2021–22 Scottish Championship

Football league season

Scottish Championship
Season	2021–22
Dates	31 July 2021 – 29 April 2022
Champions	Kilmarnock
Promoted	Kilmarnock
Relegated	Dunfermline Athletic Queen of the South
Matches played	180
Goals scored	432 (2.4 per match)
Top goalscorer	Michael McKenna (15 goals)
Biggest home win	Greenock Morton 5–0 Dunfermline Athletic (8 January 2022)
Biggest away win	Hamilton Academical 1–6 Partick Thistle (15 October 2021) Greenock Morton 1–6 Inverness CT (11 December 2021)
Highest scoring	Raith Rovers 4–4 Hamilton Academical (31 July 2021)
Longest winning run	Inverness CT 5 games
Longest unbeaten run	Raith Rovers 13 games
Longest winless run	Dunfermline Athletic 13 games
Longest losing run	Queen of the South 6 games
Highest attendance	11,500 Kilmarnock 2–1 Arbroath (22 April 2022)
Lowest attendance	197 Queen of the South 0–3 Hamilton Academical (2 January 2022)
← 2020–21 2022–23 → All statistics correct as of 29 April 2022.

The 2021–22 Scottish Championship (known as the cinch Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the ninth season of the Scottish Championship, the second tier of Scottish football. The season began on 31 July.

Ten teams contested the league: Arbroath, Ayr United, Dunfermline Athletic, Greenock Morton, Hamilton Academical, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Kilmarnock, Partick Thistle, Queen of the South and Raith Rovers.

Teams

The following teams changed division after the 2020–21 season.

To Championship

Promoted from League One

Partick Thistle

Relegated from the Premiership

From Championship

Relegated to League One

Alloa Athletic

Promoted to the Premiership

Stadia and locations

Arbroath	Ayr United	Dunfermline Athletic	Greenock Morton
Gayfield Park	Somerset Park	East End Park	Cappielow
Capacity: 6,600^[1]	Capacity: 10,185^[2]	Capacity: 11,480^[3]	Capacity: 11,589^[4]

Hamilton Academical	Arbroath Ayr United Dunfermline Morton Hamilton Inverness Caledonian Thistle Kilmarnock Partick Thistle Queen of the South Raith Rovers class=notpageimage\| Location of teams in 2021–22 Scottish Championship		Inverness Caledonian Thistle
New Douglas Park			Caledonian Stadium
Capacity: 6,018^[5]			Capacity: 7,750^[6]

Kilmarnock	Partick Thistle	Queen of the South	Raith Rovers
Rugby Park	Firhill Stadium	Palmerston Park	Stark's Park
Capacity: 17,889^[7]	Capacity: 10,102^[8]	Capacity: 8,690^[9]	Capacity: 8,867^[10]

Personnel and kits


Team	Manager	Captain	Kit Manufacturer	Shirt Sponsor
Arbroath	Dick Campbell	Thomas O'Brien	Macron	Megatech^[11]
Ayr United	Lee Bullen	Sean McGinty	Hummel^[12]	Bitcoin BCH^[13]
Dunfermline Athletic	John Hughes	Graham Dorrans	Joma^[14]	SRJ Windows^[14]
Greenock Morton	Dougie Imrie	Kyle Jacobs	est 1874	McGill's
Hamilton Academical	Stuart Taylor	Brian Easton	Adidas	Cullen^[15]
Inverness Caledonian Thistle	Billy Dodds	Sean Welsh	Puma^[16]	ILI Group^[16]
Kilmarnock	Derek McInnes	Chris Stokes	Hummel^[17]	Brownings The Bakers^[18]
Partick Thistle	Ian McCall	Ross Docherty	O'Neills	Just Employment Law^[19]
Queen of the South	Willie Gibson	Josh Todd	Macron^[20]	Rosefield Salvage^[21]
Raith Rovers	John McGlynn	Kyle Benedictus	Joma^[22]	valmcdermid.com^[22](Home) TAG (Away)

