Ross County F.C.

Did You Know?

• Ross County's nickname 'The Staggies' comes from the stag's head on their badge, which was taken from the regimental badge of the Seaforth Highlanders.
• The club's mascot is a stag named Rosco, a play on the nickname.
• Ross County reached the Scottish Cup Final for the first time in 2010, losing 0–3 to Dundee United at Hampden Park.
• Ross County became the first team to suffer consecutive relegations from the Premiership to League One in the SPFL era, dropping from the top flight in 2025 to League One in 2026.

History

Ross County Football Club traces its origins to 1929, when a local side called Dingwall Victoria United—often known as the Dingwall Vics—applied to join the Highland Football League. At that time, the area was still part of the county of Ross and Cromarty. The club changed its name to Ross County and began competing in the Highland League that same year. Over the decades, they claimed the league championship three times: first in 1967, then in 1991 and again in 1992.

They also built a reputation for causing upsets in the early rounds of the Scottish Cup, knocking out league opposition on eight separate occasions. The most famous of these shocks came on 8 January 1994, when they beat Forfar Athletic 4–0 away from home. Just three days later, they were voted into the Scottish Football League. When the Scottish Football League was restructured into four divisions for the 1994–95 season, a vote on 11 January 1994 decided which clubs would fill the two available spots in the new ten-team Third Division.

Ross County received 57 votes. The other vacancy went to a newly formed club, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, created from a merger of two existing teams, which collected 68 votes. County went on to win the Third Division title in 1998–99, earning promotion to the Second Division. They finished third in the Second Division the following season, but a league reorganisation—expanding the Premier League from ten to twelve clubs—meant that third place was enough to move them up to the First Division.

They spent seven seasons there before being relegated back to the Second Division in 2006–07. They bounced straight back by winning the Second Division title in 2007–08, and in their first season back in the First Division they finished eighth. Ross County secured promotion to the Scottish Premier League for the first time on 10 April 2012 when their nearest rival to the title Dundee failed to beat Queen of the South. During this push to promotion, Ross County embarked on a 40-game undefeated run in league football, which continued into the Scottish Premier League.

The run was ended by St Johnstone on 22 September 2012. The Staggies parted company with George and Derek Adams on 28 August 2014 following a poor start to the 2014–15 campaign. Jim McIntyre was appointed manager on 9 September 2014, with Billy Dodds as his assistant. On 13 March 2016, Ross County won their first ever major trophy when they beat Hibernian 2–1 in the final of the 2015–16 Scottish League Cup.

The team's fortunes declined after this success, and they were relegated at the end of the 2017–18 season. The club secured an immediate return to the Scottish Premiership after a 4–0 win at home to Queen of the South on 26 April 2019 saw them lift the 2018–19 Scottish Championship. Following three consecutive 11th place finishes in the Scottish Premiership in 2022–23, 2023–24 and 2024–25, Ross County were relegated back to the Scottish Championship in May 2025, after losing the play off final to Livingston 5–3 on aggregate.

Following relegation, manager Don Cowie remained as Ross County manager, as the club performed a large squad overhaul in the 2025 summer window. Following a poor start to the Scottish Championship season with County sitting bottom of the table, Cowie departed County by mutual consent. In September 2025 Ross County announced former Dundee manager Tony Docherty as the club’s new manager. However in December, following a 6–0 away defeat to Raith Rovers, Docherty was sacked, with County still sitting 10th in the Scottish Championship table.

Later in December 2025, Ross County announced the return of former manager Stuart Kettlewell, as manager on a deal until the end of the season. In April 2026, Ross County’s relegation to Scottish League One was confirmed after a 3–2 away defeat to Raith Rovers. This result meant the club had suffered back to back relegations from the Scottish Premiership to the third tier, League One, despite being the bookmakers pre-season favourites to win the Scottish Championship.

With County becoming the first team to suffer consecutive relegations from the Premiership to League One in the SPFL era. Following this second successive relegation, County announced that manager Stuart Kettlewell would remain in post and lead the club into the League One season.

Highland Derby

Ross County’s biggest rivals are Inverness Caledonian Thistle, another Highland side, and the two clubs meet in what is known as the Highland derby. This rivalry is usually good-natured, since supporters from both teams often live and work alongside each other due to how close the towns are. Because the clubs are so near, Inverness has picked up quite a few ex-County players over time, such as Billy Mckay, Barry Wilson, Stuart Golabek, Roy McBain, Graham Bayne, Richard Hastings, John Rankin, Andrew Barrowman, Lionel Djebi-Zadi, and Don Cowie. In the other direction, players like Grant Munro, Michael Fraser, Ross Tokely, and Coll Donaldson have moved from Inverness to County. Both Golabek and Barrowman played for County twice, and Golabek also had two stints with Inverness.