50 Fun Facts About Celtic FC

Who formally constituted Celtic at a meeting in St. Mary's church hall in 1887?

Brother Walfrid, born Andrew Kerins in County Sligo, also came up with the name Celtic; his order later moved him to London, where he organised football matches for barefoot children.

What was the charitable purpose behind Celtic's founding?

Feeding the East End's poor was the aim: the club funded the Poor Children's Dinner Table, where a child could buy a hot meal for a penny and those who could not pay were fed free.

Which Edinburgh club's example inspired the founding of Celtic?

Hibernian paid for the compliment: in 1888 Celtic lured away several of their best players with cash, and the weakened Edinburgh club folded for a time before re-forming in 1892.

What was the result of Celtic's first official match, against their future Old Firm rivals in May 1888?

A 5–2 win, achieved with a scratch side of guest players borrowed from established clubs, in a game that was billed as a friendly.

Why is Celtic's nickname 'The Bhoys' spelled with an h?

A nod to its Irish roots: 'bhoy' was an old way of writing 'boy' as the Irish supposedly said it, though some say the h copies Gaelic spelling. An early-1900s postcard of 'The Bould Bhoys' is its first known use.

Which Glasgow club beat Celtic 2–1 in the 1889 Scottish Cup final, Celtic's first season in the competition?

Third Lanark had to win it twice: the first match, played in a snowstorm, was replayed after both clubs protested about the pitch, and they took the second game 2–1.

Celtic's record league home win, 11–0 in 1895, came against which club?

Dundee were hit for eleven only six weeks after Celtic had lost 5–0 on the same ground, and Celtic went on to win the league that season.

Who was appointed Celtic's first 'secretary-manager' in 1897?

Willie Maley, who had played in the club's first match, was 29 when he took charge. He stopped buying established professionals and built his winning teams from youngsters out of junior football.

Why was the 1909 Scottish Cup withheld after Celtic's drawn final replay?

A riot broke out at the final replay when no extra time followed a second Old Firm draw: fans tore down the goalposts and set the pay-boxes alight, and both clubs asked for no further replay.

Which Celtic striker's 550 goals in 547 games remain a British record?

Jimmy McGrory was so attached to Celtic that he turned down a move to Arsenal that would have made him Britain's best-paid player; the board, which had wanted the fee, quietly cut his pay.

What pattern did Celtic's shirts carry before the hoops arrived in 1903?

Stripes, running top to bottom, came in during 1889 in place of the white first shirt. The hoops that replaced them in August 1903 gave the club its nickname, the Hoops.

What emblem did Celtic's first shirt carry on the chest in 1888?

A Celtic cross sat on the breast of the white first shirt for the first season only. No crest appeared on the home jersey again until 1977, and by then it was the four-leaf clover.

Until 1994, where did Celtic unusually wear their player numbers?

On the shorts, because chairman Robert Kelly would not have the hoops broken up. When the league finally ordered numbers onto the shirts in 1994, Celtic first tried putting them on the sleeves.

Which double-glazing firm became Celtic's first shirt sponsor in 1984?

CR Smith put its name on both Old Firm shirts at once: its owner reckoned that backing only one of the Glasgow rivals would cost him half his customers.

Which kit supplier did Celtic leave in 2005 after several decades together?

Umbro had made the hoops for decades and even doubled as shirt sponsor from 1997 to 1999, putting its own name across the front, before Nike took over in 2005.

By what score did Celtic win the 1957 League Cup final against their Old Firm rivals?

7–1, with Billy McPhail heading a hat-trick. Delighted fans put new words to Harry Belafonte's hit of that summer, 'Island in the Sun', and the song is still sung.

Which one-off 1950s tournament did Celtic win, beating Arsenal and Manchester United on the way?

The Coronation Cup set four English clubs against four Scottish ones. Celtic had just finished eighth in the league, yet they won the final in front of 117,000.

Who became Celtic manager in March 1965?

