The Celtic Football Club (/ˈsɛltɪk/ SEL-tik) is a Scottish professional football club based in Glasgow, which plays in the Scottish Premiership. The club was founded in 1887[nb 1] with the purpose of alleviating poverty in the immigrant Irish population in the East End of Glasgow. They played their first match in May 1888, a friendly match against Rangers which Celtic won 5–2. Celtic established themselves within Scottish football, winning six successive league titles during the first decade of the 20th century. The club enjoyed their greatest successes during the 1960s and 70s under Jock Stein when they won nine consecutive league titles and the 1967 European Cup. Celtic have played in green and white for the entirety of its history, adopting hoops in 1903, those being used ever since.[2]
Celtic have won the Scottish league championship 50 times, most recently in 2018–19, which was their eighth consecutive championship. They have won the Scottish Cup 39 times and the Scottish League Cup 18 times. The club's greatest season was 1966–67, when Celtic became the first British team to win the European Cup, also winning the Scottish league championship, the Scottish Cup, the League Cup and the Glasgow Cup. Celtic also reached the 1970 European Cup Final and the 2003 UEFA Cup Final, losing in both.
Celtic have a long-standing fierce rivalry with Rangers, and the clubs are known as the Old Firm, seen by some as the world's biggest football derby.[3][4] The club's fanbase was estimated in 2003 as being around nine million worldwide, and there are more than 160 Celtic supporters clubs in over 20 countries.[5] An estimated 80,000 fans travelled to Seville for the 2003 UEFA Cup Final
Celtic Football Club was formally constituted at a meeting in St. Mary's church hall in East Rose Street (now Forbes Street), Calton, Glasgow, by Irish Marist Brother Walfrid[7] on 6 November 1887, with the purpose of alleviating poverty in the East End of Glasgow by raising money for the charity Walfrid had instituted, the Poor Children's Dinner Table.[8] Walfrid's move to establish the club as a means of fund-raising was largely inspired by the example of Hibernian, which was formed out of the immigrant Irish population a few years earlier in Edinburgh.[9] Walfrid's own suggestion of the name Celtic (pronounced Seltik) was intended to reflect the club's Irish and Scottish roots and was adopted at the same meeting.[10][11] The club has the official nickname, The Bhoys. However, according to the Celtic press office, the newly established club was known to many as "the bold boys". A postcard from the early 20th century that pictured the team and read "The Bould Bhoys" is the first known example of the unique spelling. The extra h imitates the spelling system of Gaelic, wherein the letter b is often accompanied by the letter h
On 28 May 1888, Celtic played their first official match against Rangers and won 5–2 in what was described as a "friendly encounter".[13] Neil McCallum scored Celtic's first ever goal.[14] Celtic's first kit consisted of a white shirt with a green collar, black shorts, and emerald green socks.[15] The original club crest was a simple green cross on a red oval background.[15] In 1889 Celtic reached the final of the Scottish Cup, this was their first season in the competition, but lost 2–1 in the final.[16] Celtic again reached the final of the Scottish Cup in 1892, but this time were victorious after defeating Queen's Park 5–1 in the final, the club's first major honour.[17] Several months later the club moved to its new ground, Celtic Park, and in the following season won the Scottish League Championship for the first ever time.[13] In 1895, Celtic set the League record for the highest home score when they beat Dundee 11–0.[18]
In 1897, the club became a Private limited company[19] and Willie Maley was appointed as the first 'secretary-manager'.[20] Between 1905 and 1910, Celtic won the Scottish League Championship six times in a row.[13][21] In both 1907 and 1908 Celtic also won the Scottish Cup, this was the first time a Scottish club had ever won the double.[13][22] During World War I, Celtic won the league four times in a row, including 62 matches unbeaten between November 1915 and April 1917.[13][23] The mid-1920s saw the emergence of Jimmy McGrory as one of the most prolific goalscorers in British football history. Over a sixteen-year playing career, he scored 550 goals in 547 games (including 16 goals for Clydebank during a season on loan in 1923–24), a British goal-scoring record to this day.[24][25] In January 1940, Willie Maley's retirement was announced. He was 71 years old and had served the club in varying roles for nearly 52 years, initially as a player and then as secretary-manager.[26][27] Jimmy McStay became manager of the club in February 1940.[28] He spent over five years in this role, although due to the Second World War no official competitive league football took place during this time. The Scottish Football League and Scottish Cup were suspended and in their place regional league competitions were set up.[29] Celtic did not do particularly well during the war years, but did win the Victory in Europe Cup held in May 1945 as a one-off football tournament to celebrate Victory in Europe Day.[30]
Ex-player and captain Jimmy McGrory took over as manager in 1945.[31] Under McGrory, Celtic defeated Arsenal, Manchester United and Hibernian to win the Coronation Cup, a one-off tournament held in May 1953 to commemorate the coronation of Elizabeth II.[32] He also led them to a League and Cup double in 1954.[33] On 19 October 1957, Celtic defeated Rangers a record 7–1 in the final of the Scottish League Cup at Hampden Park in Glasgow, retaining the trophy they had won for the first time the previous year. The scoreline remains a record win in a British domestic cup final.[34][35] The years that followed, however, saw Celtic struggle and the club won no more trophies under McGrory.
