IT is being billed as a Super Saturday of sport, with 100,000 football and rugby fans flocking to Glasgow.
The 52,000 capacity Hampden Park is expected to be packed for the Scottish Cup Final clash between Celtic and Hearts at 3pm on Saturday.
As the last fans leave the home of Scottish football, at Celtic Park, Glasgow Warriors will take on Leinster to contest the Guinness PRO14 final - the culmination of the annual rugby union competition involving professional sides from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa and Wales.
The historic clash which kicks off at 6.30pm will be the first time the Guinness PRO14 showpiece event has been staged at a traditional football venue and the first major rugby match to be held at Celtic Park.
Organisers say ticket sales have surged over the past week and the crowd will exceed the 34,500 that attended the 2016 Guinness PRO12 final between Connacht and Leinster in BT Murrayfield. The target has now been set to beat last year’s record crowd of 46,092 in Dublin.
ScotRail are already warning of potential travel disruption in Glasgow on the big day.
The travel operator run by Dutch company Abellio says that extra carriages will be added to trains in a bid to accommodate as many fans as possible but warned supporters to leave extra time for travel.
Queuing systems will be in place at Glasgow Central before the football and at Mount Florida and Kings Park after the final whistle, as well as at Bellgrove and Dalmarnock after the rugby.
ScotRail head of customer operations Phil Campbell said: “It’s the last big weekend of sport for a while, and it’s going to be a busy few days.
“To help the events run smoothly, we’ll be adding extra seats to as many trains as possible. And although we can’t make every train longer, we will be using every train we can.
“I encourage anyone travelling this weekend to allow extra time for travel, and to minimise the need to queue, buy your tickets in advance on the ScotRail app or website.”
Peter Lawwell, Celtic's chief executive said that whatever the result "the city of Glasgow will be the real winner."
He said: “To be able to attract 100,000 sports fans to these two events would be a magnificent achievement.
“It has been a slightly surreal experience watching rugby posts being erected on the Celtic Park turf, and we’ve been working very closely with the Guinness PRO14 team to ensure that this match is a truly memorable experience for fans, no matter the result.”
David McDonald, deputy leader of Glasgow City Council added: “The world increasingly knows that something is happening in Glasgow and our growing reputation for staging world-class sporting events is a crucial part of our story.
“We talk a lot about the fact that Glasgow is one of the world’s top five sporting cities because it’s an accolade we’re immensely proud of.
“Days like Saturday when two of our iconic stadiums host two wonderful showpiece finals are exactly why Glasgow is internationally recognised for its vibrancy, vitality and ability to host the big events.”
Police Scotland has said: "We will police this appropriately."
Guinness PRO14 say interest in the rugby clash has been strong since tickets went on sale in August.
Martin Anayi, chief executive of PRO14 Rugby, said: “Right from the beginning, Glasgow has proved a really enticing venue for our final and we can see the appeal that Celtic Park has had on rugby fans who want to experience this incredible stadium for themselves.
“Now that supporters of Glasgow Warriors and Leinster know their teams are in the final, we’ve seen a huge demand for tickets in the lead-up to one of the most exciting games in the rugby calendar. Immediately after our Semi-finals on Friday and Saturday we saw an incredible rate of sales that we haven’t seen in the lead-up to the last three finals.
“If we can break our previous record then that would see an amazing 100,000 football and rugby fans converging on Glasgow in a single day, making the city Europe’s undisputed sporting capital this weekend.”
Both high-profile sporting finals will be live back-to-back on Premier Sports on what is described as a "Super Saturday" for the broadcaster with seven hours of continuous live action.
Dominic McKay, Scottish Rugby chief operating officer and PRO14 Board Director, said: “This match is a unique opportunity to witness a world-class rugby final at a stadium renowned for having one of the greatest atmospheres in world sport.
“With a spectacular pre-match show to set the pulses racing, it’s also an ideal chance for non-rugby fans to experience all the drama and passion of an international sporting event.”
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