How does Scottish Premiership split work?
The Scottish Premiership title race has been a hot topic all season and, it's about to become a bit more interesting with the league's split.
[BBC] The Scottish Premiership has been one of Europe's most intriguing leagues this season, and it's about to get a twist - for the 25th time, it's going to split in two. Hearts, Celtic, Rangers, Motherwell, Hibernian and Falkirk look set to make up the top, although the Bairns are yet to absolutely make sure of their place. Dundee United, in seventh, need a six-point and an eight-goal swing over two games to usurp the Bairns.
This is how the split - which first took place in season 2000-01 - will work. What is the Scottish Premiership split? The split takes place after 33 rounds of fixtures - with the final round of first-phase games on the weekend of 11 and 12 April - by which time all 12 teams will have played each other three times.
For rounds 34 to 38, the top-six sides play each other once more and the bottom six teams do likewise. It means five games per team against those closest to them in the table, as titles, European places and relegation are decided. Sound straightforward?
Well, it sometimes isn't... Will Scottish Premiership split affect title race? Clearly, the SPFL does not know which sides will be in which half of the table at the start of the season when deciding who will have 16 home games and 17 away games prior to the split.