# 2001–02 in Scottish football

The 2001–02 season was the 105th season of competitive football in Scotland.

## Key events

Celtic, domestic treble winners a year earlier, retain their Premier League title.
After failing to win anything the previous season, Rangers won the Scottish Cup and League Cup under their new manager Alex McLeish.
Airdrieonians, who narrowly missed out on promotion to the Premier League as First Division runners-up, went out of business of 1 May with debts of nearly £3million. Later that month, however, a new club representing the town of Airdrie - Airdrie United - was formed, with ambitions of gaining Scottish league status for the 2002–03 season.
Livingston, in the Premier League for the first time, finished third and qualified for the UEFA Cup. Livingston, who were known as Meadowbank Thistle until relocating from Edinburgh to Livingston in 1995 and played their first season in their new location as a Third Division club.
Falkirk avoided relegation from the First Division and Stenhousemuir avoided relegation from the Second as a result of the league losing a member. The vacant place in the Third Division was occupied by Gretna, who until then had played in the English non-league system.
Despite Gretna beating Airdrie United to the vacant league place, Airdrie United still gained a league place for the 2002–03 season – in the Second Division – as they bought out the debt-ridden club Clydebank.
Queen of the South won the Second Division league title for the first time in 51-years since they won the Division B league title in season 1950–51. These were the only two occasions that the Dumfries club had won a league title in their history, that was up until they won their third ever league title in season 2012–13, when they won the Second Division once again.

## League Competitions
### Scottish Premier League

The 2001–02 Scottish Premier League was won by Celtic. Rangers finished second and therefore qualified for a UEFA Champions League place alongside Celtic. Livingston, in their debut season in Scotland's top division, qualified for the UEFA Cup along with Aberdeen. St Johnstone were relegated to the First Division.
| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Celtic (C) | 38 | 33 | 4 | 1 | 94 | 18 | +76 | 103 | Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round |
| 2 | Rangers | 38 | 25 | 10 | 3 | 82 | 27 | +55 | 85 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
| 3 | Livingston | 38 | 16 | 10 | 12 | 50 | 47 | +3 | 58 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup qualifying round |
| 4 | Aberdeen | 38 | 16 | 7 | 15 | 51 | 49 | +2 | 55 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup qualifying round |
| 5 | Heart of Midlothian | 38 | 14 | 6 | 18 | 52 | 57 | −5 | 48 | |
| 6 | Dunfermline Athletic | 38 | 12 | 9 | 17 | 41 | 64 | −23 | 45 | |
| 7 | Kilmarnock | 38 | 13 | 10 | 15 | 44 | 54 | −10 | 49 | |
| 8 | Dundee United | 38 | 12 | 10 | 16 | 38 | 59 | −21 | 46 | |
| 9 | Dundee | 38 | 12 | 8 | 18 | 41 | 55 | −14 | 44 | |
| 10 | Hibernian | 38 | 10 | 11 | 17 | 51 | 56 | −5 | 41 | |
| 11 | Motherwell | 38 | 11 | 7 | 20 | 49 | 69 | −20 | 40 | |
| 12 | St Johnstone (R) | 38 | 5 | 6 | 27 | 24 | 62 | −38 | 21 | Relegation to the First Division |
* ↑ Teams played each other three times (33 matches), before the league split into two groups (the top six and the bottom six) for the last five matches.
* ↑ As both finalists of the 2001–02 Scottish Cup, Rangers and Celtic, qualified for European competition via their league position, the cup berth for 2002–03 UEFA Cup was passed to the next-placed team in the league, fourth-placed Aberdeen.

### Scottish First Division

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| 1 | Partick Thistle (C, P) | 36 | 19 | 9 | 8 | 61 | 38 | +23 | 66 | Promotion to the Premier League |
| 2 | Airdrieonians (R) | 36 | 15 | 11 | 10 | 59 | 40 | +19 | 56 | Club folded after the season |
| 3 | Ayr United | 36 | 13 | 13 | 10 | 53 | 44 | +9 | 52 | |
| 4 | Ross County | 36 | 14 | 10 | 12 | 51 | 43 | +8 | 52 | |
| 5 | Clyde | 36 | 13 | 10 | 13 | 51 | 56 | −5 | 49 | |
| 6 | Inverness CT | 36 | 13 | 9 | 14 | 60 | 51 | +9 | 48 | |
| 7 | Arbroath | 36 | 14 | 6 | 16 | 42 | 59 | −17 | 48 | |
| 8 | St Mirren | 36 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 43 | 53 | −10 | 45 | |
| 9 | Falkirk | 36 | 10 | 9 | 17 | 49 | 73 | −24 | 39 | |
| 10 | Raith Rovers (R) | 36 | 8 | 11 | 17 | 50 | 62 | −12 | 35 | Relegation to the Second Division |
* ↑ Falkirk were reprieved from relegation due to Airdrieonians folding.

