Hampden set to host both Betfred Cup semi-finals on the same day | OneFootball

In a controversial and unprecedented move, Rangers will face Aberdeen at noon, while Celtic and Hearts will face off in Scotland’s national stadium less than eight hours later.

With both Celtic and Rangers involved in Europa League ties on Thursday, there was worry that one of the two sides could be forced to play less then 48 hours later on Saturday.

After all four Scottish clubs met with the SPFL to discuss various options, they opted to host both matches on the same day.

Later, the SPFL revealed that they are contractually obligated to host both semi-finals at Hampden Park.

As a result, well over 100,000 fans from the four clubs will all be in South Glasgow on the same day, which will give organisers and the local authourities a huge headache.

Iain Blair, the league secretary, said: “We knew going into last night’s Betfred Cup draw there was a chance that if Rangers and Celtic reached the Betfred Cup semi-finals the draw could keep them apart.

“Because they both have a UEFA Europa League match on Thursday 25 October, we had to find a solution which gave them the necessary two-day gap between competitive matches.

“We’ve been working hard with Police Scotland and Hampden Park on contingency planning for exactly this scenario and, together, we examined every possible permutation.

“The crowded fixture calendar means that this is the best and most practical solution as any alternative had the knock-on effect of causing major fixture congestion – not only for Celtic and Rangers, but for several other SPFL clubs.

“We met with representatives of all four clubs earlier today and explained that this was the only feasible outcome.

“The fact that both Celtic and Rangers are in Europe, and will hopefully be playing in the Europa League after the New Year, is obviously good news for Scottish football.

“However, it does mean that our capacity for rescheduling games is significantly curtailed.

“We can confirm that Police Scotland have advised that the Aberdeen vs Rangers game should be played first.”

A Hampden Park Limited spokesman said, “We have already started the detailed planning process which is standard practice for all major events at the Stadium.

“Hampden is the home of Scottish football and we all look forward to assisting our SPFL colleagues with the delivery of two very exciting Betfred Cup semi-finals at the Stadium.”