Russell Martin facing Rangers festive fixture headache as four stars could miss Celtic clash
Cyriel Dessers, Mohamed Diomande, Hamza Igamane and Nasser Djiga might all be ruled out of massive away clashes at rivals Celtic, Hearts and Aberdeen.
Traditionally, the African tournament has been played after the New Year over January and February. But this year, the finals in Morocco are being played a month earlier, beginning in December.
READ MORE: Tavernier returns to Rangers fold but Raskin has point to prove in predicted XI vs Dundee
READ MORE: Rangers are everything Celtic aren't right now as smart money is on the club that's throwing it about
FIFA changed the dates because of the new-look Champions League format, which sees key knockout games played in January. Plans to stage the tournament this summer were scrapped due to the expansion of the Club World Cup.
That has left the tournament to be scheduled around the festive period, which would be bad news for Rangers.
As things stand, Dessers would play for Nigeria, Diomande would represent Ivory Coast, Igamane would be in the squad of hosts Morocco and Djiga would play for Burkina Faso at the tournament. All four countries have qualified.
FIFA have yet to announce the minimum period that clubs have to release their players, but it could potentially lead to the quartet missing five league games and a Scottish Cup tie.
And the bad news for Rangers is that they include arguably their three hardest away trips of the season - to Celtic, Aberdeen and Hearts, with the Old Firm game on January 3 at Parkhead.
They would also be scheduled to miss home games against Motherwell and St Mirren, depending on how far the teams get in the tournament.
Rangers could even have been missing five players had their move for Real Betis and Senegal defender Nobel Mendy gone ahead.
It's the seventh African Cup of Nations in a row that has not gone ahead as originally scheduled due to a variety of reasons, including instability in Libya, an outbreak of Ebola in Guinea, delays in the construction of stadiums in Cameroon, Covid and the rainy season in the Ivory Coast.
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You can get all the news you need on our dedicated Rangers and Celtic pages, and sign up to our newsletters to make sure you never miss a beat throughout the season. We're also WhatsApp where we bring all the latest breaking news and transfer gossip directly to you phone. Join our Rangers community here and our Celtic community here.
Tune in to Hotline Live every Sunday to Thursday and have your say on the biggest issues in Scottish football and listen to Record Sport's newest podcast, Game On, every Friday for your sporting fix, all in bitesize chunks.
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Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily! FOLLOW Follow your favorites to personalize your FOX Sports experience Texas Rangers Major League Baseball share
Yahoo
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