July 26, 2006

The Champions' League comes to town


Tonight is a special night for Scottish football, as this is the first time a Champions' League fixture has been played outside of Glasgow. Hearts FC from the west of the city earned the right to play in the CL by virtue of coming 2nd in the Scottish Premier League last season. Since it became the Champions' League, only Celtic and Rangers (both from Glasgow) have ever qualified for it. The last time a non-Glasgow team won the Scottish League was back in 1986, when Aberdeen became champions. Hearts will play the champions of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Siroki Brijeg, not at their home stadium, Tynecastle, but here at the national rugby stadium, Murrayfield. Murrayfield can seat 65,000 people, Tynecastle only 17,000!

4 comments:

Irredento Urbanita said...

And the Hearts are catholic? because I know that the derby of Scotland has two clubs od different religion right?
Soccer has too much power, we can feel it.

Greetings from Perú.

P.D. My club is Alianza Lima of www.alianzalima.com , we are the curretn champion.

G Fraser said...

When they were founded, Hearts were founded as a protestant club and Hibernian were founded by Irish Catholics. But nowadays, it has no real meaning. Hearts draw fans from the west of the city and Hibs from the east of the city. In the east of Scotland, religion and football have very little to do with each other...the same cannot be said for Glasgow. Hearts won 3-0 by the way...and Scotland reached the final of the U-19 European football championships in Poland.

BarelyLiegl said...

Finally! Football pictures again... =)
Since the World Cup is over, I almost miss taking football pics for my blog...

edwin s said...

this shot reminds me of quidditch scene in Harry Potter!