The 2016–17 Scottish Premiership (known as the Ladbrokes Scottish Premiership for sponsorship reasons) will be the fourth season of the Scottish Premiership, the highest division of Scottish football. The season will begin on 6 August 2016. The fixtures were published on 17 June 2016. Celtic are the defending champions. Twelve teams will contest the league. The teams involved are Aberdeen, Celtic, Dundee, Hamilton Academical, Heart of Midlothian, Inverness CT, Kilmarnock, Motherwell, Partick Thistle, Rangers, Ross County and St Johnstone.