CELTIC have been given the opportunity to become quadruple treble heroes – five days ahead of Christmas Day.
The SFA have confirmed CQN’s story from earlier today that the Scottish Cup semi-finals and Final will be held before the turn of the year.
The Hampden bosses have scheduled the last-four encounters for Saturday, October 31 and Sunday, November 1 with the showpiece showdown taking place at Hampden on December 20.
The holders were due to face Aberdeen on Easter Sunday before the tie had to be forced into cold storage due to the coronavirus pandemic. Hibs and Hearts will play in the other last-four encounter for a right to perform in the silverware shoot-out at the national stadium.
The Hoops were denied the chance to claim a sensational fourth successive clean sweep of domestic honours when the lockdown wiped out the fixture list.
However, they had already won the Betfred League Cup when Christopher Jullien scored the only goal of the game to overcome Steven Gerrard’s Ibrox side on December 8.
The ninth championship crown on the trot was duly awarded to Neil Lennon’s men in May by the SPFL hierarchy with Scotland’s title kings leading the league by 13 points with only eight games still to play.
Now they can fix their sights on the Dons in November in their quest to give their supporters an early Christmas present the following month.
SFA chief Ian Maxwell, speaking to Glasgow Live, said: “We are pleased to confirm dates for the remaining stages of the 2019/20 William Hill Scottish Cup.
“It has always been our intention to play the tournament to a finish and while the impact of COVID-19 has dramatically altered the schedule, we are confident that the final will be a unique and memorable showpiece event during the Christmas holidays.
“The dates for the final stages of the competition will give the semi-finalists the best chance to prepare for such important fixtures. By ensuring no players will be Cup-tied, we have also ensured that each club will be able to field their strongest possible teams.”
