Aberdeen winger Jonny Hayes has been cleared to face his former club Celtic in the Scottish Cup semi-final.
The SFA has announced the two semi-finals will be played at Hampden on the weekend of Saturday, October 31 and Sunday, November 1 with the winners meeting at the National Stadium in the final on Sunday, December 20.
Aberdeen will face Celtic, who are chasing a quadruple-treble, with Hearts facing Hibernian in the other semi-final.
In addition to the new dates being confirmed the SFA has also agreed players who played for another club in the 2019-20 season will not be cup-tied, clearing the way for Hayes to feature for Aberdeen against Neil Lennon’s side.
Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes is delighted to have Hayes available for the big game.
He said: “Having Jonny available for the Scottish Cup tie is great. We got wind last week the SFA were hoping to waive the cup-tie ruling as we’re into a new season but it’s great to get it ratified.
“It’s a real bonus for us to have Jonny available but what’s more important is seeing those dates now pencilled into the fixture list.
“It felt like the day the fixtures for the season are announced this morning when it was made official and having those dates to look forward to is great.”
The SFA has also told the four remaining clubs they will be permitted to use five substitutes in the remaining matches in the tournament.
The Dons continued their preparations for the new campaign with a closed doors friendly against St Johnstone yesterday.
The Aberdeen manager said: “It is important we top-up the minutes for the boys and we’re mindful of the need to get that match fitness and sharpness ahead of the start of the new season next weekend.
“Since the friendly with Ross County we’ve had a couple of 11 v 11 games with referees. We lost one friendly due to a late cancellation and there was no time to arrange an alternative but it is good to get another game under our belts.
“You can try to mimic match situations as best as you can but there is no substitute for facing other teams and playing competitive matches.
“Every club is in the same boat which is why we’ve had to play each other in friendly games.”
The majority of the first team squad featured against Saints but McInnes said: “There have been a few calf strains and other niggles but we expected that after the long lay-off we had.
“Shay Logan, Dylan McGeouch and Niall McGinn all have suffered wee strains but Niall is back now.
“Only Shay, Dylan, Curtis Main and Mikey Devlin, who has a hamstring injury, were not involved.
“We still have a few who are a bit behind so they will get their chance to play next Tuesday.”
