THE SPFL have confirmed both Betfred League Cup semi-finals will be played at Hampden Park on Sunday, October 28.

In a sensational and what will be seen as a controversial move, Rangers will face Aberdeen a 12 noon.

And then almost eight hours hours later, Celtic and Hearts go head-to-head at the national stadium with a 7.45pm kickoff.

All four clubs met today (Thursday) with the SPFL to discuss the options open to them.

The SPFL revealed it is contractually obliged to bring both semi-finals to Hampden.

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, and 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, but 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.”

More to follow...