How many tickets Rangers have been given by Celtic for Old Firm derby & why away fans were previously kept out
Here’s how many away tickets Rangers have for the Old Firm derby vs Celtic at Parkhead this weekend.
Old rivals collide with a relatively new twist this weekend as Rangers head for Celtic on Sunday.
It’s the third Premiership instalment of this fixture this season, in which the sides share a win each, with Rangers winning last time out at Ibrox. Celtic have also won the Premier Sports Cup this season against their rivals but there’s a new element of late to this weekend’s game.
Away fans are back in the stadiums for league matches for the first time since 2023. So how many Rangers punters will be allowed to attend and how did the situation end up like this in the first place.
Why were Rangers and Celtic fans locked out of Ibrox and Parkhead?
Rangers decided to cut Celtic’s allocation to less than 1,000 seven years ago, with the Hoops responding with a similar number, meaning all games between the pair since outside of national cup matches at Hampden have had between 0 and 750 away fans in attendance. Ibrox fans previously petitioned the club board for Celtic supporters to be removed from the Broomloan Road stand with over 5,000 people taking part as per the Scotsman in 2018, with both side previously taking around between 6,000 to 7,000 to their rivals grounds.
A Rangers statement read: “Our supporters will always come first and as many of them as practically possible must be accommodated. That is why the Club has decided on an overall increase in the total number of season tickets available to our supporters to what will be a historical record. A further announcement on the final new ticket allocation will shortly be made available on the Club’s website.
“An unfortunate consequence of putting our supporters first is that this increased demand negatively impacts on the number of tickets which will be allocated to visiting teams. This means all visiting fans will now be situated in the corner between the Broomloan and Sandy Jardine Stands. We believe that this is the best possible outcome after considering the unprecedented levels of support from Rangers fans.”
Celtic responded with: “An unprecedented double treble and historic season for the club has led to a phenomenal level of demand from supporters to be part of Celtic. We are happy to reciprocate in terms of ticket allocation, something which will give us the opportunity to meet this huge demand to visit Celtic Park.”
The final two games of the 22/23 season did not have any away fans at the game “due to safety issues following incidents at both grounds in previous matches” according to Sky Sports. There have not been any at Premiership games since.
How many tickets do Rangers and Celtic fans now get for away games?
Each club is being handed around 4% of the allocation, as per STV. That means around 2,500 tickets will be allocated to Rangers for the game at Celtic Park this Sunday, the biggest away attendance in this fixture since 2018. Celtic will receive around 2,000 at Ibrox.
Celtic said in a statement: “We can confirm that following the previous SPFL determination from last year and with necessary requirements being addressed, away supporters will be present at the next two Glasgow derby matches this season at Celtic Park (March 16) and Ibrox. Allocations will be around 4% of saleable capacity at both stadia.”
A statement from Rangers read: “Rangers supporters will be able to attend our match with Celtic on March 16, with the two clubs agreeing for a reciprocal percentage of tickets to be allocated to away fans. Approximately four per-cent of saleable capacity at both stadia will be given to the visiting club, with everyone at Rangers looking forward to having the backing of our supporters in the East End of Glasgow in just over a fortnight’s time. The arrangement will then be repeated for the Old Firm derby at Ibrox following the split.”