THE Scottish Professional Football League has announced that they have agreed a one-year extension to the title sponsorship of the League Cup with bookmakers Betfred.

It means that the betting firm, who began sponsoring the tournament in 2016, will continue their support of the competition until the end of the 2019/20 season at least.

Neil Doncaster, SPFL chief executive, announced the news at the league’s General Meeting yesterday morning.

Commenting on the deal, Doncaster said: “We are delighted to announce this sponsorship extension with Betfred as we build up to this Sunday’s Betfred Cup semi-finals at BT Murrayfield and Hampden Park.

“Betfred have fully embraced the new competition format since its inception in 2016 and we look forward to continuing our partnership until at least 2020.”

The SPFL described the deal as “another significant investment into Scottish football” but didn’t release the exact level of investment involved. The current three-year deal was reported to be worth around £1million in total over the duration of the contract.

This Sunday sees the semi-finals of the competition take place, with Hearts taking on Celtic at Murrayfield before Aberdeen take on Rangers at Hampden.