### Scottish Second Division

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| 1 | Queen of the South (C, P) | 36 | 20 | 7 | 9 | 64 | 42 | +22 | 67 | Promotion to the First Division |
| 2 | Alloa Athletic (P) | 36 | 15 | 14 | 7 | 55 | 33 | +22 | 59 | Promotion to the First Division |
| 3 | Forfar Athletic | 36 | 15 | 8 | 13 | 51 | 47 | +4 | 53 | |
| 4 | Clydebank | 36 | 14 | 9 | 13 | 44 | 45 | −1 | 51 | Club folded after the season |
| 5 | Hamilton Academical | 36 | 13 | 9 | 14 | 49 | 44 | +5 | 48 | |
| 6 | Berwick Rangers | 36 | 12 | 11 | 13 | 44 | 52 | −8 | 47 | |
| 7 | Stranraer | 36 | 10 | 15 | 11 | 48 | 51 | −3 | 45 | |
| 8 | Cowdenbeath | 36 | 11 | 11 | 14 | 49 | 51 | −2 | 44 | |
| 9 | Stenhousemuir | 36 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 33 | 57 | −24 | 36 | |
| 10 | Greenock Morton (R) | 36 | 7 | 14 | 15 | 48 | 63 | −15 | 35 | Relegation to the Third Division |
* ↑ Clydebank folded at the end of the season; their place in the Scottish Football League was subsequently purchased by Airdrie United for the following season.
* ↑ Stenhousemuir were reprieved from relegation due to Aidrieonians folding.

### Scottish Third Division

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion |
| 1 | Brechin City (C, P) | 36 | 22 | 7 | 7 | 67 | 38 | +29 | 73 | Promotion to the Second Division |
| 2 | Dumbarton (P) | 36 | 18 | 7 | 11 | 59 | 48 | +11 | 61 | Promotion to the Second Division |
| 3 | Albion Rovers | 36 | 16 | 11 | 9 | 51 | 32 | +19 | 59 | |
| 4 | Peterhead | 36 | 17 | 5 | 14 | 63 | 52 | +11 | 56 | |
| 5 | Montrose | 36 | 16 | 7 | 13 | 43 | 39 | +4 | 55 | |
| 6 | Elgin City | 36 | 13 | 8 | 15 | 45 | 47 | −2 | 47 | |
| 7 | East Stirlingshire | 36 | 12 | 4 | 20 | 51 | 58 | −7 | 40 | |
| 8 | East Fife | 36 | 11 | 7 | 18 | 39 | 56 | −17 | 40 | |
| 9 | Stirling Albion | 36 | 9 | 10 | 17 | 45 | 68 | −23 | 37 | |
| 10 | Queen's Park | 36 | 9 | 8 | 19 | 38 | 53 | −15 | 35 | |

## Other honours
### Cup honours

| Competition | Winner | Score | Runner-up | Report |
| Scottish Cup 2001–02 | Rangers | 3 – 2 | Celtic | Wikipedia article |
| League Cup 2001–02 | Rangers | 4 – 0 | Ayr United | Wikipedia article |
| Challenge Cup 2001–02 | Airdrieonians | 2 – 1 | Alloa Athletic | Wikipedia article |
| Youth Cup | Rangers | 4 – 2 | Ayr United | |
| Junior Cup | Linlithgow Rose | 1 – 0 | Auchinleck Talbot | |

### Individual honours
#### SPFA awards

| Award | Player | Team |
| Players' Player of the Year | Lorenzo Amoruso | Rangers |
| Young Player of the Year | Kevin McNaughton | Aberdeen |

#### SFWA awards

| Award | Player | Team |
| Footballer of the Year | Paul Lambert | Celtic |
| Young Player of the Year | James McFadden | Motherwell |
| Manager of the Year | Martin O'Neill | Celtic |

## Scottish clubs in Europe

| Club | Competition(s) | Final round | Coef. |
| Celtic | UEFA Champions League UEFA Cup | Group stage Third round | 10.00 |
| Rangers | UEFA Champions League UEFA Cup | Third qualifying round Fourth round | 11.50 |
| Kilmarnock | UEFA Cup | First round | 3.00 |
| Hibernian | UEFA Cup | First round | 2.00 |
Average coefficient - 6.625

## Scotland national team

| Date | Venue | Opponents | Score | Competition | Scotland scorer(s) | Report |
| 1 September | Hampden Park, Glasgow (H) | Croatia | 0–0 | WCQG6 | | BBC Sport |
| 5 September | Stade Roi Baudouin, Brussels (A) | Belgium | 0–2 | WCQG6 | | BBC Sport |
| 6 October | Hampden Park, Glasgow (H) | Latvia | 2–1 | WCQG6 | Dougie Freedman, David Weir | BBC Sport |
| 27 March | Stade de France, Saint-Denis (A) | France | 0–5 | Friendly | | BBC Sport |
| 17 April | Pittodrie, Aberdeen (H) | Nigeria | 1–2 | Friendly | Christian Dailly | BBC Sport |
| 16 May | Asiad Main Stadium, Busan (A) | South Korea | 1–4 | Friendly | Scott Dobie | BBC Sport |
| 20 May | Mongkok Stadium, Hong Kong (N) | South Africa | 0–2 | Friendly | | BBC Sport |
Key:
* (H) = Home match
* (A) = Away match
* WCQG6 = World Cup Qualifying - Group 6