CELTIC HAVE REVEALED they plan to play their Champions League qualifiers at Murrayfield, the home of the Scotland rugby union team, next season.
The Hoops are a huge 21 points ahead of second-placed Aberdeen at the top of the Scottish Premiership table and so are well on course to retain their title — something which would see them into the Champions League qualifiers.
However, the Glasgow giants’ Celtic Park home will be used for the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games multi-sport event on 23 July. That is shortly after the second leg of the second qualifying round, scheduled for either July 22 or 23, with the first match of the third qualifying round due to take place a week later.
Celtic now want to take their matches to Edinburgh’s Murrayfield, a ground with a capacity of more than 67,000, which Hoops chief executive Peter Lawwell said was the “obvious” alternative.
That’s because Glasgow’s Hampden Park, Scotland’s national football stadium, will also be given over to the hosting of the Commonwealth Games, while playing matches at a rugby ground is more palatable for Celtic fans than staging ‘home’ games at the 51,000-seater Ibrox stadium base of bitter Glasgow rivals Rangers.
“Clearly we very much hope to be involved in the Champions League qualifying matches in July and early August and if this is the case then we felt it important that our fans know our proposed arrangements as early as possible,” Lawwell said.
“We are fortunate that we have such a fantastic and sizeable support and clearly it is important that we allow as many fans as possible to attend our matches. Murrayfield is a magnificent stadium, it is the obvious choice and we are sure it will be a venue which will provide a great footballing occasion. We will keep our supporters well informed of all potential arrangements as we move forward”.
The pitch at Murrayfield has been beset by a parasitic infection this rugby season. This has caused the once pristine playing surface to churn up so badly that come the end of Scotland’s 19-17 Six Nations defeat by France at Murrayfield last Sunday the turf had been turned into something akin to a bog.
Clearly playing elite level football in such conditions would be impossible but Scottish Rugby Union officials plan to install a new ‘hybrid’ pitch before July.
“The new surface will be in place before the Champions League,” SRU director of communications Dominic McKay told AFP. ”We’re delighted to welcome Celtic to Murrayfield for their UEFA Champions League qualifying matches this summer, one of the biggest annual sport competitions,” he added.
“Scottish Rugby is proud of the facilities we have on offer in Edinburgh. This is a fantastic opportunity for Celtic to work with us to promote Murrayfield as a venue not just for rugby, in 2014.”
Hearts, whose Tynecastle ground is near Murrayfield, played their European fixtures at the home of Scottish rugby in 2006 while both the Jambos and Edinburgh rivals Hibernian have played Spanish giants Barcelona there as well.
