Quarter-final draw has been made with a place at Hampden on the line for the winners
By Peter Cassidy
The draw for the Scottish Cup quarter-finals have taken place as the remaining teams find out their last eight opponents.
Cup holders Rangers and last season’s defeated finalists Hearts remain the competition as do Celtic and sixth-tier side Darvel who play Falkirk in the final fifth-round game after the draw takes place on Monday.
Celtic will travel to Edinburgh to play Hearts in the tie of the round and Rangers will host Championship side Raith Rovers.
Inverness Caley Thistle will host Kilmarnock and the winner of Darvel vs Falkirk on Monday will play Ayr United for a place in the semi-finals.
A trip to Hampden is on the line for the four winners of the ties and the draw means there will be at least one non-Premiership team in the last four with one of Darvel, Falkirk or Ayr United guaranteed a place at the national stadium.
If Darvel can manage back to back home wins they will become the first ever team from the sixth-tier to reach a semi-final in the country’s flagship knockout competition.
The draw for the quarter-finals of the women’s Scottish Cup was also held on Monday with holders Celtic handed a trip to Hearts, Scottish champions Rangers will play Hibernian and league leaders Glasgow City will play at Kilmarnock.
Scottish Cup quarter-final draw in full
Men
Inverness Caley Thistle vs Kilmarnock
Rangers vs Raith Rovers
Darvel or Falkirk vs Ayr United
Women (Sunday, March 19)
Glasgow Women vs Motherwell
Rangers vs Hibernian
Heart of Midlothian vs Celtic
Kilmarnock vs Glasgow City
Meanwhile, Celtic’s Champions League campaign helped generate £76.5 million in revenue for the six months until 31 December 2022 – 44.8% more than the 2021 figure.
The numbers were published in the Scottish Premiership leaders’ interim six-month financial report.
The accounts also showed a pre-tax profit of £33.9 million.
Money spend on players dropped from £16.8 million to £5.7 million, while profit from player sales also fell from £25.8 million to £1.8 million.
Celtic’s summer spending included the signings of Daizen Maeda, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Jota – who all spent 2021-22 on loan – plus the captures of Alexandro Bernabei, Sead Haksabanovic, Aaron Mooy and Benjamin Siegrist. Oliver Abildgaard and Moritz Jenz, who have since left the club, were also recruited on loan.
In his first statement since re-joining the club as chairman, Peter Lawwell said direct qualification to the Champions League group stage was one of “the key factors driving the improvement in the underlying trading performance”.
Former chief executive Lawwell, ABOVE LEFT, added: “Gains from player trading this year were notably lower, reflecting our strategy of assembling a new football playing squad under Ange Postecoglou.”