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Inverness Caledonian Thistle	Neil McCann	End of interim spell	1 May 2021	Pre-season	Billy Dodds	1 June 2021
Dunfermline Athletic	Stevie Crawford	Resigned	18 May 2021	Pre-season	Peter Grant	28 May 2021
Hamilton Academical	Brian Rice		11 August 2021	5th	Stuart Taylor	20 August 2021
Ayr United	David Hopkin		9 September 2021	9th	Jim Duffy	9 September 2021
Dunfermline Athletic	Peter Grant	Sacked	31 October 2021	10th	John Hughes	12 November 2021
Greenock Morton	Gus MacPherson		4 December 2021	8th	Dougie Imrie	21 December 2021
Kilmarnock	Tommy Wright		18 December 2021	5th	Derek McInnes	4 January 2022
Ayr United	Jim Duffy		20 December 2021	8th	Lee Bullen	7 January 2022
Queen of the South	Allan Johnston		13 February 2022	10th	Willie Gibson	13 February 2022

League summary

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Kilmarnock (C, P)	36	20	7	9	50	27	+23	67	Promotion to the Premiership
2	Arbroath	36	17	14	5	54	28	+26	65	Qualification for the Premiership play-off semi-final
3	Inverness Caledonian Thistle	36	16	11	9	53	34	+19	59	Qualification for the Premiership play-off quarter-final
4	Partick Thistle	36	14	10	12	46	40	+6	52	Qualification for the Premiership play-off quarter-final
5	Raith Rovers	36	12	14	10	44	44	0	50
6	Hamilton Academical	36	10	12	14	38	53	−15	42
7	Greenock Morton	36	9	13	14	36	47	−11	40
8	Ayr United	36	9	12	15	39	52	−13	39
9	Dunfermline Athletic (R)	36	7	14	15	36	53	−17	35	Qualification for the Championship play-offs
10	Queen of the South (R)	36	8	9	19	36	54	−18	33	Relegation to League One

Source: ^[23]^[24]
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-to head points; 5) Head-to-head goal difference; 6) Play-off (only for deciding promotion, play-off participation and relegation).^[25]
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated

Positions by round

The table lists the positions of teams after each week of matches. To preserve chronological evolvements, any postponed matches are not included in the round at which they were originally scheduled, but added to the full round they were played immediately afterwards. For example, if a match is scheduled for round 13, but then postponed and played between rounds 16 and 17, it is added to the standings for round 16.

Source: ^[23]

Results

Teams play each other four times, twice in the first half of the season (home and away) and twice in the second half of the season (home and away), making a total of 180 games, with each team playing 36.

First half of season (Matches 1–18)

Home \ Away	ARB	AYR	DNF	GMO	HAM	ICT	KIL	PAR	QOS	RAI
Arbroath	—	1–1	4–2	2–1	4–0	0–1	0–0	3–1	1–1	0–0
Ayr United	2–2	—	3–1	0–0	1–1	2–2	0–1	0–4	2–1	0–2
Dunfermline Athletic	0–3	3–0	—	1–3	0–0	0–0	2–2	0–3	3–3	1–1
Greenock Morton	2–2	2–2	2–2	—	1–1	1–6	0–2	0–0	2–3	0–1
Hamilton Academical	1–1	0–2	1–0	0–1	—	2–1	0–2	1–6	1–0	0–3
Inverness Caledonian Thistle	0–1	1–0	1–2	2–0	1–2	—	1–0	3–1	2–1	1–0
Kilmarnock	0–1	2–0	2–1	1–0	2–1	0–1	—	0–1	4–0	1–3
Partick Thistle	0–2	4–0	0–0	3–0	1–0	0–0	0–2	—	3–2	1–0
Queen of the South	0–2	3–0	1–0	0–0	1–2	1–2	0–1	0–0	—	1–1
Raith Rovers	2–1	2–1	1–1	2–1	4–4	1–1	1–0	3–2	0–1	—

Source: ^[26]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second half of season (Matches 19–36)