Jock Stein had beaten Celtic in the 1961 Scottish Cup final as Dunfermline's manager. Hired as the club's first Protestant manager, he won that cup within weeks and the European Cup two years later.

Which club did Celtic beat 2–1 to win the 1967 European Cup?

Inter Milan scored from an early penalty and then fell back on the defensive system that had won them two European Cups, but Celtic attacked without let-up and scored twice in the second half.

Celtic's 1967 European Cup winners are known by what nickname?

The Lisbon Lions won Europe's top prize with a team of local men: every one was born within 30 miles of Celtic Park, where a stand now carries their name.

Who scored Celtic's winning goal in the 1967 European Cup final?

Stevie Chalmers turned in a Bobby Murdoch shot with five minutes left. Twelve years earlier, aged 20, he had been given weeks to live with tuberculous meningitis and spent six months in a hospital beside Celtic Park.

Which Argentine side beat Celtic in the 1967 Intercontinental Cup?

Racing Club won a play-off in Montevideo so violent that six players were sent off, four of them Celtic's. One of the four, Bertie Auld, simply refused to leave the pitch and played on.

Where was the 1970 European Cup final, which Celtic lost to Feyenoord, played?

San Siro, Milan saw Celtic take the lead through Tommy Gemmell, only for Feyenoord to equalise two minutes later and score the winner three minutes from the end of extra time.

Which Celtic star joined Liverpool in 1977 for a British record £440,000?

Kenny Dalglish was bought with the money Liverpool had just banked for Kevin Keegan, and he ended his first season there by scoring the goal that won the European Cup.

Which businessman bought Celtic in March 1994, reportedly minutes before bankruptcy?

Fergus McCann, a Scots-Canadian who had made his money from golf holidays, turned the club into a plc and raised £14 million from a share issue.

What did Celtic's 1994 buyer vow to do after five years?

Leave the club: the new owner paid about £9 million for control, rebuilt the stadium and the finances, and in 1999 sold his shares on terms that put supporters ahead of institutions.

Where did Celtic play home games in 1994–95 while their own ground was rebuilt?

Hampden Park cost £500,000 to rent for the season, and the exile ended there in May 1995 with a 1–0 Scottish Cup final win over Airdrie, Celtic's first trophy in six years.

Which Dutch manager led Celtic to the 1998 title that stopped their rivals' ten-in-a-row?

Wim Jansen had played for the Feyenoord side that beat Celtic in the 1970 European Cup final. As manager he signed Henrik Larsson, won the league, and walked out less than 48 hours later.

How did Celtic's first Old Firm game of the 2000–01 season end?

A 6–2 win that began with three goals in the first 11 minutes. Chris Sutton and Henrik Larsson each scored twice, and the visitors finished with ten men.

Who beat Celtic 3–2 after extra time in the 2003 UEFA Cup final?

Porto, coached by José Mourinho, won it five minutes from the end of extra time, after Henrik Larsson had twice headed Celtic level and Bobo Baldé had been sent off.

Around 80,000 Celtic fans travelled to which city for the 2003 UEFA Cup final?

Seville took in far more Celtic fans than there were tickets, and they behaved so well in defeat that FIFA and UEFA both gave the supporters Fair Play awards.

Which manager won a domestic treble in his first season at Celtic, 2000–01?

Martin O'Neill won 213 of his 282 games before leaving in 2005 to care for his wife. Twenty years later, aged 73, he came back in mid-season and won a league and cup double.

Which manager first took Celtic into the Champions League knockout stage, in 2006–07?

Gordon Strachan's side got there by beating Manchester United 1–0 at Celtic Park, with a Shunsuke Nakamura goal and an Artur Boruc penalty save, then took the eventual champions to extra time.

Which Celtic goalkeeper went a record 1,256 league minutes without conceding in 2013–14?

Fraser Forster beat a Scottish league record that had stood for 43 years. Spanish papers had already christened him 'La Gran Muralla', the Great Wall, for his saves against Barcelona.

