2016–17 in Scottish football 2016–17 in Scottish football The 2016–17 season was the 120th season of competitive football in Scotland. The domestic season began on 16 July 2016, with the first round of the 2016–17 Scottish League Cup. The 2016–17 Scottish Professional Football League season commenced on 6 August. Celtic, Aberdeen, Heart of Midlothian and Hibernian qualified for European competition. Jane Ross and Caroline Weir were both nominated for the (English) PFA Women's Players' Player of the Year award. The Scotland women's national football team qualified for a major tournament for the first time. A loss by Finland against Portugal confirmed that Scotland would
Professional sports leagues in the United States later established The Spring League, which does not pay its players, in 2017. A number of leagues have been "de facto" minor leagues without explicitly identifying as minor leagues themselves. The United Football League, which played from 2009 to 2012, had ambiguous goals in regard to its attempt to challenge the NFL as a major league and eventually settled into a position in pro football's second tier, below the NFL but above most other leagues. Two upcoming leagues, the Alliance of American Football in 2019 and the XFL in 2020 (the latter of which shares the name and some ownership