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Hampden Park
Location	Glasgow, Scotland
Opened	1903
Renovated	1999
Owner	Queen's Park F.C.
Operator	Hampden Park Limited
Surface	Grass pitch
Former names
none
Tenants
Queen's Park F.C. Scottish Football Association Scottish Football League National team
Capacity
52,103 (Football)

Hampden Park in Glasgow is Scotland's national football stadium. It is home to Queen's Park F.C. and the Scottish national football team.

Hampden is one of the homes of football and celebrated its centenary on October 31, 2003. The stadium also houses the offices of the Scottish Football Association.

Contents 1 Previous Hampden Parks 2 Building Hampden Park 3 A New Hampden 4 The Hampden Roar 5 Events at Hampden Park 6 Lesser Hampden 7 Concerts 8 Hampden Park innovations and world firsts 9 See also 10 External links

Queen's Park F.C. have played at a venue called Hampden Park since 1873. The first and second Hampden Parks were nearby. When Queen's Park moved to the third (and current) Hampden Park, the old ground was renamed to Cathkin Park and sold to Third Lanark F.C. The third Hampden is the most famous of the grounds used, and is known throughout the world. The site of the first Hampden Park is on the site of the present day Hampden Bowling Club[1], the second Hampden Park (Cathkin Park) is just across the Cathcart Road [2].

Whilst Queen's Park F.C. had used previous playing fields, it was in 1903 that the club decided to purchase land in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow's south side. The largest and most technically advanced stadium in the world was built. Hampden Park was inaugurated on 31 October 1903 with Queen's Park recording a 1-0 win over Celtic F.C.

Hampden Park was the largest stadium in the world until 1950, when the Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro was completed. After the release of the Taylor Report in the wake of the Hillsborough disaster, among other football tragedies, Hampden Park was converted to an all-seater. The need to improve safety as well as protect crowds from the Scottish weather led to its most recent renovation in the late 1990s; and the stadium was re-opened on the May 14, 1999. The current capacity is 52,103.

The design of the stadium has been criticised, particularly due to its oval design, which means that supporters sitting in the areas of the stands behind the goals are a long distance from the pitch, especially when sitting towards the top of the stand.

The crowd who came to see football matches at Hampden were renowned for creating the Hampden Roar. The noise created was said to terrify opposing teams who came to play there. With capacity at the ground exceeding six figures from the early 1900s until the 1980s, the Roar could be heard several miles away from the stadium. In recent times the roar has said to be more muted, with the capacity of the stadium being reduced from its heyday.

The Hampden Roar is also used, colloquially, as a rhyming slang phrase. People (mainly in Glasgow and the West Coast of Scotland) may ask "what's the Hampden Roar?" or "what's the Hampden?" meaning, "what's the score?" The phrase can also be used outwith footballing contexts.

The Scottish Cup Final is played at Hampden annually in May. The prize: lifting the world's oldest national trophy - the Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup, made in 1873. Queen's Park were the first winners, beating Clydesdale F.C. 2-0 in the 1874 final.

Hampden Park also hosted the famous 1960 European Cup final between Real Madrid and Eintracht Frankfurt, where over 130,000 people watched Real Madrid win 7-3. The 1975/76 final was also held at Hampden, when FC Bayern Munich defeated AS Saint-Etienne. Real Madrid were again victorious when Hampden Park hosted the final of the UEFA Champions League (the updated version of the European Cup) in 2002, defeating Bayer Leverkusen. Hampden Park will also host the UEFA Cup final in 2007. It also held famous wins for the Scotland national football team, such as the 1-0 wins over Netherlands in November 2003, and against France in October 2006

Rugby union has also been played at the ground since its renovation, including a group game in the 1999 World Cup between defending champions South Africa and Uruguay.

In American football, the Scottish Claymores of NFL Europe played at the stadium between 1998 and 2004 before decamping to Hamburg to become the Hamburg Sea Devils. The league's championship game, the World Bowl, was held there in 2003. In that game, the Frankfurt Galaxy beat Rhein Fire.

The stadium has also hosted an array of concerts, and in 2000 was the venue for a boxing card headlined by former world champion Mike Tyson. Robbie Williams' concert in September 2006 had forced the Scottish national team to play their first Euro 2008 qualifier at Celtic Park instead.

Hampden is also a venue that has been put forward to host events at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, should Glasgow's bid be successful.

