2021–22 Scottish Premiership

The 2021–22 Scottish Premiership (known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the ninth season of the Scottish Premiership, the highest division of Scottish football, and the 125th edition overall of the top national league competition, not including one cancelled due to World War II. Celtic claimed the league trophy back after an outstanding run with a 1–1 draw with Dundee United on 11 May enough to confirm them as champions.

Scottish Premiership
Season2021–22
Dates31 July 2021 – 15 May 2022
ChampionsCeltic
8th Premiership title
52nd Scottish title
RelegatedDundee
Champions LeagueCeltic
Rangers
Europa LeagueHeart of Midlothian
Europa Conference LeagueDundee United
Motherwell
Matches played228
Goals scored563 (2.47 per match)
Top goalscorerRegan Charles-Cook
Giorgos Giakoumakis
(13 goals each)
Biggest home winCeltic 7–0 St Johnstone
(9 April 2022)
Biggest away winDundee 0–5 Ross County
(27 October 2021)
Motherwell 1–6 Rangers
(31 October 2021)
Highest scoringMotherwell 1–6 Rangers
(31 October 2021)
Heart of Midlothian 5–2 Dundee United
(6 November 2021)
Celtic 7–0 St Johnstone
(9 April 2022)
Longest winning runRangers
9 games
Longest unbeaten runCeltic
32 games
Longest winless runDundee
Motherwell
St Mirren
11 games
Longest losing runSt Johnstone
8 games
Highest attendance59,077
Celtic 3–0 Rangers (2 February 2022)
Lowest attendance500
(6 games)
Total attendance3,317,909
Average attendance15,800

Twelve teams contested the league: Aberdeen, Celtic, Dundee, Dundee United, Heart of Midlothian, Hibernian, Livingston, Motherwell, Rangers, Ross County, St Johnstone and St Mirren.

The season began on 31 July 2021.[1] In December, the Scottish Government imposed stadium capacity restrictions as part of its response to the new Omicron variant. As a result, the winter break was brought forward from 4 January to 27 December.[2] The rule of five substitutions per match was also re-introduced (as used the previous season) after the winter break.[3]

Teams

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The following teams changed division after the 2020–21 season.

Promoted from the Championship

Relegated to the Championship

Stadia and locations

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Aberdeen Celtic Dundee Dundee United
Pittodrie Stadium Celtic Park Dens Park Tannadice Park
Capacity: 20,866[4] Capacity: 60,411[5] Capacity: 11,775[6] Capacity: 14,223[7]
       
Heart of Midlothian Hibernian
Tynecastle Park Easter Road
Capacity: 20,099[8] Capacity: 20,421[9]
   
Livingston Motherwell
Almondvale Stadium Fir Park
Capacity: 9,713[10] Capacity: 13,677[11]
   
Rangers Ross County St Johnstone St Mirren
Ibrox Stadium Victoria Park McDiarmid Park St Mirren Park
Capacity: 50,817[12] Capacity: 6,541[13] Capacity: 10,696[14] Capacity: 7,937[15]
       

Personnel and kits

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Team Manager Captain Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor
Aberdeen   Jim Goodwin   Joe Lewis Adidas Saltire Energy
Celtic   Ange Postecoglou   Callum McGregor Adidas[16] Dafabet
Dundee   Mark McGhee   Charlie Adam Macron[17] Crown Engineering Services[18]
Dundee United   Tam Courts   Ryan Edwards Macron Eden Mill St Andrews[19]
Heart of Midlothian   Robbie Neilson   Craig Gordon Umbro MND Scotland[20]
Hibernian   David Gray (caretaker)   Paul Hanlon Joma[21] Utilita[22]
Livingston   David Martindale   Nicky Devlin Joma Phoenix Drilling Ltd
Motherwell   Graham Alexander   Stephen O'Donnell Macron Paycare[23]
Rangers   Giovanni van Bronckhorst   James Tavernier Castore[24] 32Red
Ross County   Malky Mackay   Keith Watson Joma Ross-shire Engineering[25]
St Johnstone   Callum Davidson   Liam Gordon Macron Binn Group
St Mirren   Stephen Robinson   Joe Shaughnessy Joma Digby Brown[26]

