1938–39 in Scottish football

The 1938–39 season was the 66th season of competitive football in Scotland and the 49th season of the Scottish Football League. Due to the World War II the league was not officially competed for again until the 1946–47 season. ^[1]

Scottish League Division One

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Rangers	38	25	9	4	112	55	+57	59
2	Celtic	38	20	8	10	99	53	+46	48
3	Aberdeen	38	20	6	12	91	61	+30	46
4	Heart of Midlothian	38	20	5	13	98	70	+28	45
5	Falkirk	38	19	7	12	73	63	+10	45
6	Queen of the South	38	17	9	12	70	64	+6	43
7	Hamilton Academical	38	18	5	15	67	71	−4	41
8	St Johnstone^[a]	38	17	6	15	85	83	+2	40
9	Clyde	38	17	5	16	78	70	+8	39
10	Kilmarnock	38	15	9	14	73	86	−13	39
11	Partick Thistle	38	17	4	17	74	87	−13	38
12	Motherwell	38	16	5	17	82	86	−4	37
13	Hibernian	38	14	7	17	68	69	−1	35
14	Ayr United^[a]	38	13	9	16	76	83	−7	35
15	Third Lanark	38	12	8	18	80	96	−16	32
16	Albion Rovers^[a]	38	12	6	20	65	90	−25	30
17	Arbroath^[a]	38	11	8	19	54	75	−21	30
18	St Mirren	38	11	7	20	57	80	−23	29
19	Queen's Park^[b]	38	11	5	22	57	83	−26	27
20	Raith Rovers^[c]	38	10	2	26	65	99	−34	22

Source: RSSSF^{[dead link‍]}

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Team remained in Division One for the abandoned 1939–40 season, but was not included in Division A when the official competitions resumed in 1946–47.
^ Team was relegated to Division Two for the abandoned 1939–40 season, but were included in Division A when the official competitions resumed in 1946–47.
^ Team relegated to Division Two in 1939–40 and was also in Division B in 1946–47.

Champions: Rangers

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Cowdenbeath^[a]	34	28	4	2	120	45	+75	60
2	Alloa Athletic^[a]	34	22	4	8	91	46	+45	48
3	East Fife	34	21	6	7	99	61	+38	48
4	Airdrieonians	34	21	5	8	85	57	+28	47
5	Dunfermline Athletic	34	18	5	11	99	78	+21	41
6	Dundee	34	15	7	12	99	63	+36	37
7	St Bernard's^[b]	38	15	6	17	39	39	0	36
8	Stenhousemuir	34	15	5	14	74	69	+5	35
9	Dundee United	34	15	3	16	78	69	+9	33
10	Brechin City^[c]	34	11	9	14	82	106	−24	31
11	Dumbarton	34	9	12	13	68	76	−8	30
12	Morton^[d]	34	11	6	17	74	88	−14	28
13	King's Park^[b]	34	12	2	20	87	92	−5	26
14	Montrose^[c]	34	10	5	19	82	96	−14	25
15	Forfar Athletic^[c]	34	11	3	20	74	138	−64	25
16	Leith Athletic^[c]	34	10	4	20	57	83	−26	24
17	East Stirlingshire^[c]	34	9	4	21	89	130	−41	22
18	Edinburgh City^[c]	34	6	4	24	58	119	−61	16

Source: "1938-1939 Division 2 - SPFL Archive". SPFL. Retrieved 2021-04-29.

^ ^a ^b Team was promoted to Division One for the abandoned 1939–40 season, but was not included in Division A when the official competitions resumed in 1946–47.
^ ^a ^b Team did not return to the league when official competitions resumed in 1946–47.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Team was included in Division C in 1946–47.
^ Team was included in Division A in 1946–47.

Clyde were winners of the Scottish Cup after a 4–0 win over Motherwell.

Competition	Winner	Score	Runner-up
Scottish Qualifying Cup - North	Clachnacuddin	5 – 3	Babcock & Wilcox
Scottish Qualifying Cup - South	Penicuik Athletic	5 – 3	St Cuthbert Wanderers

Competition	Winner	Score	Runner-up
Aberdeenshire Cup	Buckie Thistle	7 – 6 *	Peterhead
Ayrshire Cup	Ayr United	5 – 3 *	Kilmarnock
East of Scotland Shield	Hibernian	3 – 1	Hearts
Fife Cup	Dunfermline Athletic	1 – 1^[2]	Raith Rovers
Forfarshire Cup	Arbroath	2 – 0	Dundee United
Glasgow Cup	Celtic	3 – 0	Clyde
Lanarkshire Cup	Hamilton	5 – 1	Airdrie
Perthshire Cup	Blairgowrie	10 – 6 *	Breadalbane
Renfrewshire Cup	Morton	2 – 1^[3]	St Mirren
Southern Counties Cup	Stranraer	8 – 5	Solway Star

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Rutherglen Glencairn were winners of the Junior Cup after a 1–0 win over Shawfield in the final.

Date	Venue	Opponents	Score^[4]	Competition	Scotland scorer(s)
8 October 1938	Windsor Park, Belfast (A)	Northern Ireland	2–0	BHC	Jimmy Delaney, Tommy Walker
9 November 1938	Tynecastle Park, Edinburgh (H)	Wales	3–2	BHC	Tommy Walker (2), Torrance Gillick
7 December 1938	Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow (H)	Hungary	3–1	Friendly	Tommy Walker (pen.), Andy Black, Torrance Gillick
15 April 1939	Hampden Park, Glasgow (H)	England	1–2	BHC	James Dougall

Scotland were joint winners of the 1939 British Home Championship with England and Wales

Key:

^ "1938/39 - the Scottish Football League". Archived from the original on 2012-11-29. Retrieved 2011-12-16.
^ replay - won on toss of coin
^ second replay
^ Scotland's score is shown first.