Hampden was also home to the Glasgow Tigers speedway team from 1969 until 1972. The speedway track ran round the outside of the football pitch.

Among the British and European capacity records Hampden holds are:

• 1937 - Attendance 149,547 : Scotland v England (British Home Championship) - highest in Europe
• 1937 - Attendance 146,433 : Celtic v Aberdeen (Scottish Cup Final) - highest for a club match in Europe
• 1970 - Attendance 136,505 : Celtic v Leeds United (European Cup Semi-Final) - highest for a UEFA competition match

One event which is mistakenly thought to have occurred at Hampden Park is the world's first football international. This actually happened at the West of Scotland Cricket Club's Hamilton Crescent ground in the Partick area of Glasgow.

See: Lesser Hampden

Hampden also plays host to many concerts during the summer. It can hold up to 55,000 with the side stage or 90,000 with the end stage. Many acts however, opt for the side stage as the end stage is a big put-off for buyers. All acts listed below except Bon Jovi (2001 and 2006), Oasis and Eminem have had side stages. Since 1999, some of these many concerts have included;

• Rod Stewart, 3 July 1999 *
• Tina Turner (24/7 Tour), 7 July 2000
• Bon Jovi (One Wild Night Tour), 8 June 2001 *
• Eagles (World Tour 2001), 22 July 2001
• Robbie Williams, 4 & 5 August 2001 *
• Eminem, 24 June 2003 *
• Live & Loud, 27 July 2003
• Live & Loud, 20 June 2004
• U2 (Vertigo Tour), 21 June 2005 *
• Live & Loud, 26 June 2005
• Oasis, 29 June 2005 *
• Bon Jovi (Have a Nice Day Stadium Tour), 3 June 2006 *
• Eagles (Farewell I Tour), 23 June 2006
• The Rolling Stones (A Bigger Bang Tour), 25 August 2006 (Only 22,000 tickets sold out of 55,000)
• Robbie Williams (Close Encounters Tour), 1 & 2 September 2006 *
• George Michael (25 Live), 17 June 2007
• Rod Stewart, 6 July 2007
• Red Hot Chili Peppers 23rd August 2007

(* = Sold Out)

• Turnstiles
• A press box in 1906
• A tannoy (public address) system
• A car park outside the ground
• The world's first all-ticket match in 1884 at first Hampden Park.

• List of Scottish International Football Stadia

• Official Hampden Website
• Unofficial history of Hampden Park
• Pictures of the demolition of Hampden Park to allow for the building of the modern stadium
• The Scottish Football Association, which holds office here
• Photographs of Hampden Stadium in Glasgow
• Queen's Park F.C. official website
• BBC News: Hampden celebrates centenary
• WorldStadiums.com entry

Football in Scotland v • d • e
The SFA National team List of venues List of clubs Under-19 team Under-21 team B team Women's team League system Seasons Champions History
Competitions in Scottish Football
Premier League First Division Second Division Third Division East League Highland League South League Junior Leagues Scottish Cup League Cup Challenge Cup Junior Cup
UEFA 5-star rated football stadia v • d • e
Austria Ernst Happel Stadion England Old Trafford Wembley Stadium France Stade de France Germany AOL Arena Olympiastadion, Berlin Olympiastadion, München Signal Iduna Park Veltins-Arena Greece Olympic Stadium, Athens Italy San Siro Stadio Olimpico Netherlands Amsterdam ArenA Feijenoord Stadion Portugal Estádio da Luz Estádio do Dragão Estádio José Alvalade Russia Luzhniki Stadium Scotland Hampden Park Ibrox Stadium Spain Camp Nou Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys Estadio La Cartuja Estadio Santiago Bernabéu Estadio Vicente Calderón Turkey Atatürk Olympic Stadium Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium Wales Millennium Stadium

Preceded by Neckarstadion Stuttgart	European Cup Final Venue 1960	Succeeded by Wankdorf Stadium Bern
Preceded by Parc des Princes Paris	European Cup Final Venue 1976	Succeeded by Stadio Olimpico Rome
Preceded by San Siro Milan	UEFA Champions League Final Venue 2002	Succeeded by Old Trafford Manchester
Preceded by Philips Stadion Eindhoven	UEFA Cup Final Venue 2007	Succeeded by City of Manchester Stadium Manchester

Coordinates: 55°49′33.11″N, 4°15′7.21″W