Glasgow City: James Anderson to fund club's Champions League last-eight costs

Glasgow City defeated Brondby on penalties to reach the Champions League last eightSNS

Glasgow City defeated Brondby on penalties to reach the Champions League last eight

Philanthropist James Anderson will pay all travel and Covid-19 testing costs to enable Glasgow City to play their Champions League quarter-final, club manager Laura Montgomery has confirmed.

City face Wolfsburg on 21 August in San Sebastian, where a 10-day tournament concludes the competition.

Anderson's donation is on top of the £250,000 he has given to the Scottish women's game, and £3m to the men's SPFL, this summer.

"He has been amazing," said Montgomery.

"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."

Montgomery, speaking to BBC Scotland's Sportsound programme on the day City returned to socially-distanced training, says trying to arrange pre-season match practice for the tie against the German champions presents a "major challenge".

The SWPL1 was halted in March after just one round of fixtures and is aiming to resume "in mid-October," according to Montgomery.

"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," she added.

"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 quarter-final having not played any games."

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