The Scottish FA say a greater demand for Celtic tickets from sponsors and other member clubs for the Scottish Cup final has led to a cut in tickets for sale to normal paying fans.

The governing body say those in the "football family", made up of member clubs, commercial partners and other football bodies, have requested a greater number of briefs for the Celtic end than they have for Aberdeen areas.

The Glasgow club had complained they have been given 700 fewer tickets for general sale than their opponents.

The SFA have also said the east stand at Hampden Park, the historic "Celtic end" in cup finals, has fewer seats than the west stand.

A statement read: "The allocation of tickets has been handled in full consultation with both participating clubs and the available seating at Hampden Park will be split on a 50/50 basis, as has been standard practice in previous cup finals where a sell-out crowd is anticipated.

"It should also be noted that one of the reasons Celtic will potentially receive fewer tickets than Aberdeen is that the East Stand, Celtic's preferred stand for Scottish Cup matches at the National Stadium, contains fewer seats than the West Stand.

"In addition, the 'football family', made up of Scottish FA members, commercial partners, other recognised football organisations and staff, have the right to buy match tickets for the final.

"This has impacted on the number of tickets the clubs will receive to sell to their supporters with demand for tickets in the Celtic areas outweighing that of the Aberdeen areas."

Celtic said in a statement on their official site they put forward a number of proposals to solve the problem, including a review of the segregation for the game on May 27.

A club spokesperson said: "Clearly we are very disappointed that our attempts to ensure an equitable allocation of tickets have been unsuccessful, however, our supporters should be aware that we have tried everything to ensure that this could be achieved.

"With Celtic supporters attending matches at Hampden in such huge numbers across this season, an equal split in allocations is the least that we would have expected for such a prestigious and important match."