Source: Eurosport
Celtic chief confirms Wembley date
Peter Lawwell has confirmed Celtic will be the first Scottish club to play at the new Wembley as part of their pre-season schedule.The Hoops will compete in the Wembley Cup in July, a tournament that will also feature Barcelona.That comes a few days after Celtic officially open Cardiff's new stadium with a pre-season friendly in the Welsh capital.Chief executive Lawwell also revealed the club are considering kicking off their build-up to the 2009-10 campaign with a match against Queensland Roar in Australia on July 12.They will also take part in the lucrative Peace Cup in Spain - a tournament which should include Real Madrid and Aston Villa - if they win the SPL.Lawwell said in the Scottish Sun: "The Wembley Cup is the first of its type at the new stadium, so we're delighted to be the first Scottish club to play there."It's a magnificent platform for Celtic to go and for our fans to go and support the team. So we're delighted about that."Our trips down south have been nothing but positive for the club - the way we have acted as a club, the way the supporters have behaved, they are great ambassadors."Lawwell - also considering invites from America - added: "Playing Aston Villa in the Peace Cup would be an intriguing match."It is conditional on us qualifying directly for the Champions League. But again, it is another highly prestigious tournament. We'd be there for a minimum three or four days, and if we progressed it's seven or eight days."Real Madrid are there as well as Sevilla and Malaga - so there will be a great array of big names and, again, they are delighted that Celtic are willing to take part."We've got a number of options. I think initially we were planning to stay around Europe, because of the possibility of qualifiers."[LNB]
