Celtic Park


(Parkhead)

Celtic Park stadium
©2022 Gazetteer for Scotland

Celtic Park stadium

A football stadium in Glasgow, Celtic Park is located on Kerrydale Street, off London Road, about 2 miles (3 km) east of the city centre. After renovation and the building of a new stand, the seating capacity of the stadium has risen to 60,424. The record capacity for Celtic Park dates back to the New Year's Day match of 1938 when 92,000 people packed into the stadium.

Celtic Park is the home of Celtic Football Club. Established in 1888, the club was the idea of Brother Walfrid, the leader of a teaching institute in Glasgow, who wished to create a local football team in the mould of the one established by Edinburgh's Hibernian Football Club. He wished to use the club as a way to raise money for The Poor Children's Dinner Table charity, which he had established, as well as to create a focal point for the Irish Roman Catholic community which had congregated in the East End of Glasgow. The name chosen for the club was Celtic, as it conveyed the Irish and Scottish roots of the community. In 1890, the club was admitted into the Scottish League.

The main rivalry in Scottish football exists between Celtic and Glasgow Rangers. The religious divide fuels much of this, even away from the playing field, and occasionally it takes on an unpleasant nature.

Celtic Park is alternatively known as 'Parkhead', after the area of Glasgow in which it is situated, while Celtic fans refer to the stadium as 'Paradise'. The opening ceremony for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games of 2014 took place here.

Celtic and Rangers hold the majority of League Championship, Scottish Cup and League Cup success in Scottish Football, Celtic have won the Scottish League 36 times and were the first British team to lift the European Cup in 1967, when they beat Inter Milan 2-1 in the National Stadium near Lisbon, Portugal. Celtic won the League Championship 9 times in a row from 1966-67 to 1974-75, a feat equalled by Rangers in seasons 1988-89 to 1996-97.


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