How many games are in a Scottish Premiership season?
Celtic and Rangers have made football fans all over the world take an interest in the Scottish Premiership, where the action is an intense as ever and the competitive rivalry between the two Old Firm clubs now firmly restored.
Scottish club football is full of rich history, with Alex Ferguson making Aberdeen a European force in the 1980s, Hibernian reaching the semi-finals of the first ever European Cup, and Hearts, Dundee and Dundee United upsetting the Old Firm status quo at one time or another.
How many games are in a Scottish Premiership season?
Teams in the Scottish Premiership each play 38 league matches over the course of a full season.
There are 12 clubs in the top flight and the format has its own unique system. Initially, teams will pay every other side three times until each has played 33 games. At that point, the league splits into a top six and a bottom six, with five more rounds of fixtures contested within each section.
Overall, 228 games will be played in one full Scottish Premiership season.
How are Scottish Premiership fixtures decided?
The Scottish Premiership fixture list is influenced by pre-season seedings that roughly predicts which teams will be in the top six and which will be in the bottom six when the split happens.
That is to try and ensure that every club will play every other home and away twice during the season across their full 38-game season.
However, if results contradict the seedings, it is sometimes impossible to plan, which can throw up an occasional anomaly of a club playing another three times at home and once away, or vice versa.
When does the Scottish Premiership start?
The 2022/23 Scottish Premiership season will start on the weekend of 30/31 July.
Reigning champions Celtic will be at home to Aberdeen on 31 July, with Rangers getting the season underway in a lunchtime kick-off away at Livingston on 30 July.
With some clubs set to lose players for the 2022 World Cup, this season is slightly unusual in that there will be a pause after gameweek 16 on 12/13 November. Things will then get going again on the weekend of 17/18 December, which is actually when the World Cup final is taking place.
When does the Scottish Premiership end?
As a result of the World Cup pause, the 2022/23 Scottish Premiership season will run slightly longer than normal. The final round of fixtures will be played on the weekend of 27/28 May.
However, because the identity of the top six and bottom six are obviously unknown, confirmed fixtures are only planned until 22 April. The final stage fixtures will be scheduled after that date.