UEFA confirmed on Sunday that the Champions League match between Glasgow Rangers and Naples (day 2) would be postponed to the following Wednesday due to logistical obstacles related to the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. The original date of the match was Tuesday. The European body explained in a press release that the decision to postpone the 24-hour Group A poster was made “due to severe police and organizational resource constraints related to (…) the bereavement national” after the death of the queen. This meant that the decision was made to postpone the poster until Wednesday evening at nine o’clock.
UEFA added that fans of Napoli will not be able to attend the match for the same reasons and that, for the sake of fairness, fans of Rangers will also be unable to travel to Italy for the return match on October 26. The reasons for these restrictions are the same as those cited in the previous sentence. “UEFA strongly encourages” the fans of the two clubs to refrain from making these journeys “in light of the exceptional circumstances” that have arisen. Elizabeth II passed away on Thursday at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, and her remains were scheduled to be transferred to Edinburgh on Sunday, before making their way to London. This required a significant mobilization of the Scottish police.
As a result of the passing of the monarch, who was 96 years old, every single match that was supposed to take place in the Scottish Championship this weekend, as well as those that were supposed to take place in the English Championship, have been postponed indefinitely. The Rangers club, for its part, issued a separate press release on Sunday, in which it stated that they “recognize the inconvenience caused by this adjustment” in the programming of their first Champions League encounter played at home, and they apologized for the situation. Those who purchased tickets but were unable to make it to the meeting on Wednesday will get their money back, he promised. The Scottish team had a rough start to their C1 campaign after suffering a 4-0 loss away at Ajax Amsterdam on the previous Wednesday.