2025–26 Scottish League One

Football league season From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 2025–26 Scottish League One (known as William Hill League One for sponsorship reasons) was the 13th season of Scottish League One, the third tier of Scottish football. The season began on 2 August 2025.[1]

Season2025–26
Dates2 August 2025 – 2 May 2026
ChampionsInverness Caledonian Thistle
PromotedInverness Caledonian Thistle
Stenhousemuir
Quick facts Season, Dates ...
Scottish League One
Season2025–26
Dates2 August 2025 – 2 May 2026
ChampionsInverness Caledonian Thistle
PromotedInverness Caledonian Thistle
Stenhousemuir
RelegatedKelty Hearts
Matches180
Goals476 (2.64 per match)
Top goalscorerOli Shaw
(19 goals)
Biggest home winStenhousemuir 5–0 East Fife (10 January 2026)
Biggest away winKelty Hearts 0–4 Hamilton Academical (20 September 2025)
Montrose 0–4 Hamilton Academical (18 October 2025)
Montrose 0–4 Alloa Athletic (8 November 2025)
Peterhead 0–4 Cove Rangers (27 December 2025)
East Fife 1–5 Queen of the South (24 January 2026)
Highest scoringMontrose 5–4 Alloa Athletic (14 March 2026)
Longest winning runInverness Caledonian Thistle
(5 games)
Longest unbeaten runInverness Caledonian Thistle
(18 games)
Longest winless runKelty Hearts
(12 games)
Longest losing runEast Fife
(7 games)
Highest attendance5,029
Inverness Caledonian Thistle v Hamilton Academical
(2 May 2026)
Lowest attendance240
Cove Rangers v Alloa Athletic
(4 April 2026)
Total attendance141,769
Average attendance787
All statistics correct as of 2 May 2026.
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Ten teams contested the league: Alloa Athletic, Cove Rangers, East Fife, Hamilton Academical, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Kelty Hearts, Montrose, Peterhead, Queen of the South and Stenhousemuir.

Teams

The following teams changed division after the 2024–25 season.

Stadia and locations

More information Alloa Athletic, Cove Rangers ...
Alloa Athletic Cove Rangers East Fife Hamilton Academical
Recreation Park Balmoral Stadium Bayview Stadium Broadwood Stadium[2][a]
Capacity: 3,100[3] Capacity: 2,602[4] Capacity: 1,980[5] Capacity: 8,086[6]
Inverness Caledonian Thistle
Location of teams in 2025–26 Scottish League One
 Kelty Hearts
Caledonian Stadium New Central Park
Capacity: 7,512[7] Capacity: 2,181[8]
Montrose Peterhead Queen of the South Stenhousemuir
Links Park Balmoor Palmerston Park Ochilview Park
Capacity: 4,936[9] Capacity: 3,150[10] Capacity: 8,690[11] Capacity: 3,746[12]
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Notes
  1. [a]
    Hamilton Academical are ground-sharing with Cumbernauld Colts.

All grounds are equipped with floodlights.

Personnel and kits

More information Team, Manager ...
Team Manager Captain Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor
Alloa Athletic Scotland Andy Graham Scotland Scott Taggart Pendle Northern Gas and Power
Cove Rangers Scotland Paul Hartley Scotland Mitch Megginson Adidas KR Group
East Fife Scotland Dick Campbell Scotland Alan Trouten Erreà MPH Group (Home)
JADA (Away)
Harley Taxis (Third)
Hamilton Academical Scotland Darian MacKinnon Scotland Stephen Hendrie Kurt None
Inverness Caledonian Thistle Scotland Scott Kellacher Northern Ireland Danny Devine Puma Craig Wood Solicitors
Kelty Hearts Scotland Thomas O'Ware England Craig Clay Adidas Bellway
Montrose Scotland Stewart Petrie Scotland Andrew Steeves Uhlsport Montrose Port Authority
Peterhead Scotland Jordon Brown
Scotland Ryan Strachan		 Scotland Jason Brown Puma The Score Group
Queen of the South Republic of Ireland Peter Murphy England Matty Douglas Macron The Venue Dumfries
Stenhousemuir Scotland Gary Naysmith Scotland Gregor Buchanan Uhlsport LOC Hire
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Managerial changes

