Five Scottish Premiership clubs unilaterally postpone league matches for European qualifiers

Published Jul 24, 03:35 PM UTC

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All five Scottish Premiership teams competing in European tournaments—Celtic, Rangers, Heart of Midlothian, Motherwell, and Hibernian—have exercised a new rule allowing them to unilaterally postpone their league matches scheduled for Saturday, 22 August. The postponements accommodate European qualifying play-offs for the Champions League, Europa League, and Conference League, which take place across two legs around that weekend. Celtic, Hearts, and Rangers are guaranteed to reach the play-off stage, while Motherwell and Hibernian's postponements are conditional on their advancement from current qualifying rounds. The rule change, effective since April 2025, eliminates the previous requirement for mutual club agreement. Rearranged Premiership fixtures will be played in midweek on either 8/9 or 15/16 September. The affected matches include Rangers vs St Mirren, St Johnstone vs Celtic, and Falkirk vs Hearts, while Dundee United vs Dundee remains scheduled as normal.

Source report

All five Scottish teams competing in European competitions have chosen to postpone their Scottish Premiership matches scheduled for Saturday, 22 August.

The qualifying play-offs for the Champions League, Europa League, and Conference League will be played over two legs, either side of the affected weekend.

Celtic, Heart of Midlothian, and Rangers are all guaranteed to reach that stage in Europe, although the latter two do not yet know which competition they will enter.

Previously, postponements required agreement from both clubs. However, since April 2025, a team playing in Europe has been able to unilaterally delay a fixture.

Premiership winners Celtic do not yet know their opponents for this year's Champions League play-offs. At this stage last season, they were beaten by Kazakh side Kairat Almaty.

Hearts are 4-0 behind on aggregate in their Champions League second-round qualifying tie against Sturm Graz and are likely to drop into the third round of Europa League qualifying, where Rangers have already been drawn against Polish side Jagiellonia Bialystok.
Motherwell and Hibernian are in the middle of their Conference League second-round qualifying ties. Their league matches will only be postponed if they reach the play-offs.
Motherwell are 2-0 up on aggregate against Faroese side HB.
Hibs lost the first leg by the same scoreline against Kosovan outfit Malisheva.

Rearranged games will be played in midweek — on either 8/9 or 15/16 September.

Premiership Round Three Fixtures

All matches scheduled for Saturday, 22 August:

Dundee United v Dundee — will take place as scheduled.
Falkirk P-P Heart of Midlothian — match postponed as Hearts will be involved in at least a Conference League play-off.
Hibernian v Kilmarnock — will be postponed if Hibs are involved in the Conference League play-offs.
Motherwell v Aberdeen — will be postponed if Motherwell are involved in the Conference League play-offs.
Rangers P-P St Mirren — match postponed as Rangers will be involved in the play-offs of the Europa League or the Conference League.
St Johnstone P-P Celtic — match postponed as Celtic are involved in the Champions League play-offs.

Source

BBC SportWestern

Original headline: Scottish sides in Europe opt to postpone league matches

Original language: EN-GB

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Scottish Premiership Clubs in Europe Unilaterally Postpone League Matches

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