The Scottish Premiership is Scotland's top flight and the home of the Old Firm, the fixture between Celtic and Rangers that shapes the title race almost every season. Beyond Glasgow, Aberdeen, Hearts and Hibernian carry big travelling supports and long histories, and the smaller grounds produce an atmosphere that television rarely does justice. The league splits into a top half and a bottom half late in the campaign, which turns the final rounds into two separate scraps - one for Europe, one for survival.
How to Predict Scottish Premiership Matches
Scottish league football dates back to 1890 and the modern Premiership carries all of that weight, from Celtic's 1967 European Cup win to the derby that has run since the nineteenth century. The post-split format is the league's defining quirk: once the fixtures are divided, every remaining match is played against a direct rival, so the run-in is unusually intense at both ends of the table. Celtic and Rangers dominate the honours, but Aberdeen, Hearts and Hibernian have all had spells of pushing them, and cup upsets are part of the Scottish calendar.
Late in the season the league divides into a top half and a bottom half, and clubs then play only within their own section for the remaining fixtures. Nobody can move between the halves after the split, so the top group is a straight fight for the title and European places while the bottom group is about avoiding relegation. For predictions it means the run-in is packed with matches between sides with something real riding on the result.
How do Old Firm matches work for predictions?
Celtic against Rangers is the most heavily contested fixture in Scotland and it rarely follows the form book, which makes it one of the more interesting matches to call. Correct score, next team to score and half result all tend to swing on a single moment. On CalledItMate the lobby opens 30 minutes before kick-off, and you can keep predicting during the match, with points landing the instant the game confirms your call.
When are Scottish Premiership matches played?
Most Premiership fixtures land on Saturday afternoon, with selected matches moved to Saturday lunchtime, Sunday or a midweek evening for television. Times are set in UK time, and CalledItMate shows every fixture in your own time zone. Scotland also plays through the winter with a short break, so there are live matches to predict at points in the calendar when several other European leagues are shut down.
