The Scottish Premiership title race between Hearts and Celtic will be decided on the final day of the season as the top two teams meet at Celtic Park. Hearts, aiming to win their first league title since 1960 and break the Old Firm's 41-year dominance, have led the table since September and hold a one-point advantage. Derek McInnes's side can secure the championship with a draw or a win, but they must recover from a late setback on Wednesday night when Celtic snatched a contentious 3-2 victory at Motherwell.
Match Details
Kick-off is at 12:30pm BST on Saturday, 16 May 2026, at Celtic Park in Glasgow. The match will be broadcast live on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Football, with coverage starting at 11:30am.
Team News
Celtic manager Martin O'Neill has settled on a consistent lineup, with the only recent change being the choice between Sebastian Tounekti and Luke McCowan on the wing. Daizen Maeda continues his scoring form, while Kelechi Iheanacho provides an impact option from the bench. Hearts are without Craig Halkett and Marc Leonard due to Achilles injuries. Harry Milne and Cammy Devlin returned against Falkirk but were substituted early to manage their minutes after lay-offs. No fresh fitness concerns emerged from that win.
Possible Line-ups
- Celtic XI: Sinisalo; Johnston, Trusty, Scales, Tierney; McGregor, Engels, Nygren; Yang, Maeda, McCowan
- Hearts XI: Schwolow; Steinwender, Kent, Findlay, Kingsley, Milne; Baningime, Devlin, Spittal; Braga, Shankland
Title Permutations
Hearts will win the league if they win or draw. If they lose, Celtic retain the title. For Celtic, victory is essential to defend their championship.
Manager Quotes
Martin O'Neill: "We may not win it, but what we have done is that we have fought really impressively throughout these last number of weeks. The players have shown enormous character to keep fighting right to the very end. It could go either way, but at least we've taken it to the final game."
Derek McInnes: "We're going into a stadium of 60,000, the place will be rocking. Going into the lion's den, even though we've been top of the league since September, we're still going to be the underdog. For us to be competing with Celtic, with the money they've got and everything at their disposal, it's a huge effort for our team and we look forward to it."
