Scottish FA President Mike Mulraney has initiated discussions on a shared stadium for Celtic, Rangers and Glasgow City’s women’s teams in a push to accelerate the growth of the game ahead of Scotland co-hosting the 2035 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
While talks are at a tentative stage, Glasgow’s three full-time professional women’s teams have been receptive to the idea of sharing a 4G pitch in a new arena in the city, projected to hold between 3000 to 5000 spectators.
Scotland’s women’s national team could also play games in the stadium as part of the plan to increase attendances and improve the fan experience by creating bespoke hub venues capable of hosting double-bill fixtures.
If the Glasgow proposal gets off the ground, similar hub venues could be rolled out across the country.
Mulraney has made improving facilities his No.1 priority as President, and has already raised £13.5m of a targeted £50m by 2030 via the Pitching In campaign that will create new pitches, upgrade existing ones and improve dressing room facilities.
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Currently, Celtic’s women’s team rent Hamilton’s New Douglas Park for home fixtures, while Rangers utilise Broadwood Stadium in Cumbernauld. Glasgow City, current leaders of a thrilling SWPL title race, play at the 2000 capacity Petershill Park.
A recent study by the University of Edinburgh’s Academy of Sport showed that a fifth of the clubs in the Scottish Women’s Premier League had doubled their average match day attendances between the 2022/23 and 23/24 seasons.
Identifying the lack of designated, sustainable football facilities as an obstacle to the growth of the women’s game, however, SWPL Managing Director Fiona McIntyre believes a smaller hub stadium would improve matchday atmosphere, project the game in a better light and help to grow the audience.
“In women’s football facilities are probably one of our single biggest challenges to growth.
“We are trying to grow crowds and some of our biggest clubs play games that are not in, say, Glasgow or Edinburgh or Aberdeen because they have had to go to grounds outside the city to meet the criteria to be broadcast or spectator environments.
“They don’t own those grounds so the security of tenure or ability to brand and do anything on a matchday beyond play the game is limited.
“So, for me, facilities are a challenge in women’s football.
“Imagine having a stadium in Glasgow that was a women’s football stadium?
“We are in a position where some of our stadia like Petershillare great when you have 1000 people there. I’m not sure you’ll get many more in without it being a problem.
“So, you try to grow the audience, but 5000 people get lost in a 50,000 stadium like Hampden.
“We moved our Sky Sports Cup final to Motherwell for a good pitch and a small enough stadium to create an atmosphere with 4000 to 5000 people.
“It felt like a proper game because the atmosphere was there and set up for our audience.”
