Celtic Football Club is a Scottish professional association football club based in Parkhead, Glasgow. The club was founded in 1887 and played their first match in May 1888, a friendly match against Rangers. [1] The club played their first competitive match in September 1888, when they entered the first round of the 1888–89 Scottish Cup, and were founding members of the Scottish Football League in 1890 from which they have remained in the top tier of ever since. [2] Celtic have won the Scottish league title on 53 occasions, the Scottish Cup 41 times and the Scottish League Cup 21 times. [3] The club enjoyed their greatest successes during the 1960s and 1970s under Jock Stein when they won nine consecutive league titles and the European Cup. [4]
As of the end of the 2022–23 season, the club have played more than 125 seasons in Scottish football. The table details their achievements and the top goalscorer in senior major first-team competitions to the end of the most recently completed season. Details of the partially completed league campaign in the 1939–40 season, abandoned due to the Second World War, are also included. [5]
Celtic played their first ever competitive match on 1 September 1888, a first round Scottish Cup tie against Shettleston, winning 5–1, [6] and eventually reaching the final where they lost to Third Lanark after a replay. [7] The team also made their debuts in the Glasgow Cup and the North-Eastern Cup that same season, reaching the semi-final of the Glasgow Cup where they lost to Queens Park, [7] and defeating Cowlairs 6–1 in the final of the North-Eastern Cup to win their first ever trophy. [1] [8] The Scottish Football League was formed in 1890, and Celtic were among the founding members, [9] finishing third behind joint-winner's Rangers and Dumbarton in the competition's inaugural season. [10]
In 1891, Celtic won their second trophy when they beat Third Lanark 4–0 in the final of the Glasgow Cup. [11] The following year saw Celtic winning their first major tournament, defeating Queen's Park 5–1 in the 1892 Scottish Cup Final. [3] A first league title then followed in season 1892–93. [3] The Glasgow Cup remained a prestigious tournament for some years, but declined in importance after the Second World War following the introduction of the Scottish League Cup and European club competitions. [12] Celtic have since gone on to win the Scottish League Championship on 53 occasions, including a run of nine consecutive titles in the 1960s, 1970s and the 2010s, the Scottish Cup 41 times, and the Scottish League Cup 21 times. [3]
Celtic first participated in European competition during the 1962–63 season, their third-place finish in the league the previous season qualifying them for the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. [13] They went on to reach two European Cup Winner's Cup semi-finals in 1964 and 1966, [14] before going on to become the first British club to win the European Cup in 1967, defeating Inter Milan 2–1 in the final. [15] Celtic reached the European Cup Final again in 1970, but lost to Feyenoord. [16] Their last appearance in a European final was in 2003 when they lost 3–2 to FC Porto in the UEFA Cup Final. [17] [18]
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The Celtic Football Club, commonly known as Celtic, is a professional football club in Glasgow, Scotland. The team competes in the Scottish Premiership, the top division of Scottish football. The club was founded in 1887 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 throughout their history, adopting in 1903 the hoops that have been used ever since.
The Old Firm is the collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply embedded in Scottish culture. It has reflected and contributed to political, social and religious division and sectarianism in Scotland. As a result, matches between them have had an enduring appeal around the world.
William McNeill was a Scottish football player and manager. He had a long association with Celtic, spanning more than sixty years as a player, manager and club ambassador. McNeill captained Celtic's 'Lisbon Lions' to their European Cup victory in 1967 and later spent two spells as the club's manager. As a player and manager, he won 31 major trophies with Celtic.
Alistair “Ally” Murdoch McCoist, is a Scottish former footballer who has since worked as a manager and TV pundit.
John Greig is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a defender. He spent his entire career with Rangers, as a player, manager and director. Greig was voted "The Greatest Ever Ranger" in 1999 by the club's supporters, and has been elected to Rangers' Hall of Fame.
James Edward McGrory was a Scottish footballer who played for Celtic and Clydebank as a forward and then went on to manage Kilmarnock before returning to Celtic as manager after the end of the Second World War.
Celtic Football Club was constituted in 1888 with the purpose of creating a club for Irish Immigrants. Celtic play home games at Celtic Park, having moved there from their original ground in 1892. The club has always competed in the highest level of football in Scotland, currently the Scottish Premiership, since the inception of league football in Scotland. Celtic quickly established itself as a dominant force in Scottish football, winning six successive league titles during the first decade of the 20th century. A fierce rivalry developed with Rangers, and the two clubs became known as the Old Firm.
Joseph McBride was a Scottish footballer who played for clubs including Celtic, Hibernian, Motherwell and Dunfermline Athletic. He was a prolific striker and has the third highest tally of goals in the Scottish league since football resumed after the Second World War. McBride also represented both Scotland and the Scottish League.
The Glasgow Cup is a football tournament open to teams from Glasgow, Scotland. Operated by the Glasgow Football Association, it was competed for annually by senior Glasgow clubs from 1887 until 1989. It is now competed for between the senior teams of Clyde, Partick Thistle and Queen's Park and the youth teams of Celtic and Rangers, and has used both knockout and round robin formats to determine the finalists.
Celtic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in Glasgow, which has regularly taken part in European competitions since its first appearance in the 1962–63 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. Since then, the club has competed in every UEFA-organised competition, with the exception of the UEFA Super Cup and the defunct Intertoto Cup.
Allan Martin was a Scottish footballer who played for Rangers, Leith Athletic, Celtic and Hibernian. He finished as the top scorer in the Scottish Football League Division One in the 1895–96 season.
The Glasgow Merchants' Charity Cup was a knockout football tournament open to teams from in and around Glasgow and later on in the tournament's history, teams from outwith Glasgow. Invitations were made and sent out by the Glasgow Charity Cup Committee (GCCC) at their discretion, but no criteria were ever published.
The Summer Cup was a Scottish football competition open to teams in the top division, first of the wartime Southern League from 1940 to 1945 and then of the Scottish League from 1963 to 1965.
The Victory Cup was a one-off Scottish football competition held in 1946 to celebrate the end of World War II. It is an unofficial competition in statistical terms, taking place at the end of the 1945–46 season just before official competitions such as the Scottish Football League and the Scottish Cup resumed.
Football in Scotland has been dominated by two clubs, Celtic and Rangers, both based in Glasgow and collectively known as the Old Firm due to the mutual economic benefits of the public interest in their longstanding rivalry, since the introduction of a national league system in 1890. While many of the league contests have been closely fought between the pair and have occasionally involved other clubs, periods of one-team dominance have occurred, most significantly three periods of nine championship wins in succession since the 1970s which has led to the term "Nine in a row" becoming a commonly-used phrase, and a topic which has drawn much attention.