Fran Alonso’s Celtic FC Women side play Hearts at Celtic Park on Sunday afternoon looking for a big win to maximise their chances of come the final whistle being crowned as Scottish Champions for the first time in the history of Celtic Football Club .
And it’s going to be a record breaking crowd, smashing the record set at Celtic Park just last Thursday night when 9553 supporters cheered the Hoops to a vital 3-1 win over current league leaders Glasgow City. That record won’t last long because of the incredible backing that the Celtic support in their tens of thousands are about to give to our title chasing team and having watched them all season, it’s fair to say that they will be worthy Champions.
We’ll update you on the attendance numbers expected in after having a look at what Celtic had to say yesterday about moving the game from Airdrie to Celtic Park.
Here’s what Celtic’s press release stated…
‘As the SWPL title race comes down to the wire, we are delighted to announce Celtic FC Women’s final match of the season will now take place at Celtic Park on Sunday, May 21 (KO 16:10).
Last Thursday, Celtic overcame league leaders Glasgow City in front of a record crowd of 9,553 and now as Paradise will again host our women’s team, we have the chance once again to create new records and reach new heights.
adidas have kindly agreed to sponsor this hugely exciting occasion and we are therefore once again to be able to offer this match free to current Season Ticket holders at Celtic Park and U16s.*
We would like to thank adidas sincerely for their continuing support.
All supporters who have already purchased tickets for the originally scheduled Excelsior Stadium will be contacted directly by the Club.
The Hoops are still on the hunt for top-spot and your support this Sunday could make the difference as it all comes down to this.’
GET YOUR TICKETS HERE
At around 9.30am this morning (Wednesday) there are very few tickets remaining for ‘The Celtic End’, that’s the Jock Stein stand with sections 138,139 and 140 around sold out completely. Those are the one directly behind the goal.
Meanwhile there are just eight tickets left at the time of writing in section 141, up near the back of the lower Jock Stein stand in line with the eighteen yard line, nearest the North Stand. There aren’t likely to be still showing as available by the time you read this.
If you want to sit in The Celtic End there are still some seats available in section 137, which is over at the corner flag side nearest the Main Stand and that little corner where the Celtic Bhoys have recently been relocated to. They won’t be sitting up there on Sunday though as they join the young team in cheering on the Ghirls to a victory which will GUARANTEE Champions League qualification and also give us a great chance of winning the SWPL1 for the first time ever.
Celtic yesterday also released tickets to supporters for the North Stand, as happened in the game against Glasgow City last Thursday night and the numbers of tickets remaining in the six sections, which takes you from the corner flag at the Celtic end to midway inside the other the other half of the pitch, are very few indeed.
Probably section 101 is going to be the best bet this morning, as there are still a decent number of tickets showing as available in that section next to the corner flag at The Celtic End of the North Stand.
It’s a very different story in section 102 where there is one ONE ticket remaining. There’s eleven showing in section 103 – all single tickets and none together and in section 103 and section 104 there are only four tickets still showing in each section, again all single tickets. In section 105 there are only six single tickets remaining.
The SWPL1 record breaking crowd of 9553 which was set last Thursday night is set to be smashed at Celtic Park on Sunday with the Celtic support coming out in there tens of thousands to support Fran Alonso’s team.
Of course the game at Ibrox between theRangers and Glasgow City is also part of this double title showdown with both those sides joining Celtic in having a route to becoming the Scottish Champions for season 2022/23. With tickets to season tickets on offer at just £1 the uptake so far from their support, still basking in their Bragging Rights Glory, has been less impressive with reports of around 3000 tickets sold so far.
Celtic still have three further sections in the Lower North Stand available to open and can also get the Lisbon Lion stand and even the Main Stand open if demand keeps up.
The atmosphere with just under 10,000 in the ground last Thursday was incredible, if you were there you’ll already know that and the match was live on Sky Sports in a match that attracted a huge audience, so there’s clearly plenty of supporters who liked what they saw on Sky and want to experience it for themselves on Sunday afternoon in a title showdown that mixes together Love Street 86 – listening for the score elsewhere – and Helicopter Sunday where the trophy destination could change course depending on how the games are going.
All three sides would want to be in a better position but if you had to take one of the three then Celtic’s is probably the best. Glasgow City alone have it in their own hands. A win and they are the Champions but that will also mean that theRangers would need Hearts to beat Celtic to give them a chance of getting a Champions League spot.
The Ibrox side have been the big spenders in women’s football, with a budget many times greater that what Fran Alonso has to work with as Celtic. To miss out on the Champions League could see that budget slashed, and remember that funding was sanctioned by the previous Chairman and CEO and they are no longer making the decisions over at Ibrox.
theRangers need to win this game and there is a good chance that they will. They will also hope that Celtic don’t hit their goalscoring form against a Hearts side with nothing to play for and who has lost 6-0 to both Celtic and theRangers in their last meetings. But be wary of them – they did get a 1-1 draw with theRangers in their away match at Broadwood a few weeks ago, so know how to park the bus.
But with 20,000 or maybe even 30,000 Celtic supporters inside Paradise on Sunday, Fran Alonso’s side will get their part of the job done and we could have a weekend where 80,000 or even 90,000 Celtic supporters have gone through the turnstiles at Paradise to welcome Ange Postecoglou’s champions on Saturday and celebrate a first ever title win for Celtic women on Sunday, 130 years after our men’s team won their first ever league title.
This is history in the making and it will be an incredible weekend. Make sure you are at both!
On finishing writing the above, I tried to look again at the available ticket situation for Sunday, but due to the demand for tickets was put in a queue and will have access in another ten minutes. That suggests that the numbers mentioned at earlier in this article will be well out of date.
It’s going to be an incredible weekend, make sure you are there and help make this a Beautiful Sunday for Fran Alonso and his title chasing Celtic FC Women side who will be putting a show…
TICKETING INFORMATION for non season ticket holders
Tickets for CELTIC FC Women v Hearts on Sunday at Celtic Park are available to buy online now, priced: Adults: £8, Under 16s: Free and Booking fees apply. Order HERE.
The Celtic Star has been there every step of the way over the past three seasons supporting and reporting on the development of the Celtic FC Women side. Sunday is going to be a very special day, please be there to share it with us.