St Mirren Park to host 2015 U21 qualifiers

The Scottish FA and St Mirren Football Club are delighted to announce St Mirren Park as the host venue for Scotland’s 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification campaign, which kicks-off next month.

The stadium hosted all four of Scotland’s qualification matches for the 2013 competition and has been re-selected as host for the new campaign, with Luxembourg the first opponents for Billy Stark’s side on 25th March 2013.

The all-seater stadium, which has a capacity of 8,023, will also play host to Scotland’s Group 3 matches against Slovakia (10th October 2013), Georgia (14th November 2013) and the Netherlands (28th May 2014).

Scotland were undefeated at St Mirren Park in the 2013 qualifying campaign as they finished second in their group, narrowly missing out on a play-off place for this summer’s finals.

Billy Stark, Scotland Under-21 coach, said: “I’m pleased that we have managed to secure St Mirren Park as our home for the 2015 qualification campaign.

“The club were fantastic hosts for us in the last qualifying round so it’s great news that we will be back there for the new campaign.

“Having a recognised base for these important matches means the players can once again familiarise themselves with the ground and that should benefit us on the pitch.

“We have always received great backing at St Mirren Park and I hope that will continue for our matches against Luxembourg, Slovakia, Georgia and the Netherlands.

“I would like to express my gratitude to St Mirren for providing us with a first-class stadium and to the Scottish FA Board for their support in securing a base for our qualifying matches.”

Brian Caldwell, St Mirren chief executive, said: “We are delighted to have been selected once again as the host venue for Scotland's Under 21 home qualifying matches. This is great news for the club and the town of Paisley.

“The feedback from the Scottish FA and UEFA from the last qualifying matches was extremely positive, especially about the facilities, playing surface and operational arrangements.

“We actually had our biggest crowd of last season for the qualifier against the Netherlands and hope that we can encourage more new football supporters to our stadium for the matches ahead.”