Hampden pour as well as Hampden roar?

Picture: Outside the main stand of Hampden Stadium. Credit: Roger May

Football fans at Hampden may finally be able to enjoy a pint or two during at least one of the World Cup warm up games against Japan or Curacao. The SFA are considering this trial after past trials proved successful.

The first friendly against Japan is to be played on March 28th, with the other against Curacao being played May 30th.  

The SFA have already been trialing the lift of the alcohol ban at stadiums, which came into place after the 1980 Scottish Cup final following drunken riots between Rangers and Celtic fans.  

In July 2025, the rules were eased when supporters could drink in the stadium concourse at several grounds in a pilot scheme during the Premier Sports Cup group stage games. 

The teams that were first involved were St Mirren, Ayr United, Arbroath, Queen of the South and Stirling Albion with others joining in over time. Later in the year, Aberdeen were also allowed to trial alcohol sales at Pittodrie in a SPFL match against Kilmarnock. 

George Adam MSP spoke on the topic during a debate at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, here is what he had to say.

“There’s also another long-standing issue in our game, and for me it’s the ban of alcohol at football. I’ve raised this repeatedly because allowing the sale of alcohol would give our clubs a vital new income stream that could be reinvested directly into football. We’ve already seen a number of pilot schemes across Scotland, and it’s now time for football authorities to gather that evidence and make that case for change. We’re no longer in the 1980s, football culture has moved on.”

At Hampden Park during Euro 2020, it was the only host stadium that you couldn’t purchase alcohol in. There were talks between the SFA, Police Scotland and the Scottish Government in 2018 about making a pilot scheme for the matches during the tournament, but Justice Secretary at the time Humza Yousaf scrapped the idea.