More information Team, Outgoing manager ...
Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Incoming manager Date of appointment
Hamilton Academical Scotland John Rankin Resigned 29 November 2025 5th Scotland Darian MacKinnon 1 December 2025
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League table

More information Pos, Team ...
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion, qualification or relegation
1 Inverness Caledonian Thistle (C, P) 36 21 11 4 60 24 +36 69[a] Promotion to the Championship
2 Stenhousemuir (O, P) 36 18 13 5 50 27 +23 67 Qualification for the Championship play-offs
3 Queen of the South 36 14 12 10 58 47 +11 54
4 Alloa Athletic 36 15 8 13 50 38 +12 53
5 Peterhead 36 12 7 17 48 64 −16 43
6 Montrose 36 11 9 16 48 67 −19 42
7 Cove Rangers 36 9 11 16 41 44 −3 38
8 East Fife 36 9 9 18 34 61 −27 36
9 Hamilton Academical (O) 36 16 7 13 54 42 +12 34[b] Qualification for the League One play-offs
10 Kelty Hearts (R) 36 6 11 19 33 62 −29 29 Relegation to League Two
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Source: [13]
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-head points; 5) Head-to-head goal difference; 6) Play-off (only for deciding promotion, play-off participation and relegation).[14]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. [a]
    Inverness Caledonian Thistle were deducted five points for entering administration during the previous season.
  2. [b]
    Hamilton Academical were deducted six points for breaching SPFL rules regarding amateur players, a further nine points for failing to hold at least a bronze level licence and then six more points for failing to pay players' wages on time.

Results

Teams play each other four times, twice in the first half of the season (home and away) and twice in the second half of the season (home and away), making a total of 180 games, with each team playing 36.

First half of season (Matches 1–18)

More information Home \ Away, ALL ...
Home \ Away ALL COV EFI HAM ICT KEL MON PET QOS STE
Alloa Athletic — 2–1 1–1 1–0 1–1 3–0 0–1 4–0 0–2 0–0
Cove Rangers 0–0 — 0–1 2–1 0–1 0–2 3–3 1–2 0–2 0–1
East Fife 0–1 2–0 — 1–1 0–2 2–1 1–1 0–1 2–1 1–0
Hamilton Academical 1–0 0–0 1–2 — 3–1 3–1 2–0 3–0 1–2 2–0
Inverness Caledonian Thistle 1–0 1–0 4–1 4–0 — 2–2 1–0 2–0 4–0 1–2
Kelty Hearts 0–2 2–5 0–3 0–4 0–3 — 0–3 1–2 1–1 0–1
Montrose 0–4 0–3 2–1 0–4 0–2 1–2 — 2–1 2–1 3–0
Peterhead 2–1 3–1 4–1 2–2 0–1 3–2 1–1 — 3–0 1–4
Queen of the South 1–0 1–1 3–0 1–4 0–2 2–1 1–0 4–0 — 1–1
Stenhousemuir 1–2 1–0 1–1 0–0 1–0 2–2 3–1 3–1 0–0 —
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Source: [15]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second half of season (Matches 19–36)

