Scotland’s Premier League

The Scottish Premiership is the highest tier of the Scottish National Football League (SPFL), Scotland's professional football league. The Scottish Premiership was formed in July 2013 when the Scottish Premier League and Scottish Football League combined to create the SPFL. This division has 12 teams, with each team playing 38 games per season.

Since its introduction in the 2013–14 season, the Scottish Premiership has featured sixteen teams. Rangers are the reigning Scottish Premiership holders, having won the title in 2020–21. This was Celtic's 55th Scottish league championship in all, and it concluded a streak of nine consecutive league championships. 

The format of Scotland’s Premier League 

A team earns three points for a victory and one point for a tie. A defeat results in no points being awarded. Teams are ranked first by total points, then by goal difference, and finally by goals scored. The team with the most points at the end of any season is crowned league champion.

When a team's points, goal differential, goals scored, and head-to-head scores are all the same, a play-off game at a neutral venue will be held to decide the final placings. The play-off will take place only if the teams' results affect the result of the championship, European qualification, promotion, or second stage group allocation, which will not take place otherwise. Since the 2000–01 season, the top tier of Scottish football has consisted of 12 teams, the longest time without reform in the history of the Scottish football league system. The Scottish Premier League, and now the Scottish Premiership, has used a "split" format through this period.

This is used to eliminate the need for a 44-game season focused on four games versus each other. That format was used in the Scottish Premier Division in the mid-1980s and early 1990s, but the number of games in a league season is now too high. 

A season, which lasts from August to May, is split into two parts. During the first round, each club plays three games against each other, once at home and twice away, or vice versa. After the first round of tournaments, when both teams have completed 33 games, the competition is separated into two halves: a 'top six' section and a 'bottom six' section. Each club then plays five more games, one against each of the other five teams in their division. The points won during the first phase of 33 matches are transferred forward to the second phase, but teams play only within their respective parts during the second phase. After the first round, clubs cannot exit their own half of the table, even though they score more or fewer points than a higher or lower ranked side, respectively. 

European Qualification 

The Scottish Football Association is awarded European places by UEFA depending on Scotland's position in the UEFA nation coefficient rankings. The Scottish Football Association, in particular, allots a portion of these European places to the winners of the Scottish Premiership. Scotland finished the 2019–20 season placed 14th in Europe, earning them two teams in the UEFA Champions League, one in the UEFA Europa League, and two in the inaugural UEFA Europa Conference League. For the 2020–21 season, the top-placed Scottish Premiership team advances to the Champions League third qualifying round, while the second-placed team advances to the second qualifying round. The third and fourth-placed teams progress to the Europa Conference League's second qualification round. 

Champions of the league

Sources: 

BBC Sport

The Scotsman

UEFA.com

 www.bbc.co.uk