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
History of the English non-League football system being gradually reduced to 22 through adjustments to the number of relegation places. This change never materialised.<ref name="2013/14 changes">The FA – National League System - Step 5 Review Accessed 24 April 2013</ref> A series of changes were introduced for the 2013–14 season to ensure that each Step 5 league had the opportunity to promote a team to Step 4. Since there were 14 Step 5 leagues and 6 Step 4 leagues, a simple promotion/relegation system would not work. All three Step 3 leagues (Northern Premier League Premier, Southern Premier, Isthmian Premier) were expanded from 22 to 24 teams. The two