Celtic open against Kilmarnock as Rangers visit Hearts

26 June 2024

Updated 7 minutes ago

Celtic will begin their defence of the Scottish Premiership title at home to Kilmarnock on Sunday, 4 August.

But it is runners-up Rangers and third-top Heart of Midlothian who will get the top-flight season under way the previous day when they meet in a televised 12:30 BST kick-off at Tynecastle Park.

Philippe Clement’s side host Motherwell a week later despite the Glasgow club revealing last week that “there will be an impact on matches at Ibrox” at the start of the season after “a delay in a materials shipment from Asia” affected work on the Copland Stand.

Rangers are yet to confirm whether matches will have to be played elsewhere but have said they have “engaged with the SPFL and Uefa in order to review planned contingency arrangements”.

Meanwhile, it is Celtic’s turn to visit Edinburgh that second weekend as Hibernian host Brendan Rodgers’ side on Sunday, 11 August.

The Scottish Professional Football League fixtures for the 2024-25 season published on Thursday morning also reveal that the first Old Firm derby of the season is scheduled for Celtic Park on Saturday, 31 August, although that may change depending on live television coverage.

Here’s your guide to some of the other key dates:

Top-flight kick-off over three days

The opening Premiership weekend is split over three days, with only Motherwell’s hosting of Ross County having a traditional Saturday 15:00 kick-off.

On their return to the top flight after winning the Championship, Dundee United host city rivals Dundee on a busy opening Sunday in a televised 13:30 kick-off, with Kilmarnock’s visit to Celtic Park also being shown live at 16:30.

With St Mirren playing a Europa Conference League qualifier on the Thursday, their home game against Hibs is also being played that day at 15:00, while Jimmy Thelin’s league debut as Aberdeen boss is held over to Monday at 20:00 away to St Johnstone.

With Celtic and Rangers expected to again go head-to-head for the title, the city rivals are handed their traditional New Year fixture, with the holders visiting Ibrox on Thursday, 2 January.

Their third scheduled meeting is at Celtic Park on the weekend of 15 March, with the fourth, assuming neither miss out on a top-six finish, coming after the Premiership splits into two sections of six teams after matches over the weekend of 12 and 13 April.

The first Edinburgh derby of the Premiership season is not until the weekend of 26 October at Easter Road, with the second at Tynecastle on Boxing Day with a 12:30 GMT kick-off for live television coverage.

Euro changes mean no winter break

The action in all four leagues kicks off on the weekend of 3 August, with the Premiership split coming eight months later and the top-flight season concluding on the weekend of 17 and 18 May.

The three lower leagues end two weeks before that in order to leave time for the play-offs.

There will not, however, be a winter break for the Premiership this season because of the expansion of Uefa’s club competitions – with the new league phase of the Champions League and Europa League running until the end of January.

The SPFL said the format change “exerts additional pressure on the domestic calendar” and “made scheduling more challenging than usual”.

Falkirk v Queen’s Park kicks off season live on BBC

The SPFL season officially kicks off on Friday, 2 August, when League 1 champions Falkirk host Queen’s Park as part of the BBC Scotland television channel’s series of live Championship games.

Relegated Livingston begin their second-tier campaign at home to Dunfermline Athletic the following day.

Airdrieonians’ trip to face Ayr United on 9 August is the second of BBC Scotland’s live Friday games.

Inverness Caledonian Thistle start life in League 1 at home to promoted Dumbarton on Saturday, 3 August as League 2 champions Stenhousemuir host the other relegated side, Arbroath.

On the same afternoon, Edinburgh City host Stirling Albion in a meeting of the two sides relegated to League 2.

Your fixtures guide on BBC Sport

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