2025–26 Dundee F.C. season

The 2025–26 season is the 124th season in which Dundee will compete at a Scottish national level, and the 101st season played in the highest division in the Scottish football league system. They are playing in the Scottish Premiership for the third consecutive season after finishing 10th in the previous campaign.^[1] Dundee competed in the Scottish League Cup, exiting at the group stage, and in the Scottish Cup, exiting in the fifth round.

On 19 May 2025, the day following Dundee confirming their top flight status for the 2025–26 season, manager Tony Docherty and his entire backroom staff were relieved of their duties.^[2] Managerless Dundee announced their first friendly date on 30 May, an away trip to Gayfield Park to face Arbroath on 28 June.^[3] On 2 June, Dundee announced that Steven Pressley was the club's new head coach.^[4] Another friendly was announced on 4 June against Brechin City at Glebe Park.^[5]

Dundee played their first friendly on 28 June away to Arbroath, and beat the Lichties 0–2 amid very blustery conditions.^[6] They followed up the week after with another comfortable away win over Angus opposition in a win against Brechin City.^[7]

Dundee started off their competitive season at Dens against Championship side Airdrieonians, and were beaten and left scoreless in an ominous display to mark Pressley's return to management.^[8] Things managed to get even worse the following week with another goalless defeat against lower league opposition as League One side Alloa Athletic all but knocked Pressley's discordant Dees out of the tournament in the middle of July.^[9] In the midweek, Pressley got his first win as two late headers gave Dundee an away win over Lowland League club Bonnyrigg Rose.^[10] In a dead rubber at home to Montrose to finish the group stage, the Dee managed a late flurry of goals to end with a comfortable 5–0 victory.^[11]

Dundee began their Premiership campaign by welcoming Hibernian to Dens Park, and fell to a defeat as two quickfire first-half goals from Hibs striker Kieron Bowie proved too much for Pressley's side to come back from.^[12] Things improved dramatically the following week against a Rangers side fresh off playing well in the UEFA Champions League qualifiers, with a late controversial penalty denying the Dee a first win at Ibrox since 2001 but still leaving them with a valuable first point of the season.^[13] Dundee were again on the road two weeks later, and played out an acceptable goalless draw with Kilmarnock at Rugby Park.^[14] The last match before the September international break saw the first Dundee derby of the season, with Pressley's Dee finding themselves outmatched by Dundee United in another flat and disappointing defeat at home.^[15]

After a two week hiatus, Pressley's side started the first half terribly against Motherwell in the same passive manner, but an improved second half thanks to substitute Cameron Congreve and good saves from keeper Jon McCracken managed to earn Dundee a point despite a late sending off for Yan Dhanda.^[16] The next week saw the Dee grab their first league win of the season in dramatic fashion, with a positive performance for most of the game through two more assists from Congreve almost being wasted with two poor late goals conceded, only for a stoppage-time penalty to be netted by Callum Jones to send Dundee up to 5th place for the time being.^[17] Pressley's side could not keep the momentum going, losing by a single goal to St Mirren in Paisley.^[18]

Next up for the Dee was a trip to Pittodrie to face an Aberdeen side at the bottom of the table having not scored once in the league yet and coming off a tiring defeat in the UEFA Conference League a few nights prior. Naturally, Pressley's side were blown away in the first half by three easy goals en route to another embarrassing defeat.^[19] After an international break however, Dundee returned with a bang in a pretty comfortable win over reigning champions Celtic, marking their first win over the side since May 2001 and their first win over Celtic at Dens Park since September 1988.^[20] Despite looking to continue some momentum with a first half lead, again via the head of Clark Robertson, at a sold-out Falkirk Stadium the following week, Dundee gave it all away with a late Falkirk goal to once again land themselves near the bottom.^[21]

November begin with a trip to Edinburgh was up next against league-leading and unbeaten Hearts, and Pressley's side were easily brushed aside in another heavy defeat away from home.^[22] Returning to Dens on Remembrance Sunday, another lame defeat ensued as Rangers scored two early goals and left Dundee scoreless for the 6th time in 12 league games.^[23] After the final international break of the year Dundee returned to Edinburgh and made it 7 scoreless games in 13 with another meek defeat, this time to Hibernian after conceding a goal in both halves.^[24] After an early self-made setback at home to St Mirren, Dundee finally turned the tables around and ran out 3–1 victors to end their 4-game losing streak and jump above the Buddies and Kilmarnock to move to 9th place for the time being.^[25]

