Scotland League Challenge Cup

The competition was created in the 1990–91 season to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the formation of the Scottish Football League in 1890. It was intended to run for only one season but continued due to its popularity. This was reflected in high attendances at matches in the later rounds of the tournament including a full capacity crowd of 11,500 at Fir Park in the first final. The cup was sponsored by DIY retail company B&Q and named the B&Q Centenary Cup for the first year and continued as the B&Q Cup for four seasons afterwards. The competition was run for three seasons without a sponsor due to the league covering the tournament costs and prize money, but was unsustainable and resulted in it being cancelled for one season in 1998–99 before being re-established in 1999 with a new sponsor. Although it is not as popular as competitions like the Scottish Cup, it provides smaller clubs with a realistic opportunity of winning a trophy due to the absence of top-tier clubs from the tournament. When Stenhousemuir won the final in 1995 it was regarded as the club's greatest achievement in its 111-year history. Attendances at matches in the earlier rounds of the tournament are not dissimilar to average home attendances in league competition but as the competition reaches the latter stages they generally increase; Annan Athletic's record attendance of 1,575 was set in a semi-final match against Falkirk in 2011.

The number of competitors has varied in relation to the number of clubs with Scottish Football League membership. The first tournament featured the 28 clubs in the First and Second Divisions which reduced to 26 until 1994 when the league was expanded and restructured into three divisions; increasing the number of eligible clubs to 30. In the 2010–11 competition the two highest ranked clubs from the Highland Football League with a Scottish Football Association licence were invited to compete, in order to bring the number of competitors to 32. Before the change in 2010, several clubs received a random bye in the first round in order to even out the number of fixtures. The Challenge Cup continued under the auspices of the Scottish Professional Football League after the Scottish Football League merged with the Scottish Premier League in 2013. One change at this time was that the two invitational places were split, with only one place filled by a Highland League club (with a valid SFA club licence) and the other place going to the winner of a preliminary round tie between clubs from the East of Scotland League and the South of Scotland League. This was simplified in the 2014–15 season, with the two additional places going to the Highland League champion (Brora Rangers) and the Lowland League champion (Spartans). From 2016 to 2017 the competition has been further expanded with the addition of Scottish Premiership Under-20 teams, additional places for the Highland and Lowland Leagues, which now have four representatives each, as well as the top two teams from Northern Ireland and Wales. The top two teams not to qualify for European competition from the League of Ireland were included in the competition for the 2017–18 season.

From 2018–19, the competition was further expanded with the two highest ranked teams still remaining in England's National League to take part from the second round. The first English teams to compete were Sutton United and Boreham Wood. The age level was raised for colts teams from under-20 to under-21 in a rule change introduced by the SPFL ahead of 2018–19 competition. The 2018–19 final also saw Connah's Quay Nomads become the first non-Scottish side to play in the final.

The COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland had a significant impact on the competition. The 2019–20 final, between Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Raith Rovers, was originally scheduled for 28 March 2020 but was postponed and later cancelled, with the teams sharing the title. Continuing restrictions on fans entering stadiums meant that the competition was unviable for most SPFL clubs, and the scheduled 2020–21 edition was cancelled in October 2020. It was announced in May 2021, that only Scottish clubs would participate in 2021–22 due to the coronavirus pandemic.