Hampden Park is Scotland's national football stadium, and is one of the greatest football stadiums in the world. The football stadium currently holds nearly all European attendance records, and regularly hosts major cup events, concerts, and other sporting events.
Starting July 25, Hampden Park will finally play host to Olympic football. Read on for more information on this historic venue.
Name: Hampden Park
Location: Mount Florida, Glasgow, Scotland
Year built: 1903
Year renovated: 1999
Owner: Queen's Park F.C.
Capacity: 52,063
Football event dates: July 25-August 11; women's gold medal game is August 9; men's gold medal game is August 11
Recommended Travel: Glasgow Central to a free rail shuttle to Mount Florida
Distance from Olympic Park: 405 miles
Cost to renovate: 70 million pounds ($108.7 million)
Pitch Size: 115x75 yards
Previous sporting events: Scottish Rugby Union, 2002 and 2007 UEFA Champions League Final
Future events: 2014 Commonwealth Games
Notable Facts and Information: Hampden Park is a historic football venue that has hosted many different events. In its early history, Hampden Park had extensive terraces with a natural bowl shape that allowed enormous crowds to cheer on their favorite teams. In fact, Hampden Park started out as giant field before eventually being built up into what was the world's largest stadium in 1903.
Before recent renovations, Hampden Park was known as being able to hold huge amounts of people, breaking many of Europe's attendance records. In 1937, Hampden Park officially hosted 149,415 people for the England v. Scotland matchup, with another approximately 20,000 people entering the grounds without tickets. Safety and necessary structural changes dropped the capacity nearly in half over time, to its current capacity of 52,603.
Hampden Park will host eight matches during the Summer Olympics. Five of those matches will be women's contests and three of them will be men's contests. The football stadium will be the only venue in Scotland during the 2012 Summer Olympics. The owners of the stadium, Queen's Park F.C., have owned Hampden Park since 1903 and still maintain amateur status in the Scottish Football League.
Since Hampden Park is so far away from Olympic Park, it is important that you plan your visit to the stadium accordingly. It is recommended that you use the Glasgow Central station to get to Glasgow, where a free shuttle rail will take you to Mount Florida. From the free shuttle rail, it is only a seven-minute walk to the stadium.
Sources:
http://www.london2012.com/venue/hampden-park/
http://www.hampdenpark.co.uk/the-hampden-experience/hampden-history.html
http://www.footballgroundguide.com/scotland/hampden_park.htm
Steve has been a fan of the Olympics for many years ever since getting hooked during the Summer Olympics in Atlanta in 1996.