Former Celtic captain Jock Stein succeeded McGrory in 1965.[37] He won the Scottish Cup with Celtic in his first few months at the club,[38] and then led them to the League title the following season.[39]
1967 was Celtic's annus mirabilis. The club won every competition they entered: the Scottish League, the Scottish Cup, the Scottish League Cup, the Glasgow Cup, and the European Cup.[40][41] Under the leadership of Stein, the club defeated Inter Milan 2–1 at the Estádio Nacional in Lisbon, on 25 May 1967. Celtic thus became the first British team,[42][43] and the first from outside Spain, Portugal and Italy to win the competition. They remain the only Scottish team to have reached the final. The players that day subsequently became known as the "Lisbon Lions", all of whom were born within 30 miles of Glasgow.[44] The following season Celtic lost to Racing Club of Argentina in the Intercontinental Cup.[45]
Celtic reached the European Cup Final again in 1970, but were beaten 2–1 by Feyenoord at the San Siro in Milan.[46] The club continued to dominate Scottish football in the early 1970s, and their Scottish Championship win in 1974 was their ninth consecutive league title, equalling the joint world record held at the time by MTK Budapest and CSKA Sofia.[47]
Celtic enjoyed further domestic success in the 1980s, and in their Centenary season of 1987–88 won a Scottish League Championship and Scottish Cup double.[48]
The club endured a slump in the early 1990s, culminating in the Bank of Scotland informing Celtic on 3 March 1994 that it was calling in the receivers as a result of the club exceeding a £5 million overdraft.[49] However, expatriate businessman Fergus McCann wrested control of the club, and ousted the family dynasties which had controlled Celtic since its foundation. According to media reports, McCann took over the club minutes before it was to be declared bankrupt.[50] McCann reconstituted the club business as a public limited company – Celtic PLC – and oversaw the redevelopment of Celtic Park into a 60,832 all-seater stadium. In 1998, under Dutchman Wim Jansen Celtic won the title again and prevented Rangers from beating Celtic's 9-in-a-row record.[51]
Martin O'Neill, a former European Cup winner with Nottingham Forest, took charge of the club in June 2000.[52] Under his leadership, Celtic won three SPL championships out of five[53] and in his first season in charge, the club also won the domestic treble,[54] making O'Neill only the second Celtic manager to do so after Jock Stein.[55] In 2003, around 80,000 Celtic fans travelled to watch the club compete in the UEFA Cup Final in Seville.[56][57] Celtic lost 3–2 to Porto after extra time, despite two goals from Henrik Larsson during normal time.[58] The conduct of the thousands of travelling Celtic supporters received widespread praise from the people of Seville and the fans were awarded Fair Play Awards from both FIFA and UEFA "for their extraordinarily loyal and sporting behaviour".[6][59]
Gordon Strachan was announced as O'Neill's replacement in June 2005 and after winning the SPL title in his first year in charge,[60] he became only the third Celtic manager to win three titles in a row. He also guided Celtic to their first UEFA Champions League knockout stage in 2006–07[61] and repeated the feat in 2007–08[62] before departing the club in May 2009, after failing to win the SPL title.[63] Tony Mowbray took charge of the club in June 2009,[64] and he was succeeded a year later by Neil Lennon.[65] In November 2010, Celtic set an SPL record for the biggest win in SPL history defeating Aberdeen 9–0 at Celtic Park.[66]
Celtic celebrated their 125th anniversary in November 2012, the same week as their Champions League match against Barcelona.[67] Celtic won 2–1 on the night to complete a memorable week,[68] and eventually qualified from the group stages for the round of 16.[69] Celtic finished the season with the SPL and Scottish Cup double.[70] The club clinched their third consecutive league title in March 2014,[71] with goalkeeper Fraser Forster setting a new record during the campaign of 1,256 minutes without conceding a goal in a league match.[72] At the end of the season, manager Neil Lennon announced his departure from the club after four years in the role.[73]
Norwegian Ronny Deila was appointed manager of Celtic on 6 June 2014.[74][75] He went on to lead Celtic to two consecutive league titles and a League Cup, but the team's performances in European competition were poor. After being eliminated from the Scottish Cup by Rangers in April 2016, Deila announced he would leave the club at the end of the season.[76][77]
