The 2017–18 Scottish Cup was the 133rd season of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. The tournament was sponsored by bookmaker William Hill in what was the seventh season of a nine-year partnership, after contract negotiations saw the initial five-year contract extended for an additional four years in October 2015.[2]
There were three parts to the draw. The first part determined which nine clubs, from the 11 eligible, received a bye to the second preliminary round. The two clubs which did not receive a bye into the second preliminary round entered the first preliminary round. Three ties were then drawn in the first preliminary round to be played on Saturday, 12 August 2017. The final part of the draw saw six ties drawn in the second preliminary round to be played on Saturday, 2 September 2017. Wigtown & Bladnoch were in the draw when it was first announced, but withdrew from the competition before the date of the draw.[6]
Preliminary round one
Draw
Clubs with a valid club licence at the date of the draw are eligible for a bye to the second preliminary round.[6] Teams in Bold advanced to the first round.
Clubs eligible for a bye
Clubs participating in the first preliminary round draw
The first round took place on the weekend of 23 September 2017. Along with the six winners from the second preliminary round, there were 30 new entries at this stage, 14 from the Lowland Football League and 16 from the Highland Football League.[6]
The second round took place on the weekend of 14 October 2017. Along with the 18 winners from the first round, there were 14 new entries at this stage, two from the Lowland Football League, two from the Highland Football League and all 10 from League Two.[6]
The third round took take place on the weekend of 18 November 2017. Along with the 16 winners from the first round, there were 16 new entries at this stage, all 10 from League One and six from the Championship.[6]
Draw
The draw for the third round was made at 5:45pm on Saturday 14 October 2017 at Links Park, Montrose. The draw was made by Archie Knox and Derek Sim, chairman of Links Park Community Trust.[9] The draw had to be re-done following a mix-up that lead to Brora Rangers being drawn twice. Of the 16 ties, 15 had already been drawn, including Glenafton Athletic-Queen of the South and Brora Rangers-Queen's Park, before the mistake was discovered. The Scottish Football Association claimed that the draw had to be re-done due to "a technical issue" in incident mirroring the 2016 quarter-final draw where when one of the balls containing the club names split open before it was pulled out.[10][11]
The fourth round took place on the weekend of 20 January 2018. Along with the 16 winners from the third round, there were 16 new entries at this stage - the remaining four clubs from the Championship, and all 12 from the Premiership.[6]
Draw
The draw for the fourth round was made at 4:45pm on Monday, 20 November 2017. The draw was made by Doddie Weir and Colin Cameron.[12]
From round four onwards, selected matches from the Scottish Cup are broadcast live in the UK and Ireland by BBC Scotland and Sky Sports. BBC Scotland has the option to show one tie per round, with Sky Sports showing two ties per round with one replay; Sky Sports show both semi-finals live with one also on BBC Scotland, and both channels screen the final live.
The following matches are to be broadcast live on UK television:
