Glasgow City Euro tie costs to be covered by philanthropist

Philanthropist James Anderson has agreed to pay all travel and Covid-19 testing costs to enable Glasgow City to play their rearranged Champions League quarter-final tie.

City take on Wolfsburg in San Sebastian on August 21 with a 10-day tournament taking place to finish the competition that was suspended due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Anderson has already given £250,000 to the women’s game as well as more than £3 million to the men’s SPFL to help them through the pandemic.

Glasgow City’s club manager Laura Montgomery said: “He has been amazing.

“The stark reality is if James hadn’t come forward then I don’t know how we could ever have played this game.

“He is now taking care of testing and our means to travel, because

Uefa want teams to go on their own plane.

“It was the most amazing news last night when he told me he would cover that. He is an incredibly generous man.”

City are facing the prospect of heading into the tie against the German champions without the benefit of a practice match. The SWPL 1 was halted in March after only one round of fixtures and will not resume before the Scottish champions take on Wolfsburg.

Montgomery told BBC Scotland: “I don’t know who we could play, because it’s pretty much only the men’s top-flight teams back and I can’t see any merit in that.

“Women’s team wise, there are none in the UK other than Arsenal, who are preparing for their Champions League quarter-final.

“We do face the very real prospect of going into the quarterfinal having not played any games.”