Aberdeen Football Club and the Gothenburg Greats team will join an illustrious roll of honour when the Freedom of the City of Aberdeen is bestowed upon them on Friday, May 12.
Recipients have included international figures such as Mikhail Gorbachev and Nelson and Winnie Mandela, Sir Winston Churchill, and famous faces from sport and entertainment like Denis Law, Sir Alex Ferguson and Scotland the What.
The Freedom of the City is the highest honour that the City of Aberdeen can bestow and has its origins in 12th Century Scotland.
Representatives from Aberdeen Football Club and most of the 1983 Gothenburg team will be at the centre of the ticketed ceremony at Pittodrie Stadium, the club’s ground, when more than 2,500 fans will witness the award being made by Aberdeen’s Lord Provost Dr David Cameron.
The following day, the Gothenburg Greats will be honoured during the home league match against Hibernian as the club continues the celebrations marking 40 years since the famous victory against footballing giants Real Madrid in the European Cup Winners’ Cup in Gothenburg, Sweden, on May 11, 1983.
Aberdeen Lord Provost Dr David Cameron said: “It is an honour for me to award the Freedom of Aberdeen to both Aberdeen Football Club and the Gothenburg Greats. In doing so we recognise the achievements and the importance of the football club to our city since they were formed in 1903.
“The Gothenburg Greats team are all local heroes and continue to be regarded as some of the greatest players to pull on the red and white colours of Aberdeen Football Club. It is a fitting tribute that we can confer the Freedom of the City to them during the 40th anniversary celebrations of that famous night in Gothenburg.”
Dave Cormack, Aberdeen FC Chairman, said: “The Freedom of the City is the highest honour the city of Aberdeen can confer and as Chairman of Aberdeen Football Club it will be extremely humbling to receive this award on behalf of everyone who has been associated with this club over 120 years.”
It is the first conferral to take place in Aberdeen since Denis Law received the honour in 2017 and it is 24 years since former Aberdeen manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, was honoured in 1999.
Tickets are still available for the Conferral ceremony at Pittodrie and can be purchased from the Pittodrie Ticket Office: Aberdeen FC - Gothenburg Greats Freedom of the City Celebratory Event (afc.co.uk)
More information about the history of the Freedom of Aberdeen can be found on our website at www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/freedomofaberdeen