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Stan Sport secures last-minute rights to Celtic & Rangers Europa qualfiers

Nine-owned Stan Sport will air UEFA Europa League qualifier matches featuring Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers following significant public interest around the games in Australia.

This Friday, 27 August will see Celtic take on dutch size AZ Alkmaar at 4:15am AEST, while Rangers will play against Armenia’s FC Alashkert beforehand at 1am.

The qualifiers for the Europa League sat outside of Stan Sport’s deal with UEFA, announced in June, to broadcast the Champions League, Europa League, Europa Conference League, Super Cup and Youth League.

But following considerable interest generated on social media, and in particular, from the hyper-engaged Australian football community on Twitter around the matches, Stan Sport moved for the rights.

Former Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglu joined Celtic this season, in one of the biggest-ever European football coaching appointments for an Australian.

They won the first leg 2-0 against AZ and are looking to secure their place in the group stage of the Europa League, and Aussie international Tom Rogic is in the side.

Meanwhile, Rangers are coached by former Liverpool legend Stephen Gerrard and won the Scottish title last season from Celtic.

Stan Sport recently revealed its first commentator signings for the football coverage, with the group stage for both the Champions League and Europa League to begin in September.

It named ex-Socceroo and former SBS chief football analyst and commentator Craig Foster, who ended his 18-year affiliation with SBS in June of 2020.

He will be joined by English football pundit Max Rushden, current host of the long-running Guardian’s Football Weekly podcast and a regular on Talksport. Rushden, a former host with the BBC and Sky Sports, is moving to Australia for the role.

Nine will announce its 2021 financial results later this week.

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