# 2022–23 Highland Football League

The 2022–23 Highland Football League (known as the Breedon Highland League for sponsorship reasons) was the 120th season of the Highland Football League, and the 9th season as part of the fifth tier of the Scottish football pyramid system. Fraserburgh were the reigning champions, but were unable to defend their title.
The championship title was decided in the final round of fixtures with Buckie Thistle and Brechin City facing off against each other at Victoria Park. Brechin City won 2–0 – inflicting Buckie Thistle's first home league defeat since August 2019 – to win the league by two points.
Brechin City played the winners of the 2022–23 Lowland Football League (The Spartans) in the Pyramid play-off, losing on penalties after drawing 3–3 on aggregate.

## Teams

Banks O' Dee joined having become the first club to be promoted into the Highland League, replacing Fort William whose 37-year stay in the division came to an end.

### From Highland League

Relegated to North Caledonian League
* Fort William

### To Highland League

Promoted from North Superleague
* Banks O' Dee

### Stadia and locations

All grounds are equipped with floodlights as required by league regulations.
| Team | Location | Stadium | Capacity | Seats |
| Banks O' Dee | Aberdeen | Spain Park | 876 | 100 |
| Brechin City | Brechin | Glebe Park | 4,083 | 1,519 |
| Brora Rangers | Brora | Dudgeon Park | 4,000 | 200 |
| Buckie Thistle | Buckie | Victoria Park | 5,000 | 400 |
| Clachnacuddin | Inverness | Grant Street Park | 2,074 | 154 |
| Deveronvale | Banff | Princess Royal Park | 2,600 | 360 |
| Formartine United | Pitmedden | North Lodge Park | 2,500 | 300 |
| Fraserburgh | Fraserburgh | Bellslea Park | 3,000 | 480 |
| Forres Mechanics | Forres | Mosset Park | 2,700 | 502 |
| Huntly | Huntly | Christie Park | 2,200 | 270 |
| Inverurie Loco Works | Inverurie | Harlaw Park | 2,500 | 250 |
| Keith | Keith | Kynoch Park | 4,000 | 370 |
| Lossiemouth | Lossiemouth | Grant Park | 2,050 | 250 |
| Nairn County | Nairn | Station Park | 2,250 | 250 |
| Rothes | Rothes | Mackessack Park | 2,700 | 184 |
| Strathspey Thistle | Grantown-on-Spey | Seafield Park | 1,600 | 150 |
| Turriff United | Turriff | The Haughs | 2,135 | 135 |
| Wick Academy | Wick | Harmsworth Park | 2,412 | 102 |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Brechin City (C) | 34 | 28 | 5 | 1 | 101 | 16 | +85 | 89 | Qualification for the Pyramid play-off |
| 2 | Buckie Thistle | 34 | 28 | 3 | 3 | 92 | 26 | +66 | 87 | |
| 3 | Brora Rangers | 34 | 26 | 2 | 6 | 116 | 32 | +84 | 80 | |
| 4 | Formartine United | 34 | 23 | 5 | 6 | 81 | 31 | +50 | 74 | |
| 5 | Fraserburgh | 34 | 21 | 8 | 5 | 91 | 31 | +60 | 71 | |
| 6 | Inverurie Loco Works | 34 | 14 | 8 | 12 | 63 | 57 | +6 | 50 | |
| 7 | Nairn County | 34 | 12 | 10 | 12 | 51 | 63 | −12 | 46 | |
| 8 | Huntly | 34 | 13 | 6 | 15 | 44 | 49 | −5 | 45 | |
| 9 | Rothes | 34 | 12 | 8 | 14 | 64 | 60 | +4 | 44 | |
| 10 | Banks O' Dee | 34 | 19 | 6 | 9 | 98 | 49 | +49 | 39 | |
| 11 | Forres Mechanics | 34 | 10 | 6 | 18 | 57 | 60 | −3 | 36 | |
| 12 | Turriff United | 34 | 11 | 3 | 20 | 56 | 76 | −20 | 36 | |
| 13 | Clachnacuddin | 34 | 10 | 4 | 20 | 44 | 76 | −32 | 34 | |
| 14 | Lossiemouth | 34 | 8 | 3 | 23 | 38 | 83 | −45 | 27 | |
| 15 | Keith | 34 | 7 | 6 | 21 | 38 | 87 | −49 | 27 | |
| 16 | Wick Academy | 34 | 7 | 5 | 22 | 34 | 100 | −66 | 26 | |
| 17 | Deveronvale | 34 | 6 | 6 | 22 | 48 | 90 | −42 | 24 | |
| 18 | Strathspey Thistle | 34 | 2 | 4 | 28 | 24 | 154 | −130 | 10 | |
* ↑ Banks O' Dee deducted 24 points for fielding an ineligible player in 8 matches.

