The Celtic Park primarily a football stadium located in Glasgow, Scotland. It is the home ground of the Celtic Football Club and was established in the year 1887. The Celtic Park has a seating capacity for about 60,000 spectators and is the largest football stadium in Scotland.
The Celtic fans popularly call the stadium as the Parkhead or the Paradise.
History
After Celtic Football Club’s formation in November 1887, Celtic Park was built within six months of its establishment by a volunteer workforce. The seating capacity was just about 40,000.
The very first match hosted by the historic stadium was between Hibernians and Cowlairs. Celtic FC played its first match on May 28, 1888 against its local “Old Firm” arch rival Rangers, which ended in a 5-2 win for the hosts.
The new Celtic Park was inaugurated in August, 1892 after being forced to leave the old site for an increased annual rent.
The stadium underwent renovation in 1994, and that was when the capacity of the stadium was increased to its current number.
Major Matches
Apart from being home to Celtic Football Club, the Celtic Park has often been used as a home ground for the Scotland national football team for international matches as well as Cup finals. The Celtic Park has hosted the Scotland team the most number of times after Hampden Park.
In 1998, Scotland qualified for the FIFA World Cup with their impressive 2-0 victory over Latvia at this stadium. In 2006, Celtic Park witnessed Scotland dismantling Faroe Islands in 2008 Euro Cup Qualifiers with a 6-0 win.
Prior to the First World War, the Celtic Park organised various sporting events other than football. These games included composite rules shinty-hurling, track and field and the 1897 Track Cycling World Championships.
In 2014, the inauguration ceremony of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games was held at this stadium.
Controversies
The Green Brigade has been involved in most of the controversial issues at the Celtic Park. The major issues include raising Irish flags and displaying provocative banners on the ground.
The “Old Firm” match is notorious for raising the provocative banners and the banners promoting Sectarianism have often scarred the relationship between the supporters of the two most successful clubs in Scotland.
The Celtic FC have taken steps towards the disbanding of the Green Brigade Section following the match against Motherwell in December 2013, where a group of fans had damaged the seats.
