How Scotland's oldest football club is helping Ukrainians
After a 15-year interval, Scotland's oldest football club, Queen's Park, has played a friendly match against the current Scottish champions, Celtic. The last time the Glasgow teams met was in a Scottish Cup match in February 2009. Queen's Park's last victory over Celtic dates back to 1956. The Spiders [Queen's Park’s nickname – ed.] attempted to repeat this achievement and even led 2-1 for a while, but ultimately the giants of Scottish football won 6-4.
The match took place at The City Stadium, located near the iconic Hampden Park, where the Scotland national team plays its home matches. The national team also holds its training camps at The City Stadium. Moreover, until 2020, Hampden Park belonged to Queen’s Park, and it was only four years ago that the stadium was officially transferred to the ownership of the Scottish Football Association.
The City Stadium holds around 1,000 spectators. The venue was sold out. A total of 25 Scottish journalists covered the match. At the request of Champion.com.ua, Queen’s Park provided 20 complimentary tickets to Ukrainian refugees – families with children. The club also presented Ukrainian children with club scarves.
"We know that over 20,000 Ukrainian refugees have moved to Scotland since the war in Ukraine began," said Kieran Koszar, Head of Commercial Services at Queen’s Park, to Champion.com.ua. "I visited Kyiv in October 2006 when the Ukrainian national team played against Scotland at the Olimpiiskyi National Sports Complex. Despite our team's defeat, we have very warm memories of that trip. So it was appropriate to repay the hospitality I enjoyed by inviting part of the Ukrainian community in Scotland to our game against Celtic. I hope they enjoyed it; there were certainly many goals and excitement."
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