BT Sport to screen #19 legends match at Celtic Park
BT Sport will show exclusively live coverage of a legends’ charity match at Celtic Park to celebrate the career of former player Stiliyan Petrov.
The midfield dynamo, 34, who retired from playing earlier this year after battling leukaemia, will take to the field to captain a Stiliyan XI against a Celtic XI. Former teammates at Celtic and Aston Villa, including Henrik Larsson and Gareth Barry, will play.
The match will be shown live on BT Sport 2 on Sunday, starting at 1.30pm for a 2pm kick off.
The full line-ups of legends will also include former players Lubo Moravcik and Chris Sutton, as well as celebrity fans such as Boardwalk Empire’s Stevie Graham and One Direction’s Louis Tomlinson.
The match will raise funds for Celtic’s charity, which will soon be relaunched as Celtic FC Foundation. Stiliyan, known affectionately to fans as ‘Stan’, is in the process of setting up his own charitable foundation to help others cope with leukaemia.
Another prominent beneficiary will be the Trussell Trust, that runs food banks in Glasgow and across the UK.
The Bulgarian international, who played 312 times for Celtic and 218 times for Aston Villa, was diagnosed with the disease in March 2012. He retired from playing in May 2013 and is now in remission from the disease.
Simon Green, head of BT Sport, said: “We are naturally delighted to be screening this charity match on BT Sport. It promises to be a great occasion to honour a true Celtic legend.
“Stan has inspired people with his courageous fight against leukaemia which showed the determination and character that marked his career for Celtic and also for Aston Villa, where he is still fondly remembered as a player and is now assistant coach of their under 21 team.”
Tony Hamilton, CEO of Celtic FC Foundation said: “We are delighted that the match is very close to a 60,000 sell-out and that BT Sport is helping to take the important charity message to an even wider audience.”
BT Sport will show a total of 30 exclusively live matches from the Scottish Premiership and a further ten Rangers games exclusively live during the season. BT Sport will be showing Heart of Midlothian v Celtic on Saturday, September 14, kick off 12.30pm; Hibernian v Celtic on Saturday, October 19, kick off 12.30pm and Ross County v Celtic on Saturday, November 9, kick off 12.45pm.
In addition, BT Sport has the rights to show 38 exclusively live English football matches from the Barclays Premier League, including 18 of the ‘top picks’ for three seasons. The channels will also show live FA Cup with Budweiser matches for the next five seasons, UEFA Europa League, top tier football from Germany, Italy, France, Brazil, Australia and the USA, plus action from the FA Women’s Super League and 30 live matches from the Football Conference.
