It was first presented to Queen's Park, who won the final match of the inaugural tournament in March 1874.

[4] The current holders are Celtic, who won the tournament for the 42nd time by defeating Rangers 1–0 in the 2024 final.

[6] The Scottish Cup Final is usually the last game of the season, taking place at the end of May.

From the fourth round onwards, if the game ended in a draw there was no replay; 30 minutes of extra time would be played, followed by a penalty shoot-out if there is still no winner.

[10] Clubs which are not full members of the SFA may still qualify for the tournament by winning one of the six leagues at tier 6 in the Scottish football league system (East, Midlands, North Caledonian, North Region, South, West) or the East, South and West of Scotland Cup-Winners Shield.

[1] In order to play in the final match, a player must have also been registered to compete in the semi-final round for the same club.

[1] In the event of a game ending in a draw, the venue for the replay is the home ground of the second club drawn.

[1] The venue – across three sites in close proximity bearing the name – has hosted the majority of finals including the first in 1874.

The last game of the 1896 tournament is the only final that has been hosted outside Glasgow when rivals Heart of Midlothian and Hibernian played at New Logie Green in Edinburgh.

In this scenario, the qualification spot passes to the highest ranked team in that competition not yet qualified, rather than to the Scottish Cup runners-up.

[25] The solid silver trophy is 50 cm (1 ft 8 in) in height and weighs 2.25 kg (72 ozt).

[32] Celtic have completed the domestic league and Scottish Cup double on 19 occasions, followed by Rangers on 18.

[32] Since the creation of the Scottish League Cup in 1947, clubs can complete a domestic treble by also winning this tournament in the same season.

East Fife had previously reached the final in 1927 after eliminating three higher ranked clubs in the preceding rounds.

Only one other club from outside the top-tier of league football has won the competition; non-league Queen's Park defeated Celtic in the 1893 final.

These include Dumbarton, Kilmarnock, Airdrieonians, Falkirk (twice), Gretna, Queen of the South, Ross County, Hearts and Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

In 1959, Dundee were eliminated by Highland League club Fraserburgh despite having Scotland internationals in their squad.

[38] In the 2020–21 competition Highland League club Brora Rangers knocked out Championship leaders Heart of Midlothian, who had been runners-up in each of the two previous seasons.

[39] Cup holders St Johnstone were knocked out by League Two (fourth tier) club Kelty Hearts in 2021–22.

[41] This was the biggest statistical cup shock in the history of the competition, with 62 places separating the teams in the leagues at the time.

[41] Later in that season West of Scotland Premier Division (sixth tier) side Darvel knocked out Premiership club Aberdeen, with 56 places separating the two teams.

The competition relies on revenue earned from these agreements although it ran without a title sponsor for over 100 years until the late 1980s.

[49] The 2009–10 competition was known the Active Nation Scottish Cup to promote a healthy living through football.