On 20 May 2016, Brendan Rodgers was announced as Deila's successor.[77][78] His first season saw the team go on a long unbeaten run in domestic competitions, during which time the club won their 100th major trophy, defeating Aberdeen 3–0 in the League Cup Final in November 2016.[79] Celtic also clinched their sixth successive league title in April 2017, with a record eight league games to spare.,[80] and eventually finished with a record 106 points, and the team became the first Scottish side to complete a top-flight league season undefeated since Rangers in 1899.[81][82] Celtic clinched their fourth treble in May 2017 by defeating Aberdeen 2–1 in the Scottish Cup final. The cup final win saw Celtic go through the entire domestic season unbeaten.[83]
Celtic continued their unbeaten domestic run into the following season, eventually extending it to 69 games, surpassing their own 100-year-old British record of 62 games set by Willie Maley, before finally losing to Hearts in November 2017.[84][85] Celtic retained the League Cup that same month by defeating Motherwell in the final,[86] and went on to clinch their seventh consecutive league title in April 2018.[87] Celtic then went on to defeat Motherwell in the 2018 Scottish Cup Final to clinch a second consecutive domestic treble (the "double treble"), the first club in Scotland to do so.[88] The following season, Celtic secured an unprecedented third consecutive domestic treble (the "treble treble"), defeating Hearts 2–1 in the 2019 Scottish Cup Final.[89]
Crest and colours
For most of Celtic's history their home strip has featured green and white horizontal hoops, but their original strip consisted of a white top with black shorts and black and green hooped socks. The top also featured the Marist Brothers' badge on the right hand side, consisting of a green Celtic cross inside a red circle.[15][90] In 1889, the club changed to a green and white vertically striped top and for the next fourteen years this remained unchanged although the colour of the shorts alternated between white and black several times over this period. The top did not feature a crest
Celtic have won the Scottish league championship 50 times, most recently in 2018–19, which was their eighth consecutive championship. They have won the Scottish Cup 39 times and the Scottish League Cup 18 times. The club's greatest season was 1966–67, when Celtic became the first British team to win the European Cup, also winning the Scottish league championship, the Scottish Cup, the League Cup and the Glasgow Cup. Celtic also reached the 1970 European Cup Final and the 2003 UEFA Cup Final, losing in both.
Celtic have a long-standing fierce rivalry with Rangers, and the clubs are known as the Old Firm, seen by some as the world's biggest football derby.[3][4] The club's fanbase was estimated in 2003 as being around nine million worldwide, and there are more than 160 Celtic supporters clubs in over 20 countries.[5] An estimated 80,000 fans travelled to Seville for the 2003 UEFA Cup Final
Celtic Football Club was formally constituted at a meeting in St. Mary's church hall in East Rose Street (now Forbes Street), Calton, Glasgow, by Irish Marist Brother Walfrid[7] on 6 November 1887, with the purpose of alleviating poverty in the East End of Glasgow by raising money for the charity Walfrid had instituted, the Poor Children's Dinner Table.[8] Walfrid's move to establish the club as a means of fund-raising was largely inspired by the example of Hibernian, which was formed out of the immigrant Irish population a few years earlier in Edinburgh.[9] Walfrid's own suggestion of the name Celtic (pronounced Seltik) was intended to reflect the club's Irish and Scottish roots and was adopted at the same meeting.[10][11] The club has the official nickname, The Bhoys. However, according to the Celtic press office, the newly established club was known to many as "the bold boys". A postcard from the early 20th century that pictured the team and read "The Bould Bhoys" is the first known example of the unique spelling. The extra h imitates the spelling system of Gaelic, wherein the letter b is often accompanied by the letter h
On 28 May 1888, Celtic played their first official match against Rangers and won 5–2 in what was described as a "friendly encounter".[13] Neil McCallum scored Celtic's first ever goal.[14] Celtic's first kit consisted of a white shirt with a green collar, black shorts, and emerald green socks.[15] The original club crest was a simple green cross on a red oval background.[15] In 1889 Celtic reached the final of the Scottish Cup, this was their first season in the competition, but lost 2–1 in the final.[16] Celtic again reached the final of the Scottish Cup in 1892, but this time were victorious after defeating Queen's Park 5–1 in the final, the club's first major honour.[17] Several months later the club moved to its new ground, Celtic Park, and in the following season won the Scottish League Championship for the first ever time.[13] In 1895, Celtic set the League record for the highest home score when they beat Dundee 11–0.[18]
