Who is the referee for Rangers v Hearts? Official who made 'incorrect' penalty call confirmed plus VAR details

Having drawn all four of their opening league fixtures, head coach Russell Martin finds himself under increasing pressure after overseeing the club’s worst start to a season since 1983. A win against the Tynecastle outfit at the weekend seems almost non-negotiable.

Their visitors, Hearts, will head to Ibrox believing they can win there for the first time since 2014. New boss Derek McInnes has enjoyed an excellent start to his reign, taking the Jambos joint top of the league with three wins and a draw in their first four games.

Rangers will be able to call on some fresh faces for the game, with deadline day signings Youssef Chermiti and Derek Cornelius both in line to start, while fellow new boy Bojan Miovski will hope to keep his place after making his debut in the 0-0 draw with Celtic a fortnight ago.

Hearts will be without Calem Nieuwenhof, Ageu (both hamstring), Frankie Kent (knee), and Liam McFarlane (concussion). However, the duo of Jamie McCart and Craig Gordon has a slim chance of returning, though the clash will come too soon for Christian Borchgrevink.

Ahead of the game, we look at who the Scottish FA has chosen as the match officials at Ibrox:

Who is the referee for Rangers v Hearts?

The man in the middle for the Ibrox clash will be Steven McLean. He has taken charge of two games so far in the 2025/26 Scottish Premiership season, awarding six yellow cards (3.00 average per game) and no red cards. He had awarded an average of 0.56 fouls per game, but given no penalties.

Across his career, he has taken charge of 72 Scottish Premiership games, handing out 212 yellow cards (2.94 per game average) and 11 red cards (0.15 per game average). Earlier in the season, he took charge of Rangers' opening league game against Motherwell. During the 1-1 draw, he booked four Rangers players. He also took charge of Hearts’ penalty shootout loss to St Mirren in the Premier Sports Cup, where he booked seven players.

Last season, he was involved in controversy during the Gers' narrow 1-0 win over St Johnstone when he failed to award a penalty for an alleged handball in the box. By a 3-2 majority, the SFA panel later suggested referee McLean and VAR were wrong not to award a penalty to Rangers for a handball by St Johnstone defender Jack Sanders during the first half of the Glasgow side's 1-0 victory.

The report stated: "The panel discussed this decision at length, with the majority (3:2) deeming the on-field decision incorrect. The majority (3:2) believed VAR should have intervened to recommend an OFR for handball. Two panel members believed that a penalty should not have been awarded, and VAR was correct not to intervene."

Rangers v Hearts VAR and match officials

McLean will be assisted David McGeachie and Graeme Stewart. On VAR duties it will be Greg Aitken, and he will be assisted by Gary Hilland

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