Celtic Criticizes Monday Night Opening for Premiership Title Defence
Celtic have condemned the decision to start their Scottish Premiership title defence on a Monday night, after being told their opening fixture could not be scheduled for the weekend because of the Commonwealth Games and two Calvin Harris concerts.
The champions will begin their quest for another crown against Dundee at Celtic Park on 3 August, with kick-off set for 19:30 BST, a slot the club believes diminishes the occasion and punishes travelling supporters.
Champions pushed to Monday night
Glasgow’s crowded sporting and entertainment calendar has collided head-on with the new league season. Cycling events for Glasgow 2026 are booked into the Sir Chris Hoy Arena, which sits beside Celtic Park, across the weekend of 1 and 2 August. At the same time, Calvin Harris will play two major shows at Hampden.
That cocktail of traffic, policing and logistical strain has led the SPFL and Police Scotland to insist there was “no choice” but to move Celtic’s opener to the Monday evening.
Celtic are far from convinced.
The club say they made “repeated representations” to both the league and Police Scotland to secure a weekend date, arguing that the first game of the champions’ season should carry the status and accessibility such an occasion deserves.
“We feel strongly a weekend timing should have been facilitated in the interests of both teams, both sets of supporters and the status of the fixture,” the club said, underlining their frustration at being squeezed out by competing events in their own city.
They did, at least, manage to shift the kick-off time. The match had initially been pencilled in for later, but Celtic say they negotiated an earlier start to ease the journey for fans travelling from Ireland, many of whom rely on tight ferry and flight connections.
TV dictates and a packed opening card
The rearranged game forms part of a fully televised opening round, with all six fixtures from the first weekend of the 2026-27 campaign selected for live broadcast.
The season will raise its curtain on Friday, 31 July, when Dundee United host Rangers at 20:00, a meeting that will immediately test both sides’ early-season sharpness under the lights.
Saturday brings a double-header. Falkirk face St Mirren at 15:00, before last season’s runners-up Hearts travel to Aberdeen for a 17:30 kick-off in what already looks like a key marker for the clubs chasing Celtic.
By the time the champions finally walk out at Celtic Park on the Monday night, the rest of the league will have laid down their opening statements. Celtic wanted a weekend stage for their first act. Instead, they will start their defence under weekday floodlights, framed not just by their rivals’ results, but by a city that had already filled its calendar.