In 1897, the club became a Private limited company[19] and Willie Maley was appointed as the first 'secretary-manager'.[20] Between 1905 and 1910, Celtic won the Scottish League Championship six times in a row.[13][21] In both 1907 and 1908 Celtic also won the Scottish Cup, this was the first time a Scottish club had ever won the double.[13][22] During World War I, Celtic won the league four times in a row, including 62 matches unbeaten between November 1915 and April 1917.[13][23] The mid-1920s saw the emergence of Jimmy McGrory as one of the most prolific goalscorers in British football history. Over a sixteen-year playing career, he scored 550 goals in 547 games (including 16 goals for Clydebank during a season on loan in 1923–24), a British goal-scoring record to this day.[24][25] In January 1940, Willie Maley's retirement was announced. He was 71 years old and had served the club in varying roles for nearly 52 years, initially as a player and then as secretary-manager.[26][27] Jimmy McStay became manager of the club in February 1940.[28] He spent over five years in this role, although due to the Second World War no official competitive league football took place during this time. The Scottish Football League and Scottish Cup were suspended and in their place regional league competitions were set up.[29] Celtic did not do particularly well during the war years, but did win the Victory in Europe Cup held in May 1945 as a one-off football tournament to celebrate Victory in Europe Day.[30]
Ex-player and captain Jimmy McGrory took over as manager in 1945.[31] Under McGrory, Celtic defeated Arsenal, Manchester United and Hibernian to win the Coronation Cup, a one-off tournament held in May 1953 to commemorate the coronation of Elizabeth II.[32] He also led them to a League and Cup double in 1954.[33] On 19 October 1957, Celtic defeated Rangers a record 7–1 in the final of the Scottish League Cup at Hampden Park in Glasgow, retaining the trophy they had won for the first time the previous year. The scoreline remains a record win in a British domestic cup final.[34][35] The years that followed, however, saw Celtic struggle and the club won no more trophies under McGrory.
Former Celtic captain Jock Stein succeeded McGrory in 1965.[37] He won the Scottish Cup with Celtic in his first few months at the club,[38] and then led them to the League title the following season.[39]
1967 was Celtic's annus mirabilis. The club won every competition they entered: the Scottish League, the Scottish Cup, the Scottish League Cup, the Glasgow Cup, and the European Cup.[40][41] Under the leadership of Stein, the club defeated Inter Milan 2–1 at the Estádio Nacional in Lisbon, on 25 May 1967. Celtic thus became the first British team,[42][43] and the first from outside Spain, Portugal and Italy to win the competition. They remain the only Scottish team to have reached the final. The players that day subsequently became known as the "Lisbon Lions", all of whom were born within 30 miles of Glasgow.[44] The following season Celtic lost to Racing Club of Argentina in the Intercontinental Cup.[45]
Celtic reached the European Cup Final again in 1970, but were beaten 2–1 by Feyenoord at the San Siro in Milan.[46] The club continued to dominate Scottish football in the early 1970s, and their Scottish Championship win in 1974 was their ninth consecutive league title, equalling the joint world record held at the time by MTK Budapest and CSKA Sofia.[47]
Celtic enjoyed further domestic success in the 1980s, and in their Centenary season of 1987–88 won a Scottish League Championship and Scottish Cup double.[48]
The club endured a slump in the early 1990s, culminating in the Bank of Scotland informing Celtic on 3 March 1994 that it was calling in the receivers as a result of the club exceeding a £5 million overdraft.[49] However, expatriate businessman Fergus McCann wrested control of the club, and ousted the family dynasties which had controlled Celtic since its foundation. According to media reports, McCann took over the club minutes before it was to be declared bankrupt.[50] McCann reconstituted the club business as a public limited company – Celtic PLC – and oversaw the redevelopment of Celtic Park into a 60,832 all-seater stadium. In 1998, under Dutchman Wim Jansen Celtic won the title again and prevented Rangers from beating Celtic's 9-in-a-row record.[51]
