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It is a third meeting of the season between two of football’s fiercest rivals and second in the Scottish Premiership to kick off 2026, with Wilfried Nancy desperate for a positive result on home soil to quell some of the intense speculation over his future.
It has been a disastrous start to life at Celtic since the Frenchman left Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer (MLS) to become Brendan Rodgers’ full-time replacement in early December following a period under the interim management of the popular Martin O’Neill and Shaun Maloney.
Nancy lost all of his first four games in charge of the Hoops, including at home to surprise leaders Hearts and the Scottish League Cup final against St Mirren.
Though there was a brief resurgence with back-to-back wins over 10-man Aberdeen and bottom club Livingston, a fifth loss at Motherwell followed to end 2025 as angry fans vented their fury at the club’s hierarchy following a missed chance to move level on points at the summit with Hearts, who had lost a thrilling Edinburgh derby to Hibernian.
Third-place Rangers would go level with Celtic with a win on Saturday having largely stablilised under Danny Rohl after the short-lived tenure of Russell Martin, following their only away defeat of the calendar year at Hearts with successive victories over Motherwell and St Mirren to build momentum and close the gap at the top.
Date, kick-off time and venue
Celtic vs Rangers is scheduled for a 12:30pm GMT kick-off on Saturday January 3, 2026.
The match will take place at Celtic Park in Glasgow.
Where to watch Celtic vs Rangers
TV channel: In the UK, the game will be broadcast live on Sky Sports Football, where coverage begins at 11:30am.
Live stream: Those with a Sky Sports subscription can also watch the action live online through the Sky Go app.
Live blog: Follow the match on Saturday via Standard Sport’s live blog.
Under pressure: Wilfried Nancy has endured a miserable start to his reign as Celtic manager
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Celtic vs Rangers team news
Celtic remain without the services of Sebastian Tounekti and Michel-Ange Balikwisha, both of whom remain involved at the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.
Alistair Johnston, Kelechi Iheanacho, Callum Osmand and Marcelo Saracchi have all been sidelined through injury, along with long-term absentees Cameron Carter-Vickers and Jota.
Jahmai Simpson-Pusey is expected to be recalled from his loan spell by parent club Manchester City, meanwhile.
Nedim Bajrami, Oliver Antman, Derek Cornelius and Rabbi Matondo have all been out for Rangers of late, though the latter was an unused substitute against St Mirren at Ibrox. Nasser Djiga is away at AFCON.
Celtic vs Rangers prediction
Nancy and Celtic are badly in need of a win on derby day to calm the growing unrest among supporters who have become so disillusioned with the club’s recent direction.
Though the Frenchman insists he is not worried about his future and appears to retain the backing from above, six defeats so early in his tenure for a club as traditionally dominant as Celtic feels unthinkable and would surely approach untenable status, particularly with Hearts at home to lowly Livingston later in the day.
Rangers, with the Martin era now firmly in the past, would love to pile on more misery after making solid progress under Rohl. They will be eager to take the chance to move level on points with Celtic – who have yet to keep a single clean sheet under Nancy in seven games – and move firmly into the title picture.
Head to head (h2h) history and results
Celtic vs Rangers match odds
Odds via Betfair (subject to change).
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