Queen's Park strike deal with Scottish FA to return to Hampden

The Championship side will play at the national stadium despite renovating Lesser Hampden

Published 8th Jun 2023

Queen's Park have agreed a deal with the Scottish FA to return to Hampden from next season.

The Spiders sold the national stadium to the governing body in 2019 for £5million.

Stenhousemuir's Ochilview was used as their home ground last season as they renovated Lesser Hampden.

However, the Championship side have now decided to lease Hampden for next campaign instead.

The Scotland national team will also use Lesser Hampden as their base for training camps as part of the deal.

SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell said : “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.”

Queen's Park chief Leeann Dempster added: “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.”

Queen’s Park’s home games prior to September 12th will be played at Lesser Hampden.