Celtic won their 100th major trophy in November 2016 by beating whom in the League Cup final?

Aberdeen were swept aside 3–0, giving Brendan Rodgers the first trophy of his managerial career. They ended that season runners-up to Celtic in the league and in both cups.

Whose stoppage-time goal in 2017's Scottish Cup final sealed Celtic's unbeaten treble?

Tom Rogic was only playing because a team-mate had gone off hurt in the first half. With extra time seconds away he ran at a tired defence and scored, completing a 47-game domestic season without defeat.

Which club ended Celtic's British-record run of 69 domestic games unbeaten in December 2017?

Hearts won 4–0 at Tynecastle, the first goal scored by 16-year-old Harry Cochrane on only his fifth start. Celtic's run had beaten their own century-old British record of 62 games.

Which club did Brendan Rodgers leave Celtic for midway through 2018–19?

Leicester City took Rodgers in February 2019, leaving Neil Lennon to finish off a third straight treble. Four years later Celtic hired Rodgers back, and he won two more league titles.

How was Celtic's delayed 2019–20 Scottish Cup final decided?

On penalties after 3–3: Celtic let slip a two-goal lead and then a lead in extra time, before 22-year-old goalkeeper Conor Hazard saved two spot-kicks to seal a fourth straight treble.

Celtic's stadium is commonly known by the name of which Glasgow district?

Parkhead is the district where the ground stands. Its other name, Paradise, dates from the club's 1892 move across the road, which a journalist likened to leaving the graveyard to enter paradise.

Celtic Park's record crowd turned out in 1938 to watch Celtic play which club?

Rangers lost 3–0 in front of an official crowd of 83,500, with thousands more reported locked out for safety. Later accounts, the club's own among them, put the attendance at 92,000.

Which English champions did Celtic beat home and away in the 1970 European Cup semi-final?

Leeds United lost 1–0 at Elland Road, then levelled the tie in Glasgow with a long-range Billy Bremner goal, only for Celtic to score twice after half-time and win the return leg 2–1.

Which global event's opening ceremony was held at Celtic Park in 2014?

The Commonwealth Games were declared open at Celtic Park by the Queen, who read out a message that had spent nine months travelling through every competing nation sealed inside the relay baton.

What did Celtic launch in August 1965 that no British football club had produced before?

A weekly club newspaper, The Celtic View, was the idea of Jack McGinn, a fan who worked in newspaper circulation. He edited it himself at first, and two decades later he was Celtic's chairman.

Which Irish club, formed in 1891 and named after Celtic, also called its ground Paradise?

Belfast Celtic left football for good in 1949, months after a crowd invaded the pitch at a derby with Linfield and attacked their players, breaking the leg of striker Jimmy Jones.

Who became the first black player to appear for Celtic's first team, in 1951?

Gil Heron, a Jamaican-born striker spotted on the club's North American tour, scored on his debut and was nicknamed the Black Arrow. His son, Gil Scott-Heron, became a celebrated poet and musician.

Who holds Celtic's record for appearances in all competitions?

Billy McNeill, the first British player to lift the European Cup, was nicknamed Cesar, not after the Roman but after the Hollywood actor Cesar Romero.

Who was voted Celtic's greatest ever player by supporters in 2002?

Jimmy Johnstone, the tiny winger known as Jinky, so tormented Nantes on the way to the 1967 European Cup that the French press christened him the Flying Flea.

Which Celtic player joined Arsenal in 2019 for £25 million, then a record sale for a Scottish club?

Kieran Tierney had supported Celtic as a child and been on the club's books since he was seven. Six years after leaving, he came back from Arsenal on a five-year contract.

Which manager won the first of Celtic's five straight titles from 2022?

Ange Postecoglou arrived from a club in Yokohama and won the league in both his seasons before leaving for Tottenham. The run he started brought Celtic a record 56th Scottish title in 2026.