In an attempt to streamline and modernise the game, significant changes will be applied to the Scottish leagues next season following unanimous backing from all member clubs.
This has been hailed as an historic move as even the Scottish Senior Football Referees Association warmly welcomed the new proposals.
Mark Wotte has now been chosen as Scotland’s first performance director. Scottish FA chief executive Stewart Regan said it took many scrutinising to appoint the former Den Haag and Southampton boss since this is the key ap-pointment that could turn around Scottish football.
Wotte, Regan said, would be asked to develop a new Scottish style of play and will be focusing on developing elite players from grassroots level to the national teams.
Football in Scotland starts on Saturday as an early kick-off to the season is considered key for clubs involved in the UEFA club com-petitions.
This move will reduce the number of games in midweek during the winter months but no mid-season break is in store.
Attendances can also receive a boost with the SFA’s decision of an early start. Fans prefer to watch their favourites in the warm weather of July than in the cold, bitter days of December and January.
Meanwhile, the Scottish League Cup this season is being sponsored by the government after Co-operative Insurance ended their 12-year involvement. A £1m funding package will come from the Proceeds of Crime Act, using cash seized from criminals.
Rangers are the cup holders having beaten Celtic 2-1 in the final last season. Dunfermline are the only Scottish Premier League team involved in the opening round, July 30.
In this weekend’s first matches from the Premier League, Rangers, now managed by Ally McCoist, will entertain Jim Jefferies’s Hearts.
Celtic travel to Edinburgh to play Hibernian.
The first televised match will be on Sunday – the clash between Dundee United and Kilmarnock.
Dunfermline, the First Division champions, kick off their season against St Mirren, with both sides already tipped to battle against the drop from the top flight.
The first Old Firm derby of the season is pencilled for September 17 at Ibrox.
The first programme reads:
Aberdeen vs St Johnstone
Dunfermline vs St Mirren
Hibernian vs Celtic
Motherwell vs Inverness CT
Rangers vs Hearts
Dundee United vs Kilmarnock
New signings
Aberdeen
Youl Mawene, defender (Panserraikos), Chris Clark, midfielder (Plymouth), Isaac Osbourne (Coventry City).
Celtic
Kelvin Wilson, defender (N. Forest), Adam Matthews, defender (Car-diff), Victor Wanyama, midfielder (Germinal Beerschot).
Dundee United
Willo Flood, midfielder (Dundee United), John Rankin, midfielder (Hibernian).
Dunfermline
Paul Gallacher, goalkeeper (St Mirren), Paul Burns, midfielder (Queen of the South), Andrew Barrowman, forward (Ross County), Paddy Doyle, defender (Partick Thistle), Kevin Rutkiewicz, defender (St Johnstone), John Potter, defender (St Mirren).
Hearts
John Sutton, forward (Motherwell), Danny Grainger, defender (St Johnstone), Jamie Hamill, defender (Kilmarnock), Mehdi Taouil, midfielder (Kilmarnock).
Hibernian
Ivan Sproule, midfielder (Bristol City), Garry O’Connor, forward (Barnsley), Sean O’Hanlon, defender (MK Dons).
Inverness CT
Gregory Tade, forward (Raith Rovers), Tom Aldred, defender (Watford, loan).
Kilmarnock
Paul Heffernan, forward (Sheffield Wednesday), Gary Harkins, midfielder (Dundee), Patrick Ada, defender (Crewe), Daniel Racchi, midfielder (York), Zdenek Kroca, defender (Luton).
Motherwell
Michael Higdon, striker (St Mirren), Nicky Law, midfielder (Rotherham).
Rangers
Juan Manuel Ortiz, midfielder (Almeria), Carlos Cuellar, defender (Aston Villa).
St Johnstone
David Robertson, midfielder (Dundee United), Sean Higgins, forward (Dundee), Callum Davidson, defender (Preston), Frazer Wright, defender (Kilmarnock), David McCracken, defender (Brentford), Carl Finnigan, forward (Falkirk).
St Mirren
Steven Thompson, forward (Burnley), Paul McGowan, forward (Celtic), Nigel Hasselbaink, forward (Hamilton), Graeme Smith, goalkeeper (St Johnstone), Gary Teale, midfielder (Sheffield Wed.).