## Results

| Home \ Away | BAN | BRE | BRO | BUC | CLA | DEV | FOU | FOM | FRA | HUN | INV | KEI | LOS | NAI | RTH | STR | TUR | WIC |
| Banks O' Dee | — | 1–4 | 4–3 | 1–3 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 2–3 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 5–2 | 3–4 | 8–0 | 7–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 9–1 | 2–0 | 6–0 |
| Brechin City | 4–4 | — | 0–0 | 1–0 | 5–0 | 7–1 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 5–0 | 2–2 | 5–1 | 5–0 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 6–0 | 4–0 | 10–0 |
| Brora Rangers | 3–0 | 0–3 | — | 0–2 | 4–2 | 5–0 | 2–1 | 4–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 5–2 | 6–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 6–1 |
| Buckie Thistle | 2–2 | 0–2 | 4–2 | — | 5–0 | 3–2 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 8–0 | 7–1 | 2–1 |
| Clachnacuddin | 3–1 | 1–2 | 0–4 | 1–4 | — | 3–1 | 1–3 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–3 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 4–1 | 0–2 | 1–4 | 1–3 |
| Deveronvale | 1–4 | 1–3 | 0–6 | 1–2 | 3–3 | — | 0–3 | 2–1 | 2–3 | 1–3 | 0–3 | 4–3 | 2–0 | 2–3 | 0–1 | 7–0 | 2–0 | 3–3 |
| Formartine United | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 4–0 | 2–1 | — | 2–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 6–0 | 5–0 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 6–1 | 2–1 | 6–0 |
| Forres Mechanics | 1–2 | 0–1 | 0–8 | 2–3 | 0–0 | 4–1 | 1–1 | — | 1–1 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 3–4 | 4–3 | 8–1 | 1–2 | 4–2 |
| Fraserburgh | 0–3 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 5–0 | 3–0 | 2–2 | 3–0 | — | 3–0 | 1–2 | 4–0 | 3–0 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 2–3 | 3–0 |
| Huntly | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 1–4 | — | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 5–2 |
| Inverurie Loco Works | 1–1 | 0–1 | 2–4 | 0–4 | 2–4 | 4–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–4 | 0–0 | — | 2–0 | 3–2 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 4–0 | 3–1 | 4–0 |
| Keith | 2–3 | 0–2 | 0–4 | 1–5 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–6 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 2–3 | — | 0–2 | 1–1 | 2–3 | 6–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 |
| Lossiemouth | 1–2 | 0–3 | 0–3 | 0–6 | 0–2 | 2–3 | 1–3 | 0–0 | 0–7 | 1–4 | 1–0 | 2–0 | — | 5–1 | 2–4 | 4–2 | 2–2 | 2–1 |
| Nairn County | 3–0 | 0–0 | 0–4 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 0–5 | 0–4 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 2–2 | 2–0 | — | 2–2 | 4–2 | 2–1 | 3–0 |
| Rothes | 2–0 | 0–1 | 0–4 | 2–4 | 3–2 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 0–3 | 0–2 | 0–5 | 3–0 | 3–1 | 2–0 | — | 9–0 | 6–1 | 2–2 |
| Strathspey Thistle | 0–7 | 0–5 | 0–11 | 0–2 | 2–2 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 0–4 | 0–9 | 1–4 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 0–7 | — | 1–6 | 1–2 |
| Turriff United | 1–1 | 1–4 | 0–4 | 0–1 | 4–1 | 5–1 | 2–4 | 2–0 | 1–4 | 2–1 | 3–2 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–3 | 3–1 | 5–0 | — | 0–3 |
| Wick Academy | 0–8 | 0–3 | 1–7 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 0–3 | 1–1 | 0–6 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 2–0 | — |

## Highland League play-off

Subject to the tier 6 champion clubs meeting the required licensing criteria for promotion, a play-off was scheduled to take place between the winners of the 2022–23 Midlands Football League (Carnoustie Panmure), 2022–23 North Caledonian Football League (Loch Ness) and the 2022–23 North Region Junior Football League (Culter), with the winners then playing the team finishing bottom of the Highland League (Strathspey Thistle). However, none of the tier 6 champions had the required SFA licence and as such there was no promotion to, or relegation from, the Highland League.