1939–40 in Scottish football


The 1939–40 was the 67th season of competitive football in Scotland. It would have been the 50th season of Scottish Football League, but the outbreak of the Second World War on 3 September 1939 caused the suspension of the league after five rounds of games played in Division One, and four rounds in Division Two. The league was not officially competed for until the 1946–47 season but there were regional leagues played during these years.

Scottish League Division One

Scottish League Division Two

Emergency League

The Scottish League officially suspended its competition on 13 September 1939 and set up a committee to investigate the possibility of regional league competitions. These were rubber-stamped on 26 September after the Home Secretary had granted permission, they commenced a month later. There were two divisions; Eastern and Western; each consisting of 16 clubs. This left six of the previous league clubs; Montrose, Brechin City, Forfar Athletic, Leith Athletic, Edinburgh City and East Stirlingshire.
Cowdenbeath resigned half way through the season, they had played all the other clubs once and so their record was allowed to stand. The competition was completed by a play-off between the two divisional winners, who were Rangers and Falkirk, Rangers won 2–1 at Hampden Park.

Western division

Eastern division

Play-off

Other honours

National

were winners of the Emergency Cup after a 1–0 win over Dundee United in the final.

County

CompetitionWinnerScoreRunner-up
Dumbartonshire CupDumbarton4 – 2Vale of Leven
East of Scotland ShieldHearts3 – 2Hibernian
Forfarshire CupArbroath2 – 0Dundee
Glasgow CupRangers3 – 1Queen's Park
Lanarkshire CupMotherwell1 – 0Hamilton
Perthshire CupBlack Watch12 – 4 *Blairgowrie

were winners of the Junior Cup after a 1–0 win over Morton Juniors in the final.