The 1875âÂÂ76 Scottish Cup â officially the Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup â was the third edition of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. The number of entrants nearly doubled from the previous season with 49 teams included in the first round draw. The competition began on 2 October 1875 and concluded with the final replay on 18 March 1876. This was the first season that teams would change ends only at half time, the tradition of changing ends after a goal had been scored came to an end.
The cup was won for the third time by Queen's Park who defeated fellow Glasgow club 3rd Lanark RV 2âÂÂ0 in the replayed final.
As with the previous competitions, the third edition of the Scottish Cup took on the format of a traditional knockout tournament. For the earlier rounds, the names of competing teams were placed into lots according to their districts and drawn into pairs. The home team for each tie was determined by the toss of a coin unless it was mutually agreed or only one of the two clubs drawn against one another had a private ground. In the event of a draw, the team who lost the toss would have the choice of ground for the replay. A similar procedure was used for subsequent rounds however, any club which had received a bye in the previous round would first be drawn against one of the winners of the previous round. The names of winning teams were placed into one lot for later rounds. The choice of venue for the final matches was reserved to the Scottish Football Association.
All 49 teams entered the competition in the first round.
Edinburgh Thistle received a bye to the second round.
Kilmarnock's 8âÂÂ0 win over Ayr Eglinton set a new record for both the highest-scoring game and the biggest win in the competition.
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Dumbarton received a bye to the semi-finals.
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