Scottish Cup - European Qualification

European Qualification

As with all domestic cup competitions in UEFA countries, the winners of the Scottish Cup qualify for the following season's UEFA Europa League (previously the UEFA Cup). If the winners have already qualified for the UEFA Champions League, the cup runners-up are awarded the Europa League place. This has been quite a regular occurrence in Scotland, with either Rangers or Celtic often winning 'The Double', while Aberdeen also achieved that feat in 1984.

In 2006, Heart of Midlothian had already qualified for the UEFA Champions League by finishing second in the SPL, and then won the 2006 Scottish Cup Final. Therefore, the Scottish Cup place in Europe passed to Gretna, the beaten finalists. In 2008, the SFA announced that in such a situation the place would in future be awarded to the highest-placed club in the SPL who had not otherwise qualified for Europe. This followed some disappointing performances by middle-ranking Scottish teams including Gretna, Dunfermline Athletic and Queen of the South. All those clubs were knocked out at the first hurdle of the UEFA Cup which reduced the nation's coefficient, the calculation used to determine the number of places allocated in UEFA tournaments. UEFA blocked the proposed change, however, insisting that a club from the cup competition should represent Scotland. Falkirk therefore qualified for the 2009-10 UEFA Europa League as runners-up of the 2009 Scottish Cup Final to league champions Rangers. Falkirk then lost in their opening European tie to FC Vaduz of Liechtenstein. In 2010, as Dundee United had qualified for the Europa League through both winning the Scottish Cup and finishing in third place in the SPL, the Europa League place passed to Motherwell, who finished fifth in the league.