In a mid-week trip to Celtic Park, Dundee put in a dogged display that had the home fans nervous at the end but in the end had to face a narrow defeat.^[26] Three days later, the Dee failed to make a comeback at home to Aberdeen and returned to 2nd bottom with another defeat ahead of a bottom two six-pointer away to Livingston the following week.^[27] At Almondvale, Dundee got off to a flier with two early goals but Pressley's side again capitulated to leave with just a point, though it was enough to temporarily lift them up to 10th place.^[28] A drab and low-quality affair took place the following week at Fir Park, but hosts Motherwell managed to find a goal late on to keep their momentum going while Dundee again fell to a scoreless defeat.^[29] At the midway point of their league season, Dundee turned the tables on Falkirk with a late first half penalty scored by Yan Dhanda and a rare clean sheet despite a Simon Murray red card to win their first game in 5 games and increase their distance from the bottom two.^[30] In the last game of 2025, Dundee put in a dominant performance in a comeback win in a big six-pointer at home to Kilmarnock, earning their first consecutive wins in 20 months and lifting them up to 9th place to end the year.^[31]

Dundee started 2026 with a bang, crossing the road to Tannadice Park and defeating their Dundee derby rivals Dundee United through a clean sheet and an Ashley Hay goal to earn their third consecutive win in a row (the first time for them in the top flight since November 2014) and their 3rd win over United in the last 12 months.^[32] The following week, the Dee couldn't take advantage of league-leading Hearts playing with a man down for the entire second half and slumped to a disappointing defeat.^[33] The Dark Blues recovered and made it 4 wins out of 5 with a comeback win over Kilmarnock at Rugby Park in the Scottish Cup to progress into the fifth round.^[34] A return to league action saw a loss to Rangers at Ibrox.^[35] Dundee ended the month with a dull and disappointing draw in Paisley against ten-man St Mirren, the third time in four games where the Dee ended the game with a man advantage.^[36]

After a January of unprecedented rainfall in the north-east of Scotland, Dundee's first game of February at home to Motherwell was postponed due to a waterlogged Dens Park.^[37] Changing focus to the Scottish Cup, Dundee discovered a new method of heartbreak in the competition by a Celtic equaliser with the very last kick of regular time stopping a momentous win at Celtic Park before losing in extra time to be dumped out of the cup.^[38] Returning to league action in the midweek, Dundee travelled to Falkirk Stadium and were once again blanked by the hosts in a defeat.^[39] The Dark Blues hosted bottom side Livingston on Valentine's Day in a game with a manic first half - with two Simon Murray goals in the first 5 minutes and conceding the lead within 15 further minutes due in part to a mistake from keeper Jon McCracken - was followed by a frustrating second half that left Dundee with a point and a third straight game against Livi having lost a two-goal lead.^[40] A week later, Dundee recovered from a rough start away to Aberdeen and earned their first win at Pittodrie Stadium since May 2004 through a late screamer from Ethan Hamilton which provided 3 precious points.^[41] Returning to Dens to face Hibs to end the month proved to be an entertaining affair, with Dundee taking the lead, before going behind only to equalise with the last kick of the game to grab a deserved point, all in the last 20 minutes.^[42]

Dundee kept their fine form going heading into March, topping title hopefuls Motherwell at Dens in a win that halted the visitors' 9-game unbeaten streak in the league, lifting the Dee above Aberdeen and two points behind Dundee United a week ahead of the Dundee derby.^[43] In another frenetic derby against their foes across the street, Dundee looked lost and beaten going into stoppage time 2 goals down before an Ashley Hay tap-in and a calamitous own goal allowed the Dark Blues to steal an improbable point off of Dundee United and extend their unbeaten streak to 5 games.^[44] A tight game away to league-leading Hearts was decided late on by a goal from the hosts, while Dundee's rivals below them picked up wins to increase pressure on them.

  Win   Draw   Loss   Postponed

All times are in British Summer Time (BST).

Dundee will play against Aberdeen, Celtic, Dundee United, Falkirk, Heart of Midlothian, Hibernian, Kilmarnock, Livingston, Motherwell, Rangers and St Mirren in the 2025–26 Premiership campaign. They will play each team three times, twice at home and once away against half of the teams, and once at home and twice away against the other half. Following this, they will be split into either a top or bottom group of six depending on their position after 33 games, where they will play each team in their group once.

Dundee will compete in the Scottish Cup and will enter the competition in the 4th round. The draw for the round was made on 30 November 2025, broadcast live on BBC Scotland via Sportscene.^[50]

Dundee will compete in the Scottish League Cup and will enter the competition in the group stage. The draw for the group stage was held on 28 May 2025 at 13:00, broadcast live on Premier Sports.^[51] Dundee was drawn into Group C with Airdrieonians, Alloa Athletic, Montrose and Bonnyrigg Rose.^[52]

As of 21 March 2026

• List of Dundee F.C. seasons