Rangers set a world record for attendance at a fourth-tier match on Saturday when 49,118 people showed up to watch their 5-1 win over East Stirling in a Scottish soccer league game at Ibrox.
The figure smashed the previous record of 37,774 for a game between Crystal Palace and Millwall at Selhurst Park in 1961, in the old English fourth division. The Ibrox crowd was larger than the combined attendance for last weekend's five Scottish Premier League matches of 40,383.
Rangers, the 54-time Scottish champions and one half of the Glasgow "Old Firm" that has dominated Scottish soccer for decades, were playing their first home league match outside the top flight as they begin to recover from a financial crisis.
The club went into administration in February before a takeover in June, and was demoted from the Scottish Premier League to the third division - the bottom of the country's soccer pyramid - after a meeting of Scottish soccer league clubs last month. They opened their campaign last weekend with a 2-2 draw at Peterhead in front of 4,500 spectators.
