Tynecastle will host English Premier League opponents for Craig Gordon’s testimonial
Sunderland fans are to travel to Tynecastle Park in numbers for Hearts goalkeeper Craig Gordon’s testimonial match next month. Newly-promoted to the English Premier League, the Wearside club are the opponents for a friendly in Gordon’s honour on Saturday, 26 July, which looks set to attract a healthy mix of home and away supporters.
Sunderland have been allocated 3,185 tickets for Tynecastle’s Roseburn Stand and are currently selling those to fans based on loyalty points. They expect a high demand and are confident of using up the full allocation in Edinburgh. Hearts fans are also likely to turn out in large numbers to acclaim Gordon, who is enjoying his second spell in Gorgie and also played for Celtic and Sunderland.
The 42-year-old has been awarded a testimonial for 11 years’ service to Hearts in total. He emerged from the club’s youth system to make his senior debut in 2001, and thereafter established himself as the first-choice goalkeeper. He was sold to Sunderland in a £9m deal in 2007, a British record for a keeper at that time. He spent six years at Celtic between 2014 and 2020 before returning to Hearts, the team he has supported since childhood.
Gordon won the 2006 Scottish Cup at Tynecastle and is a member of the club’s Hall of Fame. He is also their most-capped Scotland internationalist and record European appearance holder. He currently holds 81 Scotland caps but missed friendlies against Iceland and Liechtenstein earlier this month as he has been recovering from a shoulder injury.
He is confident of being available to play against Sunderland, with fellow Hearts keepers Zander Clark, Ryan Fulton and Harry Stone also recovering from injury in recent weeks. Players returned to Riccarton for pre-season training and testing at the end of last week and Gordon played down concerns over the lack of fully-fit goalies.
“Just as well we didn’t get to the [Scottish] cup final [in May] because I don’t know who would have played in goal,” he joked. “Yes, it's not a great place for the goalkeepers at the moment. Luckily enough, we've got a bit of time before the games start up again, so I think we'll all be fine.”
EPL side Sunderland bring a tough test to Scotland
Sunderland will provide tough opposition for Hearts in what will be the Edinburgh side’s final pre-season test ahead of the 2025/26 Premiership kick-off. Head coach Regis Le Bris was appointed 12 months ago and guided Sunderland back to the Premier League at the first attempt. They came through the play-offs, beating Sheffield United in the final, to rejoin England’s top flight after an eight-year absence.
Hearts, under the guidance of new head coach Derek McInnes, open their Scottish Premiership season nine days later. Aberdeen are the visitors as McInnes faces his former employers in his first league game in charge at Tynecastle. Six new signings have arrived so far - Norwegian right-back Christian Borchgrevink, Greek winger Alexandros Kyziridis, Belgian striker Elton Kabangu, Irish midfielder Oisin McEntee, Portuguese forward Claudio Braga and Scottish centre-back Stuart Findlay. More are likely to follow in the weeks ahead.
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