Five Scottish Premiership clubs postpone league matches for European play-offs

Published Jul 25, 03:58 PM UTC

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All five Scottish Premiership teams competing in European tournaments—Celtic, Rangers, Hearts, Motherwell, and Hibernian—have opted to postpone their league matches scheduled for Saturday, 22 August. The postponements are due to the UEFA Champions League, Europa League, and Conference League qualifying play-offs, which take place across two legs around that weekend. Celtic and Rangers are guaranteed to reach the play-off stage, while Hearts, Motherwell, and Hibernian's involvement depends on their current qualifying results. A rule change in April 2025 now allows clubs in European competition to unilaterally delay domestic matches without opponent consent. The postponed games will be rescheduled for midweek dates in September. Only Dundee United vs. Dundee will proceed as planned on 22 August, as neither club is involved in European competition.

Source report

Image caption: Celtic and Rangers are among the teams who have decided to postpone their league games

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

The qualifying play-offs for the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League will take place across two legs, either side of the weekend affected.

Celtic and Rangers are both guaranteed to reach that stage in Europe, although the latter do not yet know which competition they will be in.

Previously, postponements had to be agreed by both clubs, but since April 2025, a team playing in Europe has been able to unilaterally delay a game.

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

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.

The only way Hearts will avoid a play-off is if they beat Sturm Graz on aggregate and then lose in the third round of Champions League qualifying. In that case, they would directly enter the Europa League league phase.

Motherwell and Hibernian are in the middle of their Conference League second round qualifying ties and their league matches will only be postponed should they reach the play-offs.

Motherwell are 2-0 up on aggregate against Faroese side HB, while 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 Saturday, 22 August:

Dundee United v Dundee — will take place as scheduled.
Falkirk v Heart of Midlothian — will be postponed if Hearts are involved in a 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 postpone league matches

Original language: EN-GB

Part of this Story

Scottish Premiership Matches Postponed as Five Clubs Prioritize European Play-offs

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