Home \ Away	ARB	AYR	DNF	GMO	HAM	ICT	KIL	PAR	QOS	RAI
Arbroath	—	1–0	1–0	3–0	2–2	0–0	1–0	1–1	5–1	3–3
Ayr United	1–0	—	1–1	0–2	1–1	2–2	1–3	3–1	0–1	2–0
Dunfermline Athletic	0–3	2–1	—	1–1	1–0	1–1	0–0	4–1	1–2	2–0
Greenock Morton	0–0	1–1	5–0	—	0–1	0–1	1–1	2–1	2–1	2–2
Hamilton Academical	0–1	1–1	2–2	1–0	—	1–1	2–3	2–2	1–0	0–2
Inverness Caledonian Thistle	3–0	1–2	2–0	0–1	4–0	—	2–1	3–3	2–2	1–1
Kilmarnock	2–1	1–2	2–0	1–1	2–0	1–0	—	2–1	2–1	3–0
Partick Thistle	0–0	1–0	1–0	0–1	0–4	1–0	1–1	—	1–0	0–1
Queen of the South	0–0	1–1	0–2	3–0	0–3	2–1	0–2	0–1	—	0–1
Raith Rovers	1–2	0–4	0–0	0–1	0–0	2–3	1–1	0–0	3–3	—

Source: ^[26]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

Scoring

Top scorers

As of 29 April 2022

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Michael McKenna	Arbroath	15
2	Oli Shaw	Kilmarnock	14
3	Brian Graham	Partick Thistle	13
4	Tomi Adeloye	Ayr United	11
5	Shane Sutherland	Inverness CT	10

Awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month
Month	Manager	Club	Player	Club
August	Billy Dodds	Inverness CT	Michael McKenna	Arbroath
September	Dick Campbell	Arbroath	Joel Nouble	Arbroath
October	John McGlynn	Raith Rovers	Oli Shaw	Kilmarnock
November	Ian McCall	Partick Thistle	Ethan Ross	Raith Rovers
December	Dick Campbell	Arbroath	Anton Dowds	Arbroath
January	Dougie Imrie	Greenock Morton	Gavin Reilly	Greenock Morton
February	Dougie Imrie	Greenock Morton	Kyle Lafferty	Kilmarnock
March	Derek McInnes	Kilmarnock	Kyle Lafferty	Kilmarnock
April	Derek McInnes	Kilmarnock	Logan Chalmers	Inverness CT

Championship play-offs

The semi-finals will be contested by the teams placed second to fourth in Scottish League One, as well as the team placed ninth in the Scottish Championship. The winners will advance to the final, with the highest-ranked team hosting the second leg.^[27]

Bracket

Semifinals					Final

1	Dunfermline Athletic	0	0	0

4	Queen's Park	0	1	1
					Airdrieonians	1	1	2

					Queen's Park (a.e.t.)	1	2	3
3	Airdrieonians (a.e.t.)	0	6	6

2	Montrose	1	4	5

Semi-finals

First leg

Queen's Park v Dunfermline Athletic

4 May 2022	Queen's Park	0–0	Dunfermline Athletic	Glasgow
19:45				Stadium: Firhill Stadium Attendance: 1,403 Referee: Colin Steven

Montrose v Airdrieonians

3 May 2022	Montrose	1–0	Airdrieonians	Montrose
19:45	Johnston 8'			Stadium: Links Park Attendance: 1,362 Referee: Graham Grainger

Second leg

Dunfermline Athletic v Queen's Park

7 May 2022	Dunfermline Athletic	0–1 (0–1 agg.)	Queen's Park	Dunfermline
15:00			Murray 89'	Stadium: East End Park Attendance: 3,179 Referee: Craig Napier

Airdrieonians v Montrose

7 May 2022	Airdrieonians	6–4 (a.e.t.) (6–5 agg.)	Montrose	Airdrie
15:00	Smith 53', 70', 75' Gallagher 86' Afolabi 105' G.McGill 119'		Ballantyne 12', 26' Milne 69' Rennie 120'	Stadium: Excelsior Stadium Attendance: 2,080 Referee: Alan Newlands

Final

First leg

Queen's Park v Airdrieonians

12 May 2022	Queen's Park	1–1	Airdrieonians	Glasgow
19:30	Murray 64'		McCabe 87' (pen.)	Stadium: Firhill Stadium Attendance: 1,899 Referee: Gavin Duncan

Second leg

Airdrieonians v Queen's Park

15 May 2022	Airdrieonians	1–2 (a.e.t.) (2–3 agg.)	Queen's Park	Airdrie
13:10	McCabe 13'		Smith 17' Murray 112' (pen.)	Stadium: Excelsior Stadium Attendance: 3,026 Referee: Steven McLean

