Rangers and Hearts duo to miss key matches as African Cup of Nations call ups confirmed

Hearts forward Landre Kabore and Rangers defender Nasser Djiga will miss a number of upcoming Scottish Premiership matches, and potentially more if their country reaches progress to the knockout phase of the tournament.

Brama Traoré, the Burkinabe head coach, included Kabore in his AFCON squad after the player struck back-to-back international hat-tricks. He scored all his team’s goals in October’s 3-1 World Cup qualifying win over Ethiopia, then claimed another treble in a 3-2 friendly win against Niger last month.

Djiga, meanwhile, who has 11 caps for his country, has been a regular starter in defence for Rangers this season following his season-long loan move from Wolverhampton Wanderers in the summer and has been partnering Emmanuel Fernandez at the back in recent weeks.

The 2025 Africa Cup of Nations is hosted by Morocco and runs from December 21 to January 18. Burkina Faso are in Group E alongside Algeria, Equatorial Guinea and Sudan. They face Equatorial Guinea on December 24, Algeria on December 28 and Sudan on December 31 in an effort to reach the knockout stages. The FIFA deadline for clubs to release players for the tournament is December 15, although some teams will let people join up with their countries earlier.

Hearts are preparing to be without Kabore for three league games initially: Rangers at Tynecastle on December 21, Hibs at Easter Road on December 27, and Livingston at Almondvale on January 3.

Rangers will have to make do without Djiga for at least four fixtures starting against Hearts at Tynecastle on December 21, while he will also miss matches against Motherwell and St Mirren at Ibrox on December 27 and 30, as well as the Old Firm clash at Celtic Park on January 3. Rangers are also likely to lose Mohamed Diomande for the same four matches at minimum with the midfielder expected to receive an Ivory Coast call-up.

Burkina Faso have a realistic chance of reaching the AFCON knockout phase, with the last-16 ties spread across January 3 to 6. Quarter-finals are on January 9 and 10, semi-finals on January 14, with the final on January 18.

The absence of Djiga will leave Rangers light in defence with fellow centre-backs John Souttar and Derek Cornelius currently injured and not expected to return until into the new year.

Hearts will also feel the absence of Kabore, who has been a regular in Derek McInnes’ squad since completing a transfer from the Estonian side JK Narva Trans during the summer. He has made nine appearances for the Gorgie club, including six starts, and has scored two goals so far, both of which came in the 4-0 win against Dundee on November 1.

His latest outing was as a substitute for Claudio Braga during Sunday’s impressive 2-1 win over Celtic at Celtic Park, which took Hearts three points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership.

Several other Scottish teams will also miss players because of Africa Cup of Nations commitments over the next few weeks. Motherwell forward Tawanda Maswanhise is expected to be named in Zimbabwe’s squad, while DR Congo called up Celtic’s Michel-Ange Balikwisha and Hibs’ Rocky Bushiri. Celtic’s Sebastian Tounekti could also earn a place in Tunisia’s squad.