Old Firm: Storied Rivals Clash For the First Time in 2025-26 Season

Rangers in crisis mode

Both Glasgow clubs will be licking their wounds ahead of their first Scottish Premiership meeting of the 2025-26 season. They’ll each have to recover quickly though, as the 447th edition of the famous Old Firm grows closer.

Rangers have experienced a tumultuous start under new manager Russell Martin. They were dumped out of the Champions League play-off in embarrassing fashion, being torn apart by Club Brugge en route to a 9-1 scoreline after the two legs, the worst aggregate loss in club history. The 6-0 loss in the second leg also equalled the club’s biggest ever European margin of defeat in a 90-minute match, with many fans considering it worse than the 7-1 loss in to Liverpool in 2022.

Rangers 2025-26 UEFA Champions League qualifying results:

As if that wasn’t bad enough, Martin is still seeking his first league victory. Rangers have drawn all three of their fixtures in the Scottish Premiership so far, already putting them six points off their rivals. A loss here would see them drop nine points behind Celtic and potentially even put the league title out of reach after just four games.

Russell Martin record as Rangers manager (competitive fixtures only):

• Wins: 3
• Draws: 4
• Losses 3
• Goals scored: 15
• Goals conceded: 17

More on the Scottish Premiership

Celtic looking to bounce back after disappointing UCL exit

Celtic have not fared much better on the European front. After making it to the knockout round in last season’s edition of the UCL and giving Bayern a full run for their money, fans will have had high expectations for this year.

Celtic entered directly into the Champions League play-off following their Scottish Premiership title but were blindsided by an organized and defensively-astute Kairat Almaty side. The Kazakhstani club kept the Scottish champions at bay for 210 minutes and sealed a first ever Champions League berth following a penalty shootout victory.

The result is that both Celtic and Rangers will be participating in the Europa League this season. And while Brendan Rodgers’ squad was disappointingly bounced in a European tie that they were heavily favoured to win, Celtic at least have a 100% winning record to start the 2025-26 Scottish Premiership.

What’s at stake

Russell Martin could very well be sacked should Rangers fall to defeat at home against Celtic. Should it come to pass, it would mark the shortest managerial term at Rangers, an ignominious record currently held by Pedro Caixinha after his spell of just 229 days in charge in 2017.

A loss here would not cost him his job by any means, but it could start to sow potential seeds of discontent among the fanbase. This would be down to the disappointing manner of exit in the Champions League coupled with the club selling key players in the summer and the belief that they have not done enough to fill the holes with adequate replacements.

History of the Old Firm derby

Sunday's match takes on even more significance as Celtic will have the chance to even up the all-time head-to-head record. Our experts believe that this will be a high-scoring, back-and-forth match. See the full breakdown in our Rangers vs Celtic prediction!

All time record:

• Rangers - 171 wins
• Celtic - 170 wins
• Draw - 105 

Recently, it’s been the Gers that have gotten the better of their rivals. Check out the last 10 Old Firm results below:

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