Governing body of football in Scotland
Scottish Football Association
UEFA
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Founded
| 13 March 1873
; 151 years ago
(
1873-03-13
)
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Headquarters
| Hampden Park
, Glasgow, G42 9AY
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FIFA
affiliation
|
- 1910?1920
- 1924?1928
- 1946?present
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UEFA
affiliation
| 1954
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IFAB
affiliation
| 1886
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President
| Mike Mulraney
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Vice-President
| Les Gray
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Website
| www
.scottishfa
.co
.uk
|
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The
Scottish Football Association
(also known as the
Scottish FA
and the
SFA
;
Scots
:
Scots Fitba Association
;
Scottish Gaelic
:
Comann Ball-coise na h-Alba
) is the
governing body
of
football
in Scotland and has the ultimate responsibility for the control and development of
football in Scotland
. Members of the SFA include
clubs in Scotland
, affiliated national associations as well as local associations. It was formed in 1873, making it
the second oldest
national football association in the world. It is not to be confused with the
Scottish Football Union
, which is the name that the SRU was known by until the 1920s.
The Scottish Football Association is a member of both
UEFA
and
FIFA
and holds a permanent seat on the
International Football Association Board
(IFAB) which is responsible for the
Laws of the Game
. It is based at
Hampden Park
in Glasgow.
[1]
In addition, the
Scottish Football Museum
is located there.
The Scottish Football Association is responsible for the operation of the
Scotland national football team
, the annual
Scottish Cup
and several other duties important to the functioning of the game in Scotland.
History
[
edit
]
Formation
[
edit
]
Following the formation of Scotland's earliest football clubs in the 1860s, football experienced a rapid growth but there was no formal structure, and matches were often arranged in a haphazard and irregular fashion.
Queen's Park
, a Glasgow club founded in 1867, took the lead, and following an advertisement in a Glasgow newspaper in 1873, representatives from seven clubs ? Queen's Park,
Clydesdale
,
Vale of Leven
,
Dumbreck
,
Third Lanark
,
Eastern
and
Granville
? attended a meeting on 13 March 1873. Furthermore,
Kilmarnock
sent a letter stating their willingness to join.
That day, these eight clubs formed the Scottish Football Association, and resolved that:
The clubs here represented form themselves into an association for the promotion of football according to the rules of
The Football Association
and that the clubs connected with this association subscribe for a challenge cup to be played for annually, the committee to propose the laws of the competition.
[3]
Founding members
[
edit
]
The following eight football clubs founded the Scottish Football Association:
Chief Executive/Secretary
[
edit
]
The chief executive of the Scottish Football Association oversees the development of football in Scotland and the administration of disciplinary matters, and is also responsible for the general organisation of the national side. One of the most prominent roles of the chief executive is to hire and dismiss
Scotland national football team managers
.
[4]
Association overview
[
edit
]
National teams
[
edit
]
As well as the
Scotland national football team
, the Scottish Football Association is also currently responsible for organising the
Scotland B national football team
, as well as men's national teams at
under-21
,
under-19
, under-18 and
under-17
levels. There was also a
semi-professional team
, but this was disbanded in 2008.
[10]
In women's football, there is the full
Scotland women's national football team
, under-19 and under-17 teams. In
Futsal
, there is a full
national side
.
Club competitions
[
edit
]
The Scottish Football Association organises the
Scottish Cup
and the
Scottish Youth Cup
. Although the SFA are not involved in the day-to-day operation of the
Scottish Professional Football League
or other league competitions, they do appoint
referees
to officiate the games in these leagues, as well as dealing with player registrations and disciplinary issues.
[3]
Club licensing
[
edit
]
The Scottish Football Association encourages quality of governance in football clubs through a system of club licence awards. All SFA member clubs are assessed annually in four areas (ground, first team, youth team, and governance) and, if appropriate, awarded a licence at platinum, gold, silver, bronze or entry level. As of June 2023,
[update]
[11]
only
Celtic
and
Rangers
have been awarded a platinum-level licence, while two others (
Hibernian
and
St Johnstone
) hold gold-level licences. All clubs in the
Scottish Professional Football League
,
Highland Football League
, and
Lowland Football League
are required to be licensed at entry level or above.
Performance Schools
[
edit
]
The Scottish Football Association established a number of performance schools around Scotland in 2012 with the aim of developing footballing talent in young people and at grassroots level. The programme is for under-12 players, and will provide them with 800 hours of additional coaching.
[12]
As of June 2023
[update]
, seven performance schools exist:
Member clubs
[
edit
]
As of June 2023,
[update]
124 clubs are full members of the Scottish Football Association, comprising:
[11]
- All 42 clubs in the
Scottish Professional Football League
- All 18 clubs in the
Highland Football League
- All 16 clubs in the
Lowland Football League
- 2 clubs in the
Midlands Football League
:
- 2 clubs in the
North Caledonian League
:
- 24 clubs in the
East of Scotland Football League
:
- Blackburn United
,
Broxburn Athletic
,
Burntisland Shipyard
,
Camelon Juniors
,
Coldstream
,
Dalkeith Thistle
,
Dunbar United
,
Dundonald Bluebell
,
Dunipace
,
Easthouses Lily Miners Welfare
,
Haddington Athletic
,
Hawick Royal Albert
,
Hill of Beath Hawthorn
,
Jeanfield Swifts
,
Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale
,
Musselburgh Athletic
,
Newtongrange Star
,
Penicuik Athletic
,
Preston Athletic
,
Sauchie Juniors
,
St Andrews United
,
Tynecastle
,
Vale of Leithen
, and
Whitehill Welfare
- 5 clubs in the
South of Scotland Football League
:
- 15 clubs in the
West of Scotland Football League
:
- Auchinleck Talbot
,
Benburb
,
Bonnyton Thistle
,
Carluke Rovers
,
Clydebank
,
Cumnock Juniors
,
Darvel
,
Girvan
,
Glasgow University
,
Glenafton Athletic
,
Irvine Meadow XI
,
Kilwinning Rangers
,
Pollok
,
Rutherglen Glencairn
, and
Threave Rovers
Affiliated associations
[
edit
]
National associations
[
edit
]
The Scottish Football Association has affiliated to it the following seven national associations:
[20]
Local associations
[
edit
]
There are 10 local associations affiliated and the competitions they manage are also listed below:
[20]
|
- Southern Counties Football Association
- Stirlingshire Football Association
- West of Scotland Football Association
- Wigtownshire & District Football Association
- 5
North Caledonian Football Association
competitions also registered:
|
Recognised leagues
[
edit
]
The following six leagues with their affiliated leagues and cups are recognised by The Scottish Football Association:
[20]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
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Founding members
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Member of
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Chief Executives
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Affiliates
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Performance Schools
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Related articles
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Scotland national football teams
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General
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Venues
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Statistics
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Results
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Players
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Goals
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World Finals
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European Finals
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Other tournaments
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Culture
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Matches
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SFA teams
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Home Nations
|
- England
- Northern Ireland
- Scotland
- Wales
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British Overseas Territories
|
- Anguilla
- Bermuda
- British Virgin Islands
- Cayman Islands
- Gibraltar
- Montserrat
- Turks and Caicos Islands
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Summer Olympics Representative Team
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Unaffiliated teams
| |
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Non-FIFA teams
|
- Ellan Vannin
- Parishes of Jersey
- Kernow (Cornwall)
- Yorkshire
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Ball games
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Others
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Women's sport
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See also
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Summer Olympic sports
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Winter Olympic sports
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Other IOC recognised sports
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Disability and Paralympic sports
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Other sports
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