1981–82 Scottish Premier Division

76th season of top-tier football league in Scotland Football league season

Scottish Premier Division
Season	1981–82
Champions	Celtic 4th Premier Division title 33rd Scottish title
Relegated	Partick Thistle Airdrieonians
European Cup	Celtic
UEFA Cup	Rangers Dundee United
Cup Winners' Cup	Aberdeen
Matches played	180
Goals scored	498 (2.77 per match)
Top goalscorer	George McCluskey (21)
Biggest home win	Celtic 6–0 Hibernian
Biggest away win	Dundee 0–5 Aberdeen
← 1980–81 1982–83 →

The 1981–82 Scottish Premier Division season was won by Celtic, two points ahead of Aberdeen. The league was won on the final day of the season when Celtic defeated St Mirren 3–0 at Celtic Park on 15 May 1982. Partick Thistle and Airdrieonians were relegated.

Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Celtic (C)	36	24	7	5	79	33	+46	55	Qualification for the European Cup first round
2	Aberdeen	36	23	7	6	71	29	+42	53	Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup first round
3	Rangers	36	16	11	9	57	45	+12	43	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round
4	Dundee United	36	15	10	11	61	38	+23	40	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round
5	St Mirren	36	14	9	13	49	52	−3	37
6	Hibernian	36	11	14	11	38	40	−2	36
7	Morton	36	9	12	15	31	54	−23	30
8	Dundee	36	11	4	21	46	72	−26	26
9	Partick Thistle (R)	36	6	10	20	35	59	−24	22	Relegation to the 1982–83 Scottish First Division
10	Airdrieonians (R)	36	5	8	23	31	76	−45	18	Relegation to the 1982–83 Scottish First Division

Source: Statto
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated

Results

Matches 1–18

During matches 1–18 each team plays every other team twice (home and away).

Home \ Away	ABE	AIR	CEL	DND	DNU	HIB	MOR	PAR	RAN	STM
Aberdeen		0–0	1–3	2–1	1–1	1–0	2–0	2–1	3–1	4–1
Airdrieonians	0–4		1–3	4–2	2–1	3–1	1–1	1–1	2–2	3–4
Celtic	2–1	5–2		3–1	1–1	0–0	2–1	2–0	3–3	0–0
Dundee	0–3	3–1	1–3		1–3	0–0	4–1	4–2	2–3	3–0
Dundee United	4–1	4–0	0–2	5–2		1–0	3–0	0–0	2–0	0–2
Hibernian	1–1	1–1	1–0	2–0	1–1		4–0	3–0	1–2	0–0
Morton	2–1	3–0	1–1	2–0	1–0	2–1		1–0	0–0	0–2
Partick Thistle	0–2	4–1	0–2	1–2	2–3	1–0	2–2		0–1	1–1
Rangers	0–0	4–1	0–2	2–1	2–0	2–2	1–1	0–2		4–1
St Mirren	1–2	1–1	1–2	4–0	1–0	1–0	2–0	2–1	1–1

Source:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Matches 19–36

During matches 19–36 each team plays every other team twice (home and away).

Home \ Away	ABE	AIR	CEL	DND	DNU	HIB	MOR	PAR	RAN	STM
Aberdeen		2–0	1–3	0–0	2–1	3–1	0–0	3–1	4–0	5–1
Airdrieonians	0–3		1–5	0–2	2–0	0–2	1–1	3–1	0–1	0–2
Celtic	0–1	2–0		4–2	3–1	6–0	1–0	2–2	2–1	3–0
Dundee	0–5	1–0	1–3		0–2	2–2	2–1	1–2	3–1	0–2
Dundee United	1–2	4–0	3–0	1–1		0–1	5–0	5–1	1–1	1–1
Hibernian	0–3	1–0	1–0	2–1	0–1		2–2	1–1	0–0	2–1
Morton	2–1	1–0	1–1	2–0	1–1	0–0		0–0	1–3	0–1
Partick Thistle	0–0	0–0	0–3	0–2	1–2	1–2	4–0		2–0	0–0
Rangers	1–3	1–0	1–0	4–0	1–1	1–1	3–0	4–1		3–0
St Mirren	0–2	3–0	2–5	0–1	2–2	2–2	3–1	2–0	2–3

Source:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

References

1981–82 Scottish Premier Division – Statto

v t e Top division football seasons in Scotland
Football League	1890–91 1891–92 1892–93
Division One	1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15
Football League	1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21
Division One / A	1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75
Premier Division	1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98
Premier League	1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13
Premiership	2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Winners	List of champions Winning managers

v t e 1981–82 in European football (UEFA)
« 1980–81 1982–83 »
Domestic leagues	Albania Austria Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czechoslovakia Denmark '81 '82 England Faroe Islands '81 '82 Finland '81 '82 France East Germany West Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '81 '82 Israel Italy Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '81 '82 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania Scotland Soviet Union '81 '82 Spain Sweden '81 '82 Switzerland Turkey Yugoslavia
Domestic cups	Albania Austria Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czechoslovakia Denmark England Faroe Islands '81 '82 Finland '81 '82 France East Germany West Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '81 '82 Israel Italy Liechtenstein Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '81 '82 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania San Marino Scotland Soviet Union '81 '82 Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Wales Yugoslavia
League cups	England Republic of Ireland Scotland
Super cups	Soviet Union '81
UEFA competitions	European Cup (Final) Cup Winners' Cup (Final) UEFA Cup (Final)
Non-UEFA competitions	Intertoto Cup Balkans Cup '80–'81 '81–'83

v t e 1981–82 in Scottish football
« 1980–81 1982–83 »
Domestic leagues	Football League Premier Division First Division Second Division Highland League
Domestic cups	Scottish Cup Final League Cup Final Junior Cup
European competitions	European Cup European Cup Winners' Cup UEFA Cup
Related to national team	Results World Cup 1982 qualifying (Group 6) British Home Championship 1982 World Cup
Club seasons
Premier Division	Aberdeen Airdrieonians Celtic Dundee Dundee United Hibernian Morton Partick Thistle Rangers St. Mirren
First Division	Ayr United Clydebank Dunfermline Athletic Dumbarton East Stirlingshire Falkirk Hamilton Academical Heart of Midlothian Kilmarnock Motherwell Queen of the South Queen's Park Raith Rovers St. Johnstone
Second Division	Albion Rovers Alloa Athletic Arbroath Berwick Rangers Brechin City Clyde Cowdenbeath East Fife Forfar Athletic Meadowbank Thistle Montrose Stenhousemuir Stirling Albion Stranraer

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