2017–18 Scottish Challenge Cup
The 2017–18 Scottish Challenge Cup, known as the IRN-BRU Cup due to sponsorship reasons, is the 27th season of the competition. The tournament took on a similar format from the previous season, however, two teams from the Republic of Ireland's Airtricity League (Sligo Rovers and Bray Wanderers) entered the competition for the first time taking the total number of participating clubs to 56. This was the second season with two clubs from both Northern Ireland and Wales competing alongside the 30 members of the 2017–18 Scottish Championship, 2017–18 Scottish League One and 2017–18 Scottish League Two, four teams from the 2017–18 Highland Football League and four from the 2017–18 Lowland Football League as well as the Under-20 teams of the teams competing in the 2017–18 Scottish Premiership. The Welsh teams were The New Saints and Connah's Quay Nomads while the Northern Irish teams were Crusaders and Linfield.
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Country | Scotland |
| Teams | 56 |
| Defending champions | Dundee United |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Inverness Caledonian Thistle |
| Runner-up | Dumbarton |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 55 |
| Goals scored | 169 (3.07 per match) |
| Top goal scorer(s) | Stephen Dobbie & Lewis Vaughan (4 goals) |
Dundee United were the defending champions after they beat St Mirren 2–1 in the 2017 final, but were eliminated in the Quarter-finals by Crusaders.
Irn Bru replaced Petrofac as the main sponsor of the competition in June 2016.