“We are building something special with this team,” Elena Sadiku tells The Celtic Star

The Celtic Star spoke to Elena Sadiku, Head Coach at Celtic FC Women, at Celtic Park yesterday afternoon ahead of tonight’s huge Glasgow Derby encounter in the SWPL1 at Ibrox which is live on Sky Sports. You can read everything the Hoops boss said to us below…

The Celtic Star: Do you perhaps think this is a must-win game for yourself and the players tomorrow night if you want to be serious title contenders this season?

Elena Sadiku: “Well, I think there is a bigger pressure on theRangers because they are behind us. Like I said before, we have a lot of games in front of us. I want us to go out there and enjoy, make sure that we have the strong belief and we play really, really well. I am not talking about playing really well in terms of executing and playing really good football. It is about showing up and showing desire and showing passion and showing how much we want it. That is what I want to see.

Teams emerge from the tunnel — Teams emerge. CELTIC FC Women v Glasgow City. SWPL1, Sunday 19 October 2025. Photo AJ (The Celtic Star)

“Everything with the table, like I know what I stand for, I want us to win so bad and I want us to be top, top, top and make sure we are competing for winning the league and winning the cups. But, I just want to focus on tomorrow because it is a derby game and we know how much it means for our fans, for us and that is going to be the biggest focus. I want to make sure my players enjoy and delivers tomorrow.”

The Celtic Star: Do Just compared to last season, has this current campaign been less hectic for yourself given there is no Champions League to contend with?

Elena Sadiku: “I think that when we talked about the Champions League, I said it before, we played 55 games. I can see we are growing as a team week after week because we have so much training [sessions]. I think the consistency has been a big part of it but I do think it is good because we can now focus on building.

Celtic FC Women. Photo AJ (The Celtic Star)

‘We pretty much have a new team and that is something that I don’t think many people think about or talk about because that is the truth. We have a new team but the best part about this group is that they have a mentality that is very strong. They want to compete, they want to be the best. They put hard work in every single week and that is what makes me feels like we are building something special with this team.”

The Celtic Star: Do So, you said it is a new team, will you be relying on your more experienced players tomorrow night to hopefully get a result?

Elena Sadiku: “Yeah, I think the experienced players have played this fixture before and like I aid before it is a special game. I think for me, yes, the leaders and experienced players can make sure they are the core but it is a responsibility for everyone to make sure they show up tomorrow and hopefully wecan do our best to be the very best we can be.”