A total of 132 clubs entered the competition, which was three more than the previous season despite two teams leaving for the East of Scotland League. This was due to the return of Cruden Bay and Johnstone Burgh plus Bo'ness United Junior, Linlithgow Rose Community, Sauchie Juniors Community, and Syngenta joining the East Region.
On 13 March 2020, the competition was indefinitely suspended at the semi-final stage due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[2] Almost a year later and with no further matches played in the tournament, the competition was officially cancelled on 5 March 2021.[3][4]
Calendar
The dates for each round of the 2019–20 tournament is as follows:[5]
Round
Date
Matches
Clubs
New entries this round
First round
14 September 2019
4
132 → 128
128
Second round
28 September 2019
64
128 → 64
4
Third round
26 October 2019
32
64 → 32
none
Fourth round
23 November 2019
16
32 → 16
none
Fifth round
25 January 2020
8
16 → 8
none
Quarter-finals
22 February 2020
4
8 → 4
none
Semi-finals
not played
4
4 → 2
none
Final
not played
1
2 → 1
none
Drawn matches are replayed and replays that end in a draw proceed direct to a penalty shootout, there is no extra time. Semi-finals are played home and away over two legs with the winner on aggregate progressing to the final. If the aggregate score is tied at the end of the second leg, the match will also proceed direct to a penalty shootout.
First round
Draw
The four Junior clubs competing in the Scottish Cup were not included in the draw for the first round:
Also qualified automatically for the second round were Banks O'Dee, who achieved SFA club licensing requirements, and Girvan, who qualify automatically as historic full members of the Scottish Football Association.
The first and second round draws took place at Hampden Park, Glasgow on 13 August 2019.
The semi-finals were originally scheduled to be held on 28 March and 4 April 2020. The draw made on 17 March 2020.[6] However no further matches were played and the competition was cancelled on 5 March 2021.[3][4]