2016–17 Scottish Challenge Cup
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| Country | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Teams | 54 | ||
| Defending champions | Rangers | ||
| Matches played | 52 | ||
| Goals scored | 204 (3.92 per match) | ||
| Top goal scorer(s) | Stephen Dobbie (6 goals) | ||
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| All statistics correct as of 19 February 2017. | |||
The 2016–17 Scottish Challenge Cup, known as the IRN-BRU Cup due to sponsorship reasons, will be the 26th season of the competition. The tournament will take on a different format from previous seasons with a total of 54 teams participating. This will be the first season with two clubs from both Northern Ireland and Wales competing alongside the 30 members of the 2016–17 Scottish Championship, 2016–17 Scottish League One and 2016–17 Scottish League Two, four teams from the 2016–17 Highland Football League and four from the 2016–17 Lowland Football League as well as the Under-20 teams of the teams competing in the 2016–17 Scottish Premiership.
The first team of the champions, Rangers, who defeated Peterhead in the 2016 final, will not compete in the competition due to their promotion to the Scottish Premiership.Irn Bru replaced Petrofac as the main sponsor of the competition in June 2016.
The draw for the first round was made on 23 June at Hampden Park. The 28 teams entering at this stage were separated into 4 regional pools. This was to ensure that U20s teams were not drawn against each other and that teams from the Highland and Lowland Leagues were not drawn against each other.
Teams from Pool A will be drawn against teams from Pool B. Teams in Bold qualified for the Second round.
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