Celtic and Rangers to hold minute’s silence and wear black armbands as UEFA confirm plans to honour The Queen

UEFA have announced commemorative plans have been put in place for UK teams to honour Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in this week’s upcoming Champions League matches.

Both Celtic and Rangers are in action on Wednesday with games against Shakhtar Donetsk and Napoli respectively.

The Hoops travel to Poland to play the Ukrainian champions on matchday 2 of the competition with Rangers hosting the Serie A leaders at Ibrox.

UEFA have now instructed how clubs from the United Kingdom competing in Europe can honour The Queen following her death at the age of 96 last Thursday.

All matches featuring UK sides will begin with a moment of silence before kick-off and players will also wear black armbands as a mark of respect.

In addition to this, there are further plans in place for UK teams playing at home this week, which will only impact Rangers in Scotland.

There should be no Champions League anthem played out over the PA system, nor other associated branding such as the tournament’s logo in the centre-circle, pitch banners and no pre-match sponsor activations or player mascots will be present.

A statement released by UEFA confirmed: “In commemoration of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the following will take place for matches involving UK teams as the home team during the pre-match ceremony: No centre-circle/pitch banners/arch, no UEFA Champions League anthem, Moment of Silence/black armbands, No pre-match sponsor activations/player mascots.

“Additionally, the following will take place for matches involving UK teams as the away team during the pre-match ceremony: Moment of silence/black armbands.”

The SFA confirmed yesterday SPFL clubs will have a variety of ways to honour the Queen when Scottish football resumes again this weekend, including a period of silence and or play the National Anthem ahead of kick-off.

Rangers match against Napoli has originally been planned for Tuesday night, but the match was rescheduled for the following day due a shortage of policing resources.