# 2015–16 Scottish League Cup

The 2015–16 Scottish League Cup was the 70th season of Scotland's second-most prestigious football knockout competition. It is also known as The Scottish League Cup presented by Utilita for sponsorship reasons.
Ross County defeated Hibernian 2–1 in the final on 13 March.
This was Ross County's second major trophy final ever, having previously lost the 2010 Scottish Cup Final, and their first major Scottish honour.
Despite losing this final, Hibs would recover from the blow and end up winning the Scottish Cup two months later, ending a 114-year drought.
This edition of the tournament also marked the first time in the competition's history in which there were six different champions in the most recent six editions, with Celtic, Aberdeen, St. Mirren, Kilmarnock and Rangers having been the five previous champions.

## Format

The competition is a single elimination knock-out competition. In each round, fixtures are determined by random draw, with the first to third rounds seeded according to last season's league positions (higher 50% of finishers drawn v lower 50% of finishers, alternating which is at home with each tie drawn).
Fixtures are played to a finish, with extra time and then penalties used in the event of draws. The competition is open to all clubs in the Scottish Professional Football League. Clubs involved in European competitions are given a bye to the third round to avoid congestion of fixtures.

## Qualified teams

The following teams qualified and competed in the 2015–16 Scottish League Cup.

### Scottish Premiership teams

There are 12 teams from the 2014–15 Scottish Premiership.
* Aberdeen
* Celtic
* Dundee
* Dundee United
* Hamilton Academical
* Inverness CT
* Kilmarnock
* Motherwell
* Partick Thistle
* Ross County
* St Johnstone
* St Mirren

### Scottish Championship teams

There are 10 teams from the 2014–15 Scottish Championship.
* Alloa Athletic
* Cowdenbeath
* Dumbarton
* Falkirk
* Heart of Midlothian
* Hibernian
* Livingston
* Queen of the South
* Raith Rovers
* Rangers

### Scottish League One teams

There are 10 teams from the 2014–15 Scottish League One.
* Airdrieonians
* Ayr United
* Brechin City
* Dunfermline Athletic
* Forfar Athletic
* Greenock Morton
* Peterhead
* Stenhousemuir
* Stirling Albion
* Stranraer

### Scottish League Two teams

There are 10 teams from the 2014–15 Scottish League Two.
* Albion Rovers
* Annan Athletic
* Arbroath
* Berwick Rangers
* Clyde
* East Fife
* East Stirlingshire
* Elgin City
* Montrose
* Queen's Park

## First round

The first round draw took place on Monday 6 July 2015 at 2:30pm BST at the Hampden Park Stadium. The 30 clubs that participated in the Championship, League One and League Two in the 2014–15 season entered the competition at this stage. The 12 clubs that participated in the 2014–15 Scottish Premiership received a bye.

### Draw and Seeding

| Pot 1 | Pot 2 |
| Scottish Championship: 01. Heart of Midlothian 02. Hibernian 03. Rangers 04. Queen of the South 05. Falkirk 06. Raith Rovers 07. Dumbarton 08. Livingston 09. Alloa Athletic 10. Cowdenbeath Scottish League One: 11. Greenock Morton 12. Stranraer 13. Forfar Athletic 14. Brechin City 15. Airdrieonians | Scottish League One: 16. Peterhead 17. Dunfermline Athletic 18. Ayr United 19. Stenhousemuir 20. Stirling Albion Scottish League Two: 21. Albion Rovers 22. Queen's Park 23. Arbroath 24. East Fife 25. Annan Athletic 26. Clyde 27. Elgin City 28. Berwick Rangers 29. East Stirlingshire 30. Montrose |

### Matches
## Second round

The second round draw took place on Monday 3 August 2015 at 2:30pm BST at the Hampden Park Stadium. The clubs that finished in the bottom 7 places of last season's Premiership entered at this stage joining the 15 first round winners.

### Draw and Seeding

| Pot 1 | Pot 2 |
| Scottish Premiership: 01. Dundee 02. Hamilton Academical 03. Partick Thistle 04. Ross County 05. Kilmarnock 06. Motherwell 07. St Mirren Scottish Championship: 08. Heart of Midlothian 09. Hibernian 10. Rangers 11. Queen of the South | Scottish Championship: 12. Falkirk 13. Raith Rovers 14. Livingston Scottish League One: 15. Greenock Morton 16. Stranraer 17. Forfar Athletic 18. Airdrieonians 19. Dunfermline Athletic 20. Ayr United Scottish League Two: 21. East Fife 22. Berwick Rangers |

### Matches
## Third round

The third round draw took place on Thursday 27 August 2015 at 2:30pm BST at the Hampden Park Stadium. The 4 clubs that participated in the 2014–15 Scottish Premiership season and qualified for European competition entered the competition at this stage along with Dundee United, the highest placed non-Europe qualifying side.

### Draw and Seeding

| Pot 1 | Pot 2 |
| Scottish Premiership: 01. Celtic 02. Aberdeen 03. Inverness Caledonian Thistle 04. St Johnstone 05. Dundee United 06. Ross County 07. Kilmarnock 08. Motherwell | Scottish Championship: 09. Heart of Midlothian 10. Hibernian 11. Rangers 12. Falkirk 13. Raith Rovers 14. Livingston Scottish League One: 15. Greenock Morton 16. Dunfermline Athletic |

### Matches
## Quarter-finals
### Draw and Seeding

The quarter-final draw took place on Monday 28 September 2015 at 2:30pm at Hampden Park, all teams were placed in the same pot.
* Pot 1
* Scottish Premiership:
* 01. Celtic
* 02. Inverness Caledonian Thistle
* 03. St Johnstone
* 04. Dundee United
* 05. Ross County
* 06. Heart of Midlothian
* Scottish Championship:
* 07. Hibernian
* Scottish League One:
* 08. Greenock Morton

### Matches
## Semi-finals
### Draw and seeding

The semi-final draw took place on Monday 9 November 2015 at 2:00pm at Hampden Park, all teams were placed in the same pot.
* Pot 1
* Scottish Premiership:
* 01. Celtic
* 02. St Johnstone
* 03. Ross County
* Scottish Championship:
* 04. Hibernian

### Matches
## Statistics
### Top goalscorers

    As of matches played on 13 March 2016
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Liam Boyce | Ross County | 4 |
| 1 | Jason Cummings | Hibernian | 4 |
| 1 | Faissal El Bakhtaoui | Dunfermline Athletic | 4 |
| 4 | Michael Gardyne | Ross County | 3 |
| 4 | James Tavernier | Rangers | 3 |
| 5 | 18 players | 18 players | 2 |