The 2018–19 Scottish Challenge Cup, known as the IRN-BRU Cup[1] due to sponsorship reasons, was the 28th season of the competition. The tournament took on a similar format from the previous season with the addition of two teams from England's National League entering the competition for the first time. This took the total number of participating clubs to 58.
A-The Livingston U21s-Forfar Athletic match was abandoned with Livingston U21s leading 1–0 after 71 minutes due poor lighting caused by a power outage. The match was replayed on 21 August 2018.
Teams from Wales (The New Saints and Connah's Quay Nomads), Northern Ireland (Crusaders and Coleraine), England (Sutton United and Boreham Wood) and the Republic of Ireland (Bohemians and Sligo Rovers) entered in the second round.[5] Originally, Bray Wanderers were to be the second side to represent the League of Ireland however, they were subsequently thrown out by the FAI on 16 July 2018 for failing to pay their players and replaced by Limerick.[6] A similar statement was released by the FAI hours later about Limerick who were also in financial difficulties.[7]St Patrick's Athletic were then invited to compete as the next ranked team in line but declined. Sligo Rovers accepted the position in their place so they would represent the League of Ireland instead.[8]
Draw
The draw for the second round was made on 16 August 2018 at 1pm live on the SPFL Facebook page.
Teams in Bold advanced to the third round.
Teams in Italics were not known at the time of the draw.
B-The Bohemians-East Fife match was originally due to take place on 17 November 2018 but was rearranged as the Irish football season had finished. It was rearranged to be played on 2 February 2019 but was called off due to a frozen pitch at 14:53, seven minutes before kick-off.[12] Following discussions with the SPFL in an attempt to rearrange the fixture again, Bohemians withdrew from the competition and East Fife advanced to the semi-finals.[13]
Semi-finals
Draw
The draw for the semi-finals was made on 21 November 2018 at 1pm at Hampden Park live on the SPFL Facebook page.[14]
The Golden Ball Award is a 'Player of the Round' award given to the player who is adjudged to have had the best performance of that round out of all the players in teams left competing in that round of the competition. The winner is voted for by supporters from a chosen short-list of players, which is posted on the Irn-Bru Football Twitter page.
The domestic broadcasting rights for the competition are held jointly by BBC Alba, S4C (for matches involving Welsh teams) and subscription channel Premier Sports. Prior to the re-format in the 2016–17 season, BBC Alba had exclusive rights.[20]
One of the semi-final matches was also confirmed as being broadcast live on BT Sport despite no apparent previous announcement of rights.
The following matches were broadcast live on UK television:
