What channel is Rangers v St Mirren Scottish Premier Sports Cup match on? TV coverage, live stream and kick-off time
St Mirren travel to Ibrox on Sunday to begin the defence of their Scottish Premier Sports Cup crown, taking on a Rangers side under mounting pressure in a second-round tie that carries considerably more intrigue than a typical domestic cup fixture at this stage of the season. With both storylines — St Mirren’s title defence and Rangers’ troubled start under new manager Derek McInnes — colliding in the same match, this is shaping up to be one of the more closely watched fixtures of the early season calendar.
**St Mirren’s cup pedigree and current form**
The Buddies arrive at Ibrox as reigning champions, having lifted their first major trophy in thirteen years at the end of last season. That triumph came in genuinely emphatic fashion, with St Mirren beating Celtic 3-1 in the final courtesy of a second-half brace from Jonah Ayunga. The manner of that win added extra shine to the achievement, given it came against a Celtic side then being managed on an interim basis by Wilfried Nancy, whose spell in temporary charge of the Hoops was widely regarded as a difficult period for the Glasgow club.
Craig McLeish’s side head into this tie in excellent touch. Having topped their group to progress comfortably into the second round of this season’s competition, St Mirren arrive at Ibrox unbeaten and playing with real confidence, having won both of their opening Scottish Premiership fixtures of the new campaign without conceding a single goal. That kind of defensive solidity, combined with genuine attacking threat, suggests this is a St Mirren side capable of causing real problems for whoever they come up against — and their recent record backs that up further still, with the Buddies having lost just once in their last ten competitive matches stretching back to May. Rather than simply making up the numbers against one of Scottish football’s traditional powerhouses, St Mirren travel to Glasgow with a legitimate case for believing they can cause an upset and progress further in defence of their title.
The contrast with Rangers’ own recent form could scarcely be starker. New Ibrox boss Derek McInnes has endured what’s fairly been described as a nightmare start to life in Glasgow. Appointed on a three-year deal back in June after guiding Hearts to a club-record points tally and a second-place finish in the Scottish Premiership, McInnes arrived at Rangers with a strong reputation and considerable expectation attached to his appointment. Instead, he has failed to win any of his opening four matches in charge, a run that includes a drawn opening-day fixture against Dundee United and last Sunday’s late home defeat to Hibernian — a result that continued Rangers’ winless start to the domestic campaign and was met with audible frustration from supporters inside Ibrox.
Compounding matters significantly further, Rangers were eliminated from the Europa League on Thursday night, beaten on aggregate by Polish side Jagiellonia Bialystok, having been unable to overturn a 2-1 first-leg deficit despite a 1-1 draw at Ibrox in the return fixture. That exit represented Rangers’ earliest departure from European competition since 2017, adding a genuinely humiliating European scalp to an already difficult opening spell for the new manager, and piling further pressure on McInnes just weeks into his tenure.
Despite all of that, Rangers do arrive at this particular tie carrying serious pedigree in the competition itself. The club is targeting what would be a record-extending 29th Scottish Premier Sports Cup triumph — a reflection of just how dominant Rangers have historically been in this specific competition over the years, even if current form suggests that dominance can’t simply be taken for granted this time around.
**Team news and injury situations**
Both sides head into Sunday’s tie carrying notable injury concerns, which could shape how each manager approaches team selection. Rangers have been particularly hard hit at centre-back, with a combination of fitness issues leaving the club light in that specific area heading into a demanding early-season fixture list. The situation at left-back has also been a live issue in recent days, with Rangers moving to sign James Penrice from AEK Athens on a season-long loan with an option to buy, specifically to address a shortage in that position after injury ruled out their first-choice option there for an extended period.
St Mirren, for their part, have injury concerns of their own to navigate. Captain Marcus Fraser is a doubt for the trip to Ibrox after picking up a knock, while centre-back Keanu Baccus has already been ruled out until the end of the month with an Achilles issue. Forward Jonah Ayunga — so influential in last season’s cup final victory over Celtic — isn’t expected to return from an ACL injury until the new year, and goalkeeper Ryan Mullen remains sidelined with a long-term thigh problem, meaning Jacob Chapman is set to continue between the sticks for the visitors. Despite those absences, McLeish’s side have shown enough quality and resilience in their opening matches of the season to suggest they won’t simply set up defensively at Ibrox, but will look to play on the front foot and make the tie as competitive as possible.
The match takes place on Sunday 16 August 2026 at Ibrox in Glasgow, with kick-off scheduled for 4pm
Coverage of the match will be shown live on Premier Sports 1. The broadcaster has returned to operating under the Premier Sports name in the UK, having previously been rebranded as Viaplay Sports for a period, and can be accessed via traditional television or through online streaming platforms
For those preferring to stream the match rather than watch via conventional television, coverage will be available through the Premier Sports Player. Existing subscribers can access the game across a range of devices, including laptops, smartphones and tablets, via the dedicated app — offering flexibility for supporters who may not have access to a television at kick-off time, or who simply prefer to follow the action on a mobile device.
For those who’d rather follow proceedings via audio commentary, the match will also be broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland Extra. That coverage can be accessed either through a traditional radio receiver or streamed online via the BBC website or the BBC Sounds app, giving listeners multiple ways to follow the game live regardless of their location.
Ahead of kick-off, bookmakers have installed Rangers as clear favourites for the tie, despite their recent difficult form. Odds provided by bet365 have the hosts priced at 2/9 to progress, with the draw available at 9/2 and St Mirren priced at 13/2 to secure a shock win on their travels to Ibrox.
Those odds are worth examining a little more closely given the context of both teams’ recent form. On paper, St Mirren currently look the more in-form side by some distance — unbeaten in their opening two league fixtures without conceding, cup holders, and losers of just one match in their last ten dating back to May. Rangers, by contrast, remain winless through four matches and have just suffered a chastening European exit. Yet the betting markets still overwhelmingly favour the home side, a reflection of the fact that bookmakers tend to weight squad depth, overall resources, and longer-term pedigree more heavily than short-term form when assessing a single cup tie, particularly one played at a stadium like Ibrox where Rangers’ home advantage and typically stronger overall squad quality remain significant factors regardless of a difficult recent run of results.
There’s an argument that Sunday’s fixture carries more significance than a typical second-round domestic cup tie would ordinarily hold. For Derek McInnes, still searching for his first win since taking charge and facing mounting scrutiny over his position following the Europa League exit, a positive result against St Mirren would represent a genuinely important psychological breakthrough — the first piece of good news since his appointment, and an opportunity to begin arresting a narrative that has grown increasingly negative with each passing match.
For St Mirren, meanwhile, there’s a clear opportunity to make a genuine statement of intent. Beating Rangers away from home, at a venue where the Ibrox side traditionally hold a significant advantage, would represent a considerable scalp for McLeish’s side and would go a long way toward proving that last season’s cup final triumph over Celtic wasn’t simply a one-off high point, but a genuine marker of a club on an upward trajectory capable of competing with, and beating, Scottish football’s traditional powerhouses on a more consistent basis.
With McInnes still searching for that elusive first win in charge, and St Mirren determined to show their cup pedigree extends beyond a single victory over Celtic last season, this last-16 tie offers plenty of genuine intrigue heading into Sunday’s kick-off at Ibrox — considerably more than the betting odds alone might suggest.
