The Scottish Premier League, also known as the SPL, was rated the 15th best league in Europe by UEFA in 2010 and it is watched by a higher proporition of the population per head than any other domestic football league in Europe.
Of course, the SPL is dominated by the Old Firm of Rangers and Celtic, but the 12 teams making up the Premier League certainly offers excellent footballing entertainment and passion, an experience not to be missed.
The Football Travel Guide is here to help you make the most of your football day from important club contact numbers and web addresses to great quality and competitively priced hotel accommodation close to the ground.
ScottishPremier League - what's at stake?
Kicking off in August, the Premier League pits 12 teams against each other over the course of 10 grueling months. The season is divided into two phases.
During the first phase, each club plays three games against every other team, either once at home and twice away or vice-versa. After this first phase of matches, by which time all clubs will have played 33 games, the league splits into a 'top six' and a 'bottom six'. Each club then plays a further five matches against the other five teams in their own section.
Points achieved during the first phase of 33 matches are carried forward to the second phase, but the teams will compete only within their own sections during the second phase. After the first phase has been completed, clubs cannot move out of their own section in the league, even if they achieve more or fewer points than a higher or lower ranked team, respectively.
At the end of the season the top team is crowned Champions and qualifies for the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League.
The teams finishing second enter the play off rounds for the next seasons UEFA Europa League. Third and Fourth places can also qualify the Europa League qualifying rounds dDepending on who wins the cup competitions and Fair Play Awards.
At the other end of the final season table, the team who finishes at bottom of the table are relegated (demoted) to the Scottish Division One.
What happened in the SPL 2010/11
Rangers picked up the title for the 3rd consecutive year, holding off Celtic by just 1 point. Rangers qualified for the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round while Celtic qualified for the UEFA Europa League Play Off round. Hearts grabbed third place and Dundee United 4th to secure places in the early qualifying rounds of the UEFA Europa League.
Hamilton Academical won only 5 games during the season and were relegated.
What happened in the SPL 2009/10
For the second year running Rangers won the title, losing just 3 games all season. As you would expect, Old Firm partners, Celtic were runners up after a disappointing season while Dundee United secured third place with te best ever SPL campaign.
Hibernian and Motherwell secured the other Europa Cup places alongside Dundee United.
Falkirk found themselves in the bottom two for the second year running but on this occasion their luck run out and they were relegated when Kilmarnock clung on.
Which clubs have had most top-six finishes since the mid season SPL split was introduced?
10 - Celtic, Rangers
9 - Hearts
7 - Hibernian
6 - Aberdeen
4 - Kilmarnock, Dundee United, Motherwell
3 - Dunfermline
2 - Dundee
1 - Livingston
Best winning starts
8 - Rangers (1999/00)
8 - Celtic (2000/01)
8 - Hearts (2005/06)
Consecutive SPL wins
25 - Celtic (2003/04)
14 - Celtic (2001/02)
13 - Rangers (2007/08)
12 - Celtic (2008/09)
11 - Celtic (2006/07)
Top title winners
Since the creation of the SPL in 1998 it has only been won by Rangers of Celtic with the score currently 7 to 6. More interesting is who has finished 3rd each year as this is rarely the same team twice as they desperately fight to break in to the Old Firm action.
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