Ladbrokes Premiership to retain winter break next season

The Scottish Professional Football League has confirmed it will repeat several changes introduced this season, including the winter break, Betfred Cup group stages and a pre-Christmas final.

SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster said: “Following overwhelmingly positive feedback regarding this season’s winter break, most notably during a recent meeting with Ladbrokes Premiership club managers and coaches, we’ve worked to retain this for season 2017/18.

“We also asked clubs in the Ladbrokes Championship if they would like to see this introduced in their league, however, the clear majority of feedback was against this.”

The Betfred Cup campaign will kick off on July 15 ahead of the league opener on August 5.

The Betfred Cup final will take place on November 26 and the Premiership clubs will again have the first two weekends of January off.

The regular Premiership season will finish on May 12-13, with the 2018 William Hill Scottish Cup final set to take place on May 19.