The final example of this was ahead of the 2008–09 season, where Gretna's demise allowed Annan Athletic to take their place.
Overall, the structure of men's football in Scotland was among the most fractured and multi-faceted in Europe, being unique in having a plurality of adult male governing bodies (with Seniors, Juniors, Amateurs and Welfarers - see below).
[2] On 7 May 2013 Scottish Premier League clubs unanimously agreed on the introduction of a pyramid structure to Scottish football along with the reintroduction of a single governing body for the 42 clubs competing at a national level, a revised financial distribution model, and the possibility of a promotion/relegation play-off between the top two divisions.
All 42 SPFL clubs compete in the Scottish League Cup, along with the Highland and Lowland champions, and one additional invited team.
The Scottish Challenge Cup features 30 SPFL clubs from outside the Premiership, Under 21s teams, and four from the Highland and Lowland leagues.
The SFA South Region Challenge Cup is for all 164 non-league clubs in the Lowland area (excluding reserve or B teams).
[citation needed] Members of the SJFA, consisting of 114 teams in total from the two regions as well as the East of Scotland League and West of Scotland League (5 teams are in abeyance for 2022–23), participate in the Scottish Junior Cup.
In 2020, as part of a long process to form an integrated footballing pyramid structure, all 63 West Region Junior clubs decided to depart and join the newly founded West of Scotland Football League, a feeder to the Lowland League.
[8] In February 2025, the SJFA acknowledged the request of teams participating in the East and North Regions to become autonomous within the Scottish Football Association structure, which would leave the organisation responsible for the Junior Cup only.
[9] Again separate from the above, and generally agreed to lie 'below' the senior and junior levels, are the hundreds of clubs in membership of the Scottish Amateur Football Association which oversees 50 leagues[10][11][12] - although this includes Sunday League football and futsal competitions.
A number of Senior and Junior clubs run reserve teams in Amateur football.
In addition there are 137 teams playing in four specialist Saturday Morning leagues (including one for Glasgow Colleges Amateur Football Association) in Dundee and Glasgow, plus 22 teams playing in Strathclyde Evangelical Churches Football League.
The SWFA was established in the aftermath of World War I, and oversees leagues mainly operating Sunday and summer or midweek football, predominantly in the north of Scotland.