Celtic, Rangers lose appeal against stadium closure sanction after fan trouble

Celtic and Rangers have failed in their appeals against bans requiring them to play their next Scottish Cup home ties behind closed doors. The Scottish FA sanctions followed serious crowd disorder at Ibrox during a Scottish Cup quarter-final in March, which ended in a 4-2 penalty shoot-out win for Celtic after a 0-0 draw. Both clubs also failed to overturn £100,000 fines owed to their opponents, though a suspended threat of a second closed-doors match was removed.

Police Scotland arrested 43 people following the March fixture, where supporters clashed on the pitch amid launched pyrotechnics and missiles. In a public response, Celtic criticized the outcome as excessive and disproportionate, arguing that authorities drew a false equivalence between the actions of the two sets of supporters. An independent review led by Mark Blackbourne found that serious violence was narrowly avoided during the pitch invasion.