Glentoran are set to join a select club with the revelation the Big Two giants will have a gold star emblazoned above the crest on their home and away shirts next season.
The likes of Celtic, Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa and Aberdeen, who all enjoyed European success in the 1960s and 1980s, have all had stars on their kits in recent years.
And now the East Belfast club will follow suit with a gold star of their own to commemorate the famous Glentoran team that won the Vienna Cup in 1914.
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By winning the tournament, which was hosted in Austria on the eve of World War One, the Ovalmen became the first British club to lift a European trophy.
The Vienna Cup is recognised as the oldest European Trophy in existence and remains the only Glentoran artefact to have survived the Belfast Blitz.
Glentoran chairman Ian Kerr said the decision to add a single gold star to next season’s kit had been made to “properly recognise the unique achievement” of the club’s success in 1914.
He also said it would highlight the trophy’s “importance in football history not only to Glentoran but also the wider football community”.
Kerr added: “Being the first professional club to win a European trophy is nothing short of excellent and it is something to rejoice in and celebrate.
“Through the tremendous work of our historian Sam Robinson, the fantastic story and facts surrounding this wonderful achievement are now fully documented and recognised.
“All Glentoran fans and players will feel a great sense of pride in our new badge and its link to that great achievement and to the people who made it possible.”
Glentoran boss Mick McDermott said the memory of the Vienna Cup, which sits proudly in the Oval trophy cabinet today, “still shines bright over Belfast today”.
He added: “It is outstanding that the Vienna Cup has been acknowledged by the football authorities as the ‘first European trophy’. Glentoran football club can be proud of this achievement because being first is unique and casts a long shadow.
“We are thankful that (FIFA President) Gianni Infantino and FIFA took such a keen interest in the history of the competition and the trophy, and we must pay respect to our local Glentoran historians, particularly Sam Robinson, who have kept this story alive.
“Our star is the first but it should also be a motivator to every club in our country. Hopefully, it is not the last.”
Glentoran received an invitation from the Austro-Hungarian FA to play in the Vienna Cup after beating Linfield in the 1914 Irish Cup final.
The tournament involved some of the strongest teams in Europe at the time including Hertha Berlin, DFC Prag (Prague) Pressburg (Bratislava) and a Hungarian Select XI.
Glentoran beat Hertha Berlin of Germany to qualify for the final, beating Vienna Select XI to return to Belfast with the trophy.
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