The Scottish FA has unveiled proposals which could force clubs to hand greater opportunities to young Scotland-eligible players from the 2027/28 season.
All 42 SPFL clubs were presented with the plans at a meeting in St Andrews on Friday, with the governing body seeking to address the declining number of minutes being played by under-21 Scottish talent.
The three proposals will be put to a Scottish FA General Meeting in October before going before the SPFL’s AGM in November.
Under the plans, clubs would be required to start two Scotland-eligible under-21 players in every Scottish Gas Scottish Cup match and Premier Sports Cup tie, while ensuring at least one remains on the pitch at all times.
The third proposal would apply across all four SPFL divisions, with clubs expected to average 60 minutes per game for under-21 Scotland-eligible players across a full league campaign — equivalent to six per cent of the total available minutes.
A £1million pot would be made available to incentivise clubs to increase the involvement of young players.
However, Premiership clubs who fail to meet the 60-minute target would lose 10 per cent of their final league-position prize money. That cash would then be redistributed between the clubs who achieve the required figure.
The Scottish FA staged its ‘Made in Scotland?’ conference at the Old Course Hotel, with chief executive Ian Maxwell and chief football officer Craig Mulholland presenting the proposals.
The move comes amid concern over the lack of opportunities for young Scottish players in the top flight. Under-21 Scotland-eligible players logged only 18,706 Premiership minutes last season, compared with 80,345 in 2013.
That equates to 4.1 per cent of available league minutes — below the European average of eight per cent and well behind Denmark’s Superliga, where the figure stands at 15.3 per cent.
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Scotland have also dropped to 18th in UEFA’s coefficient rankings, while clubs at the St Andrews event heard presentations from Twenty First Group and Club Brugge on the benefits of a stronger player-trading model.
The Scottish FA pointed to progress in the lower leagues following the introduction of the Co-operation System and changes to the KDM Evolution Trophy.
The Co-operation System has generated 27,000 minutes for under-21 Scotland-eligible players, with Championship minutes rising from 43,369 in 2024/25 to 47,573 last season. League One increased from 85,043 to 87,420, while League Two rose from 74,330 to 87,043.
Meanwhile, the revised KDM Evolution Trophy format has seen minutes for eligible under-21 players jump from around 21,000 in 2024/25 to 94,000 in 2025/26.
Maxwell said: “We are all in agreement that Scottish football needs to create more opportunities for young players to gain regular first-team experience, and we strongly believe that today’s proposals are the next positive steps towards achieving this goal.
“Scotland’s return to the World Cup created a huge sense of excitement around the national team, but it has also underlined the need to plan for the next generation.
“Clubs across Europe are showing that giving younger players minutes does not have to come at the expense of success on the pitch, and we believe that these proposals could both strengthen Scottish clubs and have a positive effect on the national team in the future.”
Mulholland added: “The time for reviews is over: it’s time for action to make sure that our young Scottish people get the best opportunity to go and become top professionals.
“We have already seen progress from the introduction of the Co-operation System and the revamp of the KDM Evolution Trophy, but we know that the lack of opportunities in the top flight is concerning.
“We believe that introducing requirements for under-21 players in the Scottish Cup and League Cup and targets for minutes in the Premiership would represent a significant step for Scottish football.”
