Celtic Park to Host 2014 Scottish League Cup Final

Celtic Park has been announced as the host of the 2014 Scottish League Cup final between Aberdeen and Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

The home of the champions was in the running for the showpiece event on Sunday, March 16 along with Rangers’ Ibrox Stadium.

Commenting on his choice of venue, SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster said: “Glasgow is blessed with having three stadia with over 50,000 capacity, the only European city with three such grounds.

“Hampden Park is out of action due to the Commonwealth Games this summer so we had to find an alternative venue for the final.

“We had two great venues to choose from, both of which have huge experience of hosting big European games, but Ibrox, we believe, has a game on the Saturday which is likely to be televised.

“So with a televised game at lunchtime on the Saturday there simply wasn’t enough time to de-rig Ibrox in time for the Sunday game so that’s the key reason we have gone with Celtic Park.

“And we are delighted to have a venue of over 60,000 with great experience of hosting really big games.

“We are very hopeful of a big crowd on the day. It has been some years since Aberdeen were last in a major final and I’m sure we will have many, many buses coming down as it’s also the first ever final for Inverness.

“So I think it’s a big game for both teams. I’m sure we’ll get a great support on the day and we’ll need a big stadium for the match. Detailed discussions over ticket allocation and prices will now be held with both teams and officials at Celtic Park.

“We have a couple of weeks now and it’s all hands to the pumps to make sure we have a great final and that we have an appropriate allocation of tickets for both sets of fans.”