Managerial changes

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Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Incoming manager Date of appointment
Celtic   John Kennedy End of interim spell 15 May 2021[27] Pre-season   Ange Postecoglou 10 June 2021[28]
Ross County   John Hughes End of contract 24 May 2021[29]   Malky Mackay 26 May 2021[30]
Dundee United   Micky Mellon Mutual consent 25 May 2021[31]   Tam Courts 7 June 2021[32]
Rangers   Steven Gerrard Signed by Aston Villa 11 November 2021[33] 1st   Giovanni van Bronckhorst 18 November 2021[34]
Hibernian   Jack Ross Sacked 9 December 2021[35] 7th   Shaun Maloney 20 December 2021[36]
Aberdeen   Stephen Glass 13 February 2022[37] 9th   Jim Goodwin 19 February 2022[38]
Dundee   James McPake 16 February 2022[39] 11th   Mark McGhee 17 February 2022[40]
St Mirren   Jim Goodwin Signed by Aberdeen 19 February 2022[38] 6th   Stephen Robinson 22 February 2022[41]
Hibernian   Shaun Maloney Sacked 19 April 2022[42] 7th   David Gray (caretaker) 19 April 2022[42]

Format

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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 each other in that section. The league attempts to balance the fixture list so that teams in the same section play 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

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League table

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation[a]
1 Celtic (C) 38 29 6 3 92 22 +70 93 Qualification for the Champions League group stage
2 Rangers 38 27 8 3 80 31 +49 89 Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round
3 Heart of Midlothian 38 17 10 11 54 44 +10 61 Qualification for the Europa League play-off round
4 Dundee United 38 12 12 14 37 44 −7 48 Qualification for the Europa Conference League third qualifying round
5 Motherwell 38 12 10 16 42 61 −19 46 Qualification for the Europa Conference League second qualifying round
6 Ross County 38 10 11 17 47 61 −14 41
7 Livingston 38 13 10 15 41 46 −5 49
8 Hibernian 38 11 12 15 38 42 −4 45
9 St Mirren 38 10 14 14 33 51 −18 44
10 Aberdeen 38 10 11 17 41 46 −5 41
11 St Johnstone (O) 38 8 11 19 24 51 −27 35 Qualification for the Premiership play-off final
12 Dundee (R) 38 6 11 21 34 64 −30 29 Relegation to Championship
Source: [43][44]
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-head points; 5) Head-to-Head goal difference; 6) Play-off (only if deciding champion, UEFA competitions qualification, second stage group allocation or relegation).[45]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. ^ Teams play each other three times (33 matches), before the league is split into two groups (the top six and the bottom six).

Results

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Matches 34–38

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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 (either at home or away). The exact matches are determined by the position of the teams in the league table at the time of the split.

Season statistics

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Scoring

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As of matches played on 15 May 2022

Top scorers

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Rank Player Club Goals
1   Giorgos Giakoumakis Celtic 13
  Regan Charles-Cook Ross County
3   Kyogo Furuhashi Celtic 12
4   Lewis Ferguson Aberdeen 11
  Bruce Anderson Livingston
  Alfredo Morelos Rangers
7   Christian Ramirez Aberdeen 10
  Liel Abada Celtic
  Jota Celtic
  Liam Boyce Heart of Midlothian
  Tony Watt Motherwell, Dundee United
  Kemar Roofe Rangers

Hat-tricks

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Player For Against Score Date Ref.
  Kyogo Furuhashi Celtic Dundee 6–0 (H) 8 August 2021 [48]
  David Turnbull Celtic St Mirren 6–0 (H) 21 August 2021 [49]
  Fashion Sakala Rangers Motherwell 1–6 (A) 31 October 2021 [50]
  Giorgos Giakoumakis Celtic Dundee 3–2 (H) 20 February 2022 [51]
  Giorgos Giakoumakis Celtic Ross County 4–0 (H) 19 March 2022 [52]
  Kemar Roofe Rangers St Mirren 0–4 (A) 10 April 2022 [53]
  James Scott Hibernian St Johnstone 4–0 (H) 15 May 2022 [54]

Clean sheets

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Rank Player Club Clean Sheets
1   Joe Hart Celtic 19
2   Craig Gordon Heart of Midlothian 14
3   Allan McGregor Rangers 12
4   Matt Macey Hibernian 11
  Jak Alnwick St Mirren
6   Zander Clark St Johnstone 10
7   Benjamin Siegrist Dundee United 9

Source:[55]

Attendances

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These are the average attendances of the teams. Games with restricted attendances are not included in these figures.

