SFA announce VAR and draw details as Celtic return to controversial surroundings

By Hamish Carton

March 9, 2023

The SFA have announced some information ahead of this weekend’s Scottish Cup quarter-finals, featuring Celtic.

On Saturday, Ange Postecoglou‘s Hoops aim to make it back to Hampden Park when they travel to Hearts.

The game is without doubt the pick of the four ties. It takes place at 12:15pm and will be shown live on Viaplay Sports.

Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images

As the SFA informed supporters on Thursday morning, VAR will be in use at Tynecastle. This is due to the match being played at a Premiership ground and live on television.

The winner of the tie will be decided on Saturday, with extra time and penalties used if required.

Should we advance, we’ll find out our semi-final opponents late on Monday. The SFA say that the draw will take place on BBC Scotland right after Falkirk vs Ayr United.

If Saturday’s match is, for whatever reason, postponed, then it will be rearranged for Tuesday night.

Celtic will be returning to controversial surroundings at Tynecastle on Saturday.

Our last visit to the ground was also the first televised use of VAR in Scottish football, and it was a manic encounter.

Hearts were awarded two penalties in the match, while we had a stonewall penalty turned away for some inexplicable reason.

Photo by Ewan Bootman/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Liel Abada also had a late goal chopped off for an incorrect looking offside call.

Thankfully, we rose above all of that to record the win. We may need to show the same kind of resilience this weekend.

As we told you yesterday, home ticket sales at Tynecastle have been slow.

Celtic, meanwhile, will be backed by over 3,000 supporters so it shouldn’t feel quite as hostile as usual.

Bring it on.

In other news, Michael Stewart has been speaking positively about Celtic after Wednesday’s win

Hamish Carton
Hamish Carton is a sports media professional with more than eight years of experience in the industry. Previously a football reporter for the Press Association, Hamish joined 67 Hail Hail to cover his beloved Celtic FC, the team he has supported all of his life. He is the face of the website’s YouTube channel and is responsible for planning, presenting and editing videos on the channel. He writes occasionally on the website and, just like Patrick, he is so in love with Ange Postecoglou that he's even written a book about his journey at Celtic.

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