Queen’s Park agree deal to return to Hampden Park

Championship side Queen’s Park have agreed a deal with the Scottish FA to return to playing at Hampden Park.

They will play their Championship fixtures at the National Stadium during the 2023/24 campaign, but the move will not happen until after September 12 due to a concert and international matches.

As part of the arrangement, the Scotland national teams will use Lesser Hampden as a state-of-the-art training facility in addition to Oriam, Scotland’s National Performance Centre in Edinburgh.

The Hampden pitch will be fully renovated following a concert on July 23 and will be available for Queen’s Parkto use following September’s friendly between Scotland and England, which is part of the SFA’s 150th anniversary celebrations.

The Spiders, who missed out on winning the Championship with a dramatic final-day defeat to Dundee, ground-shared with League Two side Stenhousemuir at Ochilview last season.

Ian Maxwell, Scottish FA Chief Executive: “We are pleased that we have been able to reach agreement with Queen’s Park, who will use the national stadium for the forthcoming season. As part of the agreement, our Scotland national teams will be able to utilise the world-class facilities at Lesser Hampden.

“Steve Clarke and the men’s national team have already spoken highly of Lesser Hampden, having used it as a training base for the back-to-back wins against Cyprus and Spain in the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifiers, and hopefully it can continue to play a part in our success.

“With the increasing fixture calendar across all of our national teams, and with the need to ensure provision for coach education and referee training and development, it is hugely beneficial to access Lesser Hampden as well as our long-standing partnership with the National Performance Centre at Oriam.”

Leeann Dempster, Queen’s Park chief executive, said: “We are excited to be able to return to Hampden Park for what will be an exciting season for us in the cinch Championship.

“While we continue our redevelopment of Lesser Hampden, we are happy to provide the state-of-the-art facilities to the Scotland national teams as part of the rental agreement. I’m sure our fans and visiting fans will look forward to games at Hampden Park next season and we are also pleased to be able to support the efforts of our national teams in the process.”

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