Old Firm Matches to Exclude Away Fans This Season
The most combustible fixture in Scottish football will be stripped of one of its defining elements this season: the travelling support.
The SPFL has confirmed that all Old Firm meetings in the Premiership and League Cup will go ahead without away fans, after months of tension over ticket allocations and a hard look at safety in the wake of crowd trouble.
Rangers host Celtic at Ibrox in the Premier Sports Cup on 13 September. A week later, the rivalry shifts to Parkhead for a league clash. Both games will be played in front of home fans only.
From 5% to Zero
For years, the Old Firm away end was a seething, noisy block of colour, even as allocations shrank from the vast swathes of previous decades. Ahead of this season, both clubs had agreed in principle to a five per cent away allocation for SPFL fixtures at Ibrox and Celtic Park.
That plan did not survive the spring.
After the Scottish Cup tie between the clubs in March, on-pitch clashes between supporters triggered an independent review into safety and crowd management. Once that report landed, the already fragile truce over ticket numbers fell apart.
Rangers, citing their assessment of the “circumstances and risks” around the upcoming cup tie, offered Celtic 300 tickets instead of the roughly 2,500 that a five per cent share would have delivered. Celtic refused to accept such a reduced number.
With neither side willing to budge, the SPFL stepped in.
League Steps In, Turnstiles Close
Following talks involving both clubs, the league, Police Scotland and other agencies, the SPFL imposed a clean break: no away fans at Old Firm games in league and League Cup competition for the rest of this season.
In a statement, the SPFL described the move as a “temporary arrangement” designed to give both clubs and authorities space to digest the findings of the independent review, implement changes and properly plan future fixtures. The league also pointed to the need for “greater certainty” for supporters and matchday organisers, instead of repeated late wrangling over away allocations.
Safety and security, the SPFL stressed, remain the priority. The position could change if circumstances “materially” shift during the campaign, but for now the policy is set.
A Rivalry Redrawn – For Now
The decision locks in a strange new reality for a fixture built on noise, hostility and the visual clash of green and white against blue. Home advantage will feel even more pronounced. The away end, once a stage for some of the most intense scenes in British football, will sit empty.
All parties have committed to working “constructively” during this period. The SPFL has already signalled that arrangements for matches beyond the current season will be considered well ahead of the 2027/28 campaign.
By then, the Old Firm may have found a way to welcome back the enemy into their own backyard. For this season, though, the rivalry will rage on – but only one half of Glasgow will be allowed to roar inside the ground.
