1964–65 Scottish Division One

The 1964–65 Scottish Division One was won by Kilmarnock on goal average, ahead of Hearts. Airdrieonians and Third Lanark finished 17th and 18th respectively and were relegated to the 1965-66 Second Division.

In one of the closest finishes ever seen in a league competition in Britain, Hearts played Kilmarnock at Tynecastle on the last day of the season, holding a two-point lead over the Ayrshire club and a slightly better goal average. Kilmarnock had to beat Hearts by 2–0, or by a greater winning margin, to win the title. Any result better than a 2–0 defeat for Hearts, including other two-goal losing margins where Hearts scored six goals or more (e.g. 6-8) would have made Hearts champions. Realistically, Kilmarnock needed to win by two clear goals, which was the result they achieved by defeating Hearts 2–0 with first-half goals from Davie Sneddon and Brien McIlroy, giving them a goal average of 1.878 as against Hearts' 1.836. If goal difference had been the rule Hearts would have won the title. At the time, it was the only occasion that the championship was decided on the final day between the two challengers directly (in 1891 and 1905 a playoff took place when the top two finished level on points); the rare situation occurred again in 1991, and then in 2026.^[1][2]

To date, this was also the first and only time that neither of the Old Firm clubs finished in the top four of the top flight, and the fifth and last season (following 1897, 1903, 1904 and 1960, four also featuring Hearts) that neither Glasgow club finished in the top two.^[3] The situation reversed completely the following season, as Rangers and Celtic were the finalists in both cups and finished first and second in the league.^[3]