More information Home \ Away, ALL ...
Home \ Away ALL COV EFI HAM ICT KEL MON PET QOS STE
Alloa Athletic — 2–2 2–0 3–0 1–1 2–1 4–1 1–1 1–4 0–0
Cove Rangers 0–1 — 0–0 2–2 0–0 1–1 3–1 2–1 1–1 2–0
East Fife 0–2 2–1 — 0–3 1–1 0–1 2–3 2–1 1–5 2–2
Hamilton Academical 1–0 2–0 1–0 — 0–1 1–2 1–1 3–1 1–3 0–1
Inverness Caledonian Thistle 3–1 1–1 3–0 2–1 — 1–0 3–1 3–1 1–1 1–1
Kelty Hearts 1–1 0–2 1–1 0–0 0–0 — 3–1 1–1 1–1 0–2
Montrose 5–4 2–3 1–0 0–2 2–1 1–1 — 1–1 3–2 0–2
Peterhead 3–1 0–4 3–1 2–3 0–2 0–2 1–1 — 1–1 0–1
Queen of the South 1–2 2–0 2–2 4–1 2–2 3–1 2–2 0–2 — 1–1
Stenhousemuir 1–0 1–0 5–0 3–0 1–1 2–0 2–2 2–2 2–0 —
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Source: [15]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

As of 2 May 2026

Scoring

Top scorers

More information Rank, Player ...
Rank Player Club Goals
1 Scotland Oli Shaw Hamilton Academical 19
2 Scotland Kieran Shanks Peterhead 17
3 Scotland Mitch Megginson Cove Rangers 12
4 Zambia Chanka Zimba Inverness Caledonian Thistle 11
5 Scotland Alfie Bavidge Inverness Caledonian Thistle 10
Scotland Callum Sandilands Montrose
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Awards

More information Month, Manager of the Month ...
Month Manager of the Month Player of the Month
Manager Club Player Club
August Scotland Scott Kellacher Inverness Caledonian Thistle Scotland Ross Munro Inverness Caledonian Thistle
September Scotland Oli Shaw Hamilton Academical
October Scotland Gary Naysmith Stenhousemuir Scotland Kieran Millar East Fife
November Scotland Scott Kellacher Inverness Caledonian Thistle Scotland Oli Shaw Hamilton Academical
December Republic of Ireland Peter Murphy Queen of the South England Matty Douglas Queen of the South
January Scotland Gary Naysmith Stenhousemuir Scotland Matthew Aitken Stenhousemuir
February Scotland Andy Graham Alloa Athletic Scotland Alfie Bavidge Inverness Caledonian Thistle
March Scotland Gary Naysmith Stenhousemuir Scotland Kieran Shanks Peterhead
April Scotland Darian MacKinnon Hamilton Academical Scotland Adam Emslie Cove Rangers
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League One play-offs

Bracket

Semi-finals Final
          
1 Hamilton Academical 3 2 5
4 Forfar Athletic 1 1 2
1 Hamilton Academical 1 4 5
3 Clyde 1 3 4
2 The Spartans 0 1 1
3 Clyde 2 1 3

Semi-finals

First leg

5 May 2026 Forfar Athletic 1–3 Hamilton Academical Forfar
19:45
[16]
  • MacDonald 44'
  • Shaw 71', 76'
 Stadium: Station Park
Attendance: 972
Referee: Colin Steven
5 May 2026 Clyde 2–0 The Spartans Hamilton
19:45
[17] Stadium: New Douglas Park
Attendance: 823
Referee: Joel Kennedy

Second leg

9 May 2026 Hamilton Academical 2–1
(5–2 agg.)		Forfar AthleticCumbernauld
15:00
[18]
  • Sutherland 80' (pen.)
 Stadium: Broadwood Stadium
Attendance: 718
Referee: Sean Murdoch
9 May 2026 The Spartans1–1
(1–3 agg.)		 Clyde Edinburgh
15:00
[19]
  • Williamson 66' (pen.)
 Stadium: Ainslie Park
Attendance: 903
Referee: Calum Scott

Final

First leg

12 May 2026 Clyde 1–1 Hamilton Academical Hamilton
19:45
  • McGinlay 38'
 [20]
Stadium: New Douglas Park
Attendance: 1,502
Referee: Ross Hardie

Second leg

15 May 2026 Hamilton Academical 4–3
(5–4 agg.)		ClydeCumbernauld
19:45
[21]
Stadium: Broadwood Stadium
Attendance: 1,768
Referee: Lloyd Wilson

References

External links

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