The 10 best stadiums in Scottish football history have been named & ranked – in order

Scotland is one of the world’s most picturesque nations, with stunning beaches, castles and lochs. It is truly an idyllic place. Not only is it beautiful, but it is also home to some great sports teams, notably Rangers and Celtic, who regularly play in Europe and have won many trophies throughout their history.

Scotland’s football teams play at some fantastic venues, in line with the country itself, with history and scenic surrounding areas. With this in mind, we will be taking a look at the best stadiums in Scottish football history, which feature the stadiums of the Old Firm, as well as the national stadium; Hampden Park.

Ranking Factors

• History of the stadium
• Size of the stadium
• Overall aesthetics

10 Dens Park

Club: Dundee FC

Located just 200 metres from the home of their bitter rivals Dundee United, Dens Park is one of Scotland’s best stadiums. Dens Park has been the home of Dundee since 1899, and the ground has seen some incredible days, including a 1953 Scottish Cup match against Rangers, which a record 43,024 people attended.

Designed in the traditional manner of four separate stands, the North and South stands were newly built in 1999, and named after club legends Bob Shankly and Bobby Cox. The club are currently looking to relocate to a new location at Camperdown Park, which will see an increase in capacity.

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9 Fir Park

Club: Motherwell

Opened in 1895, Fir Park, the home of Motherwell, is an iconic stadium. In its infancy, the club struggled to fill the ground, with just 6,000 attending the opening match against Celtic. However, as the club has grown, and significant developments have been made to the stadium, it is now much more regularly filled. Like Dens Park, the record attendance was set against Rangers, with around 35,000 attending in 1951/52.

Fir Park has also been used by Gretna, who are now dissolved, as well as the Scotland women’s team during the 2015 World Cup qualifying stages, and it has also hosted many Scottish League Cup semi-finals.

8 Rugby Park

Club: Kilmarnock

The home of Kilmarnock, Rugby Park, is a unique football stadium. It is the only ground in the Scottish Premiership with an artificial playing surface, although this is expected to be changed to grass for the start of the 2025/26 season. The stadium was originally used for multiple sports, including cricket and rugby, which is where it gets its unusual name.

Opened in 1899, the opening fixture was against Celtic, but once again the record attendance was in a game against Rangers in 1962, which around 36,000 spectators attended. With a capacity of 18,218, it is the seventh-largest ground in Scotland.

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7 Tannadice Park

Club: Dundee United

The second of the Dundee clubs to feature on this list, Tannadice Park, is a great football stadium. Located on the same road as their neighbours, Tannadice has hosted a wide array of sports, including boxing and even greyhound racing. The Scotland national team played there on one occasion, in a 2003 fixture against Turkey.

Previously known as Clepington Park, a number of teams have called it home over time, but it is now exclusive to Dundee United. The record attendance was set against European giants Barcelona in 1966, where 28,000 attended.

6 Pittodrie Stadium

Club: Aberdeen

The fourth-largest stadium in the country, Pittodrie, the home of Aberdeen, is a spectacular arena. Often at the forefront of innovation, the stadium was the first in the world to incorporate dugouts into the stadium, as well as being one of the first in the United Kingdom to be all seated.

It has hosted 15 national team games, as well as some rugby fixtures, which helps cement it as one of the nation’s best sporting venues. Opened in 1899, the record attendance came in 1954, when 45,000 spectators watched Aberdeen take on Hearts in a Scottish Cup tie.

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5 Tynecastle

Club: Hearts

Featuring hybrid turf, which is a mixture of grass and artificial fibres, Tynecastle is a fantastic stadium. Opened in 1886, making it one of the nation’s oldest, the ground has a capacity of just under 20,000.

The stadium has hosted numerous semi-finals in both the Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup and has been renovated three times in history, most recently in 2017 when the main stand was rebuilt. The record attendance was unsurprisingly set against Rangers in 1932, where an incredible 53,000 people were in attendance for a Scottish Cup clash. Recently upgraded to a UEFA Category Four stadium, Tynecastle is truly an outstanding football location.

4 Easter Road

Club: Hibernian

The home of Edinburgh’s other biggest club, Hibernian, Easter Road is a historic stadium. Narrowly larger than their rivals’ ground, with a capacity of 20,421, Easter Road has hosted numerous Scottish Cup finals over time and has been nicknamed ‘The Leith San Siro’.

Opened in 1893, where the first game was against Clyde in a friendly, the stadium has led the way in some great innovative concepts and was the first in Scotland to install undersoil heating, which they did in 1981. The record attendance came in 1950 during a derby match against Hearts, which 65,000 people attended, a record for a Scottish fixture outside of Glasgow.

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3 Ibrox

Club: Rangers

One of the most iconic and intimidating stadiums in world football, and the second-largest club stadium in Scotland, Ibrox, is a legendary arena. A tragedy in its early years when one of the terraces collapsed led to the club redeveloping the main stand and turning it into the place we see today. Steeped in history, and home to a club who have won 116 trophies during their history, it is a stadium all football fans should visit in their lifetime.

Chosen as the replacement for Hampden Park during its redevelopment during the 1990s, Ibrox has hosted a great number of Scottish Cup finals and international fixtures throughout history. The record attendance, set in 1939, is an astonishing 118,000 for a match against bitter rivals Celtic, which demonstrates the passion Rangers fans have for their club.

The stadium was shut at the start of the 2024/25 campaign as the club awaited shipment of materials but is now back open with the Scottish side bidding to win another league title.

2 Celtic Park

Club: Celtic

Rangers’ arch-rivals, Celtic, play at the aptly named Celtic Park, which is one of the sport’s most incredible venues. The biggest stadium in the country, with a capacity of over 60,000, the Celtic faithful regularly fill the stadium, particularly in matches against their rivals, and create a special atmosphere.

Celtic Park is the sixth largest in the United Kingdom, and also suffered a tragic incident during its early years, with a fire destroying the North Grandstand, which the club had to buy a replacement outright. Fortunately, the ground was rebuilt in just over a year.

Unsurprisingly, the record attendance was set against Rangers in 1939, where 83,000 watched the match, which is significantly lower than Rangers’ despite the greater capacity. Celtic Park is the stadium which has hosted the most international fixtures outside of Hampden Park, with the Scottish national team playing 20 times at the famous arena.

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1 Hampden Park

Club: Scotland National Team

The home of the Scottish national team, Hampden Park, is fittingly the country’s best football venue. Opened in 1903, the most recent of all the stadiums on this list, the arena has hosted some of football’s greatest events.

A remarkable six European Cup finals have been played at Hampden Park, including the 2002 Champions League final where Zinedine Zidane scored ‘that’ incredible volley against Bayer Leverkusen. Additionally, numerous Euro 2021 games were played there, as Scotland crashed out in the group stages, as well as many rugby matches, athletics events and music concerts demonstrating the versatility and greatness of the stadium.

There were 149,000 people in attendance for a 1937 match between Scotland and England, which is a truly mesmerising statistic. A figure which will most likely never be beaten, it is almost hard to imagine that many people being at a football match.

All statistics are correct as of 18.11.2024, via TranferMarkt.