MacronBetPark
Rangers Hummel32Red
St Johnstone BLKBinn Group
St Mirren JomaSkyview Capital

Managerial changes

Format

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 every other team in their section once. The league attempts to balance the fixture list so that teams in the same section have played 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.

League summary

League table

Positions by round

The table lists the positions of teams after each week of matches. In order to preserve chronological progress, any postponed matches are not included in the round at which they were originally scheduled but added to the full round they were played immediately afterwards. For example, if a match is scheduled for matchday 13, but then postponed and played between days 16 and 17, it will be added to the standings for day 16.
Leader – Qualification for Champions League first qualifying round
Qualification for Europa League first qualifying round
Qualification for Premiership play-off final
Relegation to 2019–20 Championship

Team \ Round1234567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829303132333435363738
Team \ Round
Celtic36222653232211231111111111111111111111
Rangers73474266554332122222232222222222222222
Kilmarnock44637544323444313343323444444433344333
Aberdeen65588777788766766434444333333344433444
Hibernian22365322665687888878887788666666555555
Hearts11111111111123444555565555555555666666
St Johnstone1010856888877555555786656666778787777777
Motherwell1212119910101010109999999999999977887878888888
Livingston99743435446878677667778899999999999999
Hamilton Academical118910119999910101010101010101010101010101011111010101010101010101010
St Mirren57101110111111111111111111111112111111111212121212121212121111111111111111
Dundee811121212121212121212121212121211121212121111111110101111111212121212121212

Updated: 19 May 2019

Results

Matches 1–22

Teams play each other twice, once at home and once away.

Matches 23–33

Teams play each other once.

Matches 34–38

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. The exact matches are determined by the position of the teams in the league table at the time of the split.

Top six

Bottom six

Season statistics

Scoring

Top scorers

RankPlayerClubGoals
1 Alfredo MorelosRangers18
2 Sam CosgroveAberdeen17
3 Odsonne ÉdouardCeltic15
3 David TurnbullMotherwell15
5 James TavernierRangers14
6 James ForrestCeltic11
6 Eamonn BrophyKilmarnock11
6 Scott ArfieldRangers11
9 Steven NaismithHeart of Midlothian10

Hat-tricks

PlayerForAgainstScoreDate
Steven NaismithHeartsSt Mirren4–1 1 September 2018
James Forrest4CelticSt Johnstone0–6 7 October 2018
Kenny MillerDundeeHamilton Academical4–0 5 December 2018
Scott SinclairCelticAberdeen3–4 26 December 2018
Scott ArfieldRangersMotherwell0–3 7 April 2019
Cody CookeSt MirrenDundee2–3 18 May 2019

Note
4 Player scored four goals; = Home, = Away

Attendances

These are the average attendances of the teams.

Awards

Premiership play-offs

The quarter-final was contested by Ayr United and Inverness Caledonian Thistle, with Inverness Caledonian Thistle advancing to the semi-final where they lost to Dundee United. Dundee United faced St Mirren in the final, with the Saints securing the last place in the 2019–20 Premiership after victory in a penalty shoot-out.

Quarter-final

First leg

Second leg

Semi-final

First leg

Second leg

Final

First leg

Second leg

Broadcasting

Live Matches

The SPFL allows Sky Sports and BT Sport to broadcast up to six live home matches for each club, although this is only four for Celtic and Rangers. The TV deal allows the broadcasters to show 30 games each and provides approximately £21m to the SPFL per season.

Highlights

Sky Sports hold the rights to Saturday night highlights and show the Premiership goals on Sky Sports News in their Goals Express programme. Gaelic-language channel BBC Alba can broadcast in full the repeat of 38 Saturday 3pm matches "as live" at 5.30pm. The main Premiership highlights programme is BBC Scotland's Sportscene programme, which shows in-depth highlights of all six Premiership matches every weekend. STV show the goals on Monday nights during the Sport section of their News at Six programme. The SPFL also uploads the goals from every Premiership match onto its YouTube channel — available from 6pm on a Sunday for UK and Ireland viewers and 10pm on a Saturday for those worldwide.