Pos Team Total High Low Average Change
1 Celtic 1,040,998 59,077 56,052 57,833 −0.2%
2 Rangers 837,477 50,023 47,561 49,263 +0.1%
3 Heart of Midlothian 295,570 19,041 15,527 17,386 +3.8%
4 Hibernian 278,877 20,419 13,227 15,493 −7.4%
5 Aberdeen 219,921 18,719 6,295 12,937 −6.5%
6 Dundee United[a] 130,017 12,806 4,519 7,648 −10.0%
7 Dundee[a] 114,816 11,273 4,621 6,379 +20.9%
8 Motherwell 96,037 8,446 3,587 5,649 +1.3%
9 St Mirren 88,803 6,596 3,016 4,934 −8.2%
10 St Johnstone 76,558 7,319 2,249 4,503 +10.1%
11 Ross County 72,955 6,698 2,224 4,053 −13.1%
12 Livingston 65,880 8,922 1,319 3,660 +3.3%
League total 3,317,909 59,077 1,319 15,800 +3.2%
  1. ^ a b Club was playing in the Scottish Championship in the last season with attendances.

Awards

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Month Manager of the Month Player of the Month
Manager Club Player Club
August   Robbie Neilson Hearts   Martin Boyle Hibernian
September   Graham Alexander Motherwell   Ian Harkes Dundee United
October   Ange Postecoglou Celtic   Jota Celtic
November   Graham Alexander Motherwell   Jota Celtic
December   Giovanni van Bronckhorst Rangers   Alfredo Morelos Rangers
January   Ange Postecoglou Celtic   Regan Charles-Cook Ross County
February   Ange Postecoglou Celtic   Bruce Anderson Livingston
March   Ange Postecoglou Celtic   Giorgos Giakoumakis Celtic
April   Ange Postecoglou Celtic   Jota Celtic

Premiership play-offs

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The quarter-finals were contested by the teams placed third and fourth in the 2021–22 Scottish Championship. The winners advanced to the semi-finals to face the team placed second in the Championship. The final was contested by the semi-final winners and the team placed eleventh in the Premiership, with the winners securing a place in the 2022–23 Scottish Premiership.[68]

Qualified teams

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Team Rank
St Johnstone 1
Arbroath 2
Inverness Caledonian Thistle 3
Partick Thistle 4

Quarter-finals

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First leg

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3 May 2022 Partick Thistle 1–2 Inverness Caledonian Thistle Glasgow
19:05 Crawford   54' [69] Sutherland   71'
Samuels   82'
Stadium: Firhill Stadium
Attendance: 2,919
Referee: Steven McLean

Second leg

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6 May 2022 Inverness Caledonian Thistle 1–0
(3–1 agg.)
Partick ThistleInverness
19:45 Samuels   29' [70] Stadium: Caledonian Stadium
Attendance: 2,470
Referee: Kevin Clancy

Semi-finals

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First leg

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10 May 2022 Inverness Caledonian Thistle 0–0 Arbroath Inverness
19:05 [71] Stadium: Caledonian Stadium
Attendance: 2,201
Referee: Euan Anderson

Second leg

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13 May 2022 Arbroath 0–0
(0–0 agg.)
(3–5 p)
Inverness Caledonian Thistle Arbroath
19:45 [72] Stadium: Gayfield Park
Attendance: 5,154
Referee: Willie Collum
Penalties
McKenna  
Low  
Hamilton  
Linn  
Mckay  
Hardy  
Welsh  
Harper  
Broadfoot  

Final

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First leg

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20 May 2022 Inverness Caledonian Thistle 2–2 St Johnstone Inverness
19:45 McAlear   73', 80' [73] Rooney   18'
Hallberg   24'
Stadium: Caledonian Stadium
Attendance: 4,811
Referee: Bobby Madden

Second leg

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23 May 2022 St Johnstone 4–0
(6–2 agg.)
Inverness Caledonian ThistlePerth
19:45
[74] Stadium: McDiarmid Park
Attendance: 7,355
Referee: Nick Walsh

Broadcasting

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Live matches (UK and Ireland)

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Sky Sports has exclusive rights to the Scottish Premiership and will show up to 48 matches, and the Premiership play-off final.[75] BBC Scotland will broadcast the Premiership quarter-final and semi-final play-off ties.[76]

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, clubs will continue to stream matches (not broadcast on Sky) to fans on a pay-per-view or "virtual season ticket" basis, whilst capacities in stadia are limited due to social distancing restrictions.[77]

Highlights

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Highlights are broadcast on BBC Scotland's flagship Sportscene programme on both Saturdays and Sundays. Sky Sports also show highlights.

Gaelic-language channel BBC Alba has rights to broadcast repeats in full of 38 Saturday 3 pm matches "as live" at 5.30 pm.

The SPFL also uploads the goals from every Premiership match onto its YouTube channel.

References

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