References

^ "Arbroath Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
^ "Ayr United Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
^ "Dunfermline Athletic Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
^ "Greenock Morton Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Archived from the original on 19 April 2023. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
^ "Hamilton Academical Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Archived from the original on 16 October 2013. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
^ "Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
^ "Kilmarnock Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Archived from the original on 3 May 2017. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
^ "Partick Thistle Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Archived from the original on 6 May 2017. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
^ "Queen of the South Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
^ "Raith Rovers Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Archived from the original on 22 October 2013. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
^ "New strips – sneak peak!". Arbroath FC. 24 June 2017. Archived from the original on 6 May 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
^ "Hummel partner club in record deal". Ayr United FC. 24 March 2020. Archived from the original on 13 September 2020. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
^ "New sponsor announced". Ayr United F.C. 10 April 2018. Archived from the original on 1 May 2018. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
^ ^a ^b "Away kit launched". Dunfermline Athletic FC. 14 June 2017. Retrieved 24 June 2017.
^ "Hamilton announce fantastic new two year partnership with Cullen". Hamilton Academical FC. 21 July 2020. Archived from the original on 16 January 2021. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
^ ^a ^b "New partners and new kit for season 2020-21". Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C. 5 June 2020. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
^ "CLUB SIGN CLUB-RECORD KIT DEAL WITH HUMMEL". Kilmarnock FC. 26 February 2020. Archived from the original on 15 January 2021. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
^ "STORY OF THE SHIRT: 2020/21". Kilmarnock FC. 5 June 2020. Archived from the original on 16 January 2021. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
^ "Just Employment Law backs the Jags for another season". Partick Thistle F.C. 11 June 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
^ "Introducing ... 2017/18 kit". Queen of the South F.C. 27 April 2017. Archived from the original on 15 April 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
^ "QosFC: Shirt Draw". Archived from the original on 2021-04-29.
^ ^a ^b "introducing our 2020-21 home kit". Raith Rovers FC. 28 May 2020. Archived from the original on 5 June 2020. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
^ ^a ^b "Scottish Championship Table". BBC. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
^ "cinch Championship League Table". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
^ "The Rules of the Scottish Professional Football League" (PDF). SPFL. pp. 38–39. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
^ ^a ^b "cinch Championship League Results". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
^ "SPFL confirms play-off schedule | SPFL". spfl.co.uk.

External links

Official website

Scottish Professional Football League

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Divisions

Cup competitions

2023–24 Premiership teams

2023–24 Championship teams

2023–24 League One teams

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Former teams

Seasons

v t e Second tier football seasons in Scotland
Division Two / B	1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–00 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75
First Division	1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13
Championship	2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24
Winners	List of winners of the Scottish Championship and predecessors

v t e 2021–22 in Scottish football
« 2020–21 2022–23 »
Domestic leagues	SPFL Premiership Championship League One League Two Highland Lowland Midlands North Caledonian North Superleague East of Scotland South of Scotland West of Scotland Women's Premier League SWPL 1 SWPL 2 Women's Championship North South
Domestic cups	Scottish Cup Final League Cup Group stage Final Challenge Cup Final South Region Challenge Cup Junior Cup Youth Cup Women's Cup Final Women's Premier League Cup
European competitions	Champions League Europa League Europa Conference League Youth League
Related to national team	Results Men's Women's 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA) 2022–23 UEFA Nations League 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification (UEFA)
Transfers	Summer 2021 Winter 2021–22
Club seasons
Premiership	Aberdeen Celtic Dundee Dundee United Heart of Midlothian Hibernian Livingston Motherwell Rangers Ross County St Johnstone St Mirren
Championship	Arbroath Ayr United Dunfermline Athletic Greenock Morton Hamilton Academical Inverness Caledonian Thistle Kilmarnock Partick Thistle Queen of the South Raith Rovers
League One	Airdrieonians Alloa Athletic Clyde Cove Rangers Dumbarton East Fife Falkirk Montrose Peterhead Queen's Park
League Two	Albion Rovers Annan Athletic Cowdenbeath Edinburgh City Elgin City Forfar Athletic Kelty Hearts Stenhousemuir Stirling Albion Stranraer