But what are some of the other important days, and how are the fixture lists determined? More significantly, when will Hearts have the opportunity to break two long-standing hoodoos at two distinct venues?
What are the fixtures?
Hearts will open the 2025/26 season at home against Aberdeen, where McInnes spent eight years. The match, the last of the initial Scottish Premiership games, will be shown live on Sky Sports on Monday, August 4 at 8pm. Hearts face Dundee United at Tannadice Park the following Saturday, before hosting Motherwell and travelling to Livingston to round off the season’s first month of play.
The fixture list in full:
Key dates
The league begins on the weekend of August 2 and 3, and match day 33, the final game before the split, will be played on the weekend of April 11 and 12. Last season, Hearts played their pre-split matches away to Motherwell. This season, the reverse meeting at Tynecastle will be the penultimate encounter before the league is split in two. Each club then plays five games in the top or bottom half of the league, with the final day of the season taking place on the weekend of May 16 and 17.
The SPFL produces the fixtures list in collaboration with GotSport, a US corporation that has worked with the governing body for the past ten seasons. A ‘fixture recipe’ is fed into their optimisation software, which includes any constraints, such as ensuring a specific number of home matches and avoiding two clubs from the same city playing at home on the same day. Another example is avoiding fixtures during international breaks. The increased amount of competitive international matchups means that there will be no winter break in Scotland this season. The’recipe’ also assures that clubs play a sufficient number of midweek games at their home ground, including one home and one away fixture over the holiday season. There’s also non-football events to consider, such as rugby matches and concerts at Murrayfield Stadium.
For instance, Hearts are required to play their second match day away from home as it clashes with the Oasis gig at Murrayfield. Similarly, Hearts will play away from home at the start of November when the Scotland rugby team hosts New Zealand.
When are the derbies?
These are the first fixtures that Hearts fans seek for, and the head coach admits he is no exception. There is added importance, particularly on the first, given the Gorgies’ record in those games previous season.
The inaugural Edinburgh derby of the 2025/25 season will take place on October 4 at Tynecastle. Then it’s a holiday journey to Easter Road on December 27, followed by the season’s final confirmed Edinburgh game at Tynecastle on February 11. Following that, both teams must finish in the same half of the Premiership to guarantee a fourth league derby of the season.Rugby Park reunion
Another match that Hearts fans would have sought out fast is the first against McInnes’ former team, Kilmarnock. That is slated on October 18 and will take place at Rugby Park, where the Hearts’ head coach, as well as the club’s latest signing, Stuart Findlay, will most likely face an angry home crowd.
Hoodoo breakers
Hearts enter the 2025/26 season with two unwelcome, long-standing winless streaks at two specific venues. Hearts have not won at Pittodrie since Abiola Dauda scored in May 2016. Hearts have not won at Ibrox since the 2014/15 Scottish Championship season. McInnes’ men will have the opportunity to break their Ibrox curse on September 13. Two months later, they’ll be at Pittodrie, looking for their first triumph in nearly ten years.
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