Martin O'Neill, a former European Cup winner with Nottingham Forest, took charge of the club in June 2000.[52] Under his leadership, Celtic won three SPL championships out of five[53] and in his first season in charge, the club also won the domestic treble,[54] making O'Neill only the second Celtic manager to do so after Jock Stein.[55] In 2003, around 80,000 Celtic fans travelled to watch the club compete in the UEFA Cup Final in Seville.[56][57] Celtic lost 3–2 to Porto after extra time, despite two goals from Henrik Larsson during normal time.[58] The conduct of the thousands of travelling Celtic supporters received widespread praise from the people of Seville and the fans were awarded Fair Play Awards from both FIFA and UEFA "for their extraordinarily loyal and sporting behaviour".[6][59]
Gordon Strachan was announced as O'Neill's replacement in June 2005 and after winning the SPL title in his first year in charge,[60] he became only the third Celtic manager to win three titles in a row. He also guided Celtic to their first UEFA Champions League knockout stage in 2006–07[61] and repeated the feat in 2007–08[62] before departing the club in May 2009, after failing to win the SPL title.[63] Tony Mowbray took charge of the club in June 2009,[64] and he was succeeded a year later by Neil Lennon.[65] In November 2010, Celtic set an SPL record for the biggest win in SPL history defeating Aberdeen 9–0 at Celtic Park.[66]
Celtic celebrated their 125th anniversary in November 2012, the same week as their Champions League match against Barcelona.[67] Celtic won 2–1 on the night to complete a memorable week,[68] and eventually qualified from the group stages for the round of 16.[69] Celtic finished the season with the SPL and Scottish Cup double.[70] The club clinched their third consecutive league title in March 2014,[71] with goalkeeper Fraser Forster setting a new record during the campaign of 1,256 minutes without conceding a goal in a league match.[72] At the end of the season, manager Neil Lennon announced his departure from the club after four years in the role.[73]
Norwegian Ronny Deila was appointed manager of Celtic on 6 June 2014.[74][75] He went on to lead Celtic to two consecutive league titles and a League Cup, but the team's performances in European competition were poor. After being eliminated from the Scottish Cup by Rangers in April 2016, Deila announced he would leave the club at the end of the season.[76][77]
On 20 May 2016, Brendan Rodgers was announced as Deila's successor.[77][78] His first season saw the team go on a long unbeaten run in domestic competitions, during which time the club won their 100th major trophy, defeating Aberdeen 3–0 in the League Cup Final in November 2016.[79] Celtic also clinched their sixth successive league title in April 2017, with a record eight league games to spare.,[80] and eventually finished with a record 106 points, and the team became the first Scottish side to complete a top-flight league season undefeated since Rangers in 1899.[81][82] Celtic clinched their fourth treble in May 2017 by defeating Aberdeen 2–1 in the Scottish Cup final. The cup final win saw Celtic go through the entire domestic season unbeaten.[83]
Celtic continued their unbeaten domestic run into the following season, eventually extending it to 69 games, surpassing their own 100-year-old British record of 62 games set by Willie Maley, before finally losing to Hearts in November 2017.[84][85] Celtic retained the League Cup that same month by defeating Motherwell in the final,[86] and went on to clinch their seventh consecutive league title in April 2018.[87] Celtic then went on to defeat Motherwell in the 2018 Scottish Cup Final to clinch a second consecutive domestic treble (the "double treble"), the first club in Scotland to do so.[88] The following season, Celtic secured an unprecedented third consecutive domestic treble (the "treble treble"), defeating Hearts 2–1 in the 2019 Scottish Cup Final.[89]
Crest and colours
For most of Celtic's history their home strip has featured green and white horizontal hoops, but their original strip consisted of a white top with black shorts and black and green hooped socks. The top also featured the Marist Brothers' badge on the right hand side, consisting of a green Celtic cross inside a red circle.[15][90] In 1889, the club changed to a green and white vertically striped top and for the next fourteen years this remained unchanged although the colour of the shorts alternated between white and black several times over this period. The top did not feature a crest
