the competition was a knock-out tournament and in 2007 was contested by the 30 teams that played in the first, second and third divisions of the scottish football league. the first round draw was split into two geographical regions with 15 teams in each: north/west and south/east. in each regional draw, teams were paired at random and the winner of each match progressed to the next round and the loser was eliminated. dunfermline athletic and partick thistle received random byes into the second round, at which stage the regional format ended and all remaining teams entered the same draw.