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Celtic Wiki
Celtic F.C.  The Celtic Football Club (pronounced "sɛltɪk") is a Scottish football club based in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, which currently plays in the Scottish Premier League. Since the club's formation in 1888, Celtic have won the Scottish championship on 42 occasions, most recently in the 2007/08 season, and the Scottish Cup 34 times. They won the European Cup in 1967, beating Inter Milan 2-1 in the final. Celtic's home stadium is Celtic Park, the biggest football stadium in Scotland, with a capacity of 60,832. Together with their Glasgow rivals, Rangers, they form the Old Firm, one of the most famous and fierce rivalries in sport. The club's traditional playing colours are green and white hooped shirts with white shorts and white socks. In 1967, Celtic became the first British team to win the European Cup and with a team composed entirely of home-grown players. The players, subsequently known as the Lisbon Lions, were all born within a 30-mile radius of Parkhead. Celtic won every competition they entered that season: the Scottish League Championship, the Scottish Cup, the Scottish League Cup, the European Cup and the Glasgow Cup. Celtic also reached the 1970 European Cup Final, but were beaten by Feyenoord 2-1 In 2003 Celtic reached the UEFA Cup final, where they lost 3–2 to FC Porto. Over 80,000 Celtic supporters travelled to Seville, despite many lacking match tickets. Celtic fans received awards from UEFA and FIFA for their behaviour at the match. In April 2008 the club was estimated to have a fan base of nine million people, including one million in North America. Formation and history Celtic were formally founded in St. Mary's Church Hall on East Rose Street (now Forbes Street), Calton, Glasgow, by Brother Walfrid, an Irish Marist brother, on 6 November 1888. Brother Walfrid's move to establish the club as a means of fund raising for his charity, The Poor Children's Dinner Table, was largely inspired by the example of Hibernian who were formed out of the immigrant Irish population thirteen years earlier in Edinburgh. Walfrid's own suggestion of the name Celtic was intended to reflect the club's Irish and Scottish origins, and was adopted at the same meeting. On 28 May 1888, Celtic played their first official match against Rangers and won 5–2 in what was described as a "friendly encounter". Celtic had 8 guest players from Hibernian playing that day. The club's first ever goal was scored by Neil McCallum in this match. The team was as follows:
During these formative years, Celtic played in a white shirt with a green collar and a red Celtic cross on the breast, then switched to green and white vertical stripes around 1890. They made the switch to their iconic green-and-white hoops in 1903. Recent seasons 2006-07 Such was the good form of Celtic and the lack of a clear rival in the early stages of the 2006/07 season, that bookmakers Paddy Power paid out on Celtic as the winners of the SPL on 6 November 2006, only 13 games into the season. By mid-November Celtic were 11 points clear of their nearest challengers. Having qualified automatically for the group stage of the Champions League, Celtic were drawn with Benfica, FC Copenhagen, and Manchester United. Although Celtic lost their 3 away games, a 100% record at home earned them qualification to the knockout stage for the first time since the group format was introduced in 1992/93. Their opponents in the last 16 were AC Milan. After both legs of the tie ended 0–0, Celtic's Champions League run was ended by a solitary Milan goal in extra-time by Kaka. During the January 2007 transfer window Celtic signed Scotland internationals and former Hearts players Steven Pressley and Paul Hartley, full-back Jean-Joël Perrier-Doumbé from Rennes on loan and goalkeeper Mark Brown from Inverness Caledonian Thistle. On 22 April 2007 Celtic won their second consecutive league championship, and 41st overall. The title was secured by an injury-time free-kick from Shunsuke Nakamura in a 2–1 victory against Kilmarnock. The result left Celtic 13 points clear of Rangers with four matches remaining. They finished the season 12 points above Rangers. On 26 May 2007 Celtic won the Scottish Cup for a record 34th time after beating Dunfermline 1–0. The winner was scored by Jean-Joël Perrier-Doumbé in the 84th minute. 2007-08  Celtic were drawn against Russian side Spartak Moscow in the third round of qualifying for the 2007/08 Champions League. The tie ended in a penalty shootout, with Artur Boruc saving twice to ensure Celtic's passage to the next round. This was Celtic's first European penalty shootout victory.[11] They competed against AC Milan, Benfica and FC Shakhtar Donetsk in the group stages, who they beat 2–1, 1–0, and 2–1 respectively at home, but lost all their away matches. They finished second in their group, ensuring qualification to the knockout stage for the second year in succession. Celtic were drawn against FC Barcelona in the last 16 of the Champions League. The first leg, played at Celtic Park, saw them defeated 3–2, after being ahead 1–0 and 2–1. In the second leg Barcelona grabbed an early goal through Xavi and held on for a 1–0 win on the night and 4–2 on aggregate. The club's first signing of the winter transfer window was Andreas Hinkel. They followed up by signing Japanese youngster Koki Mizuno, Barry Robson from Dundee Utd as well as young striker Ben Hutchinson from Middlesbrough and also Greek striker Georgios Samaras on loan from Manchester City, who signed permanently at the beginning of the following season. Although leading for the early part of the season, Celtic found themselves 7 points behind Rangers having played a game more with only seven weeks of the season left. However, the club made a remarkable comeback, winning their last 7 games, including two victories over rivals Rangers at Celtic park 2–1 and 3–2, and won the league on 22 May 2008, the last day of the season with a 1–0 win over Dundee United. Meanwhile Rangers lost to Aberdeen at Pittodrie. The victory was dedicated to the memory of Celtic's coach Tommy Burns, who had died the previous Thursday. The result also meant Gordon Strachan became only the third Celtic manager to win three consecutive League Championships. 2008-09 Celtic signed winger Pat McCourt from Derry City, and Greek international striker Georgios Samaras, who had spent the second half of the 2007/08 season on loan, signed on a permanent basis. Celtic also added the signings of Marc Crosas, Glenn Loovens and the return of Shaun Maloney from Aston Villa before the closure of the summer transfer window. As SPL Champions, Celtic gained automatic entry to the UEFA Champions League, but after being drawn with Manchester United, Villarreal, and AaB Aalborg, they finished fourth in their group. In the January transfer window, Celtic signed winger Niall McGinn from Derry City, left back Milan Mišůn from FK Příbram, and midfielder Willo Flood from Cardiff while also agreeing a deal to sign Dundee United goalkeeper Łukasz Załuska on 1 June 2009. Celtic won the League Cup Final against Rangers at Hampden Park on 15 March 2009. This victory marked the end of a 20 year gap since Celtic last defeated Rangers in a domestic cup final. That occasion was the Scottish Cup Final on 20 May 1989. On the final day of the season, Celtic failed in their quest for a fourth successive title, with Rangers defeating Dundee United 3-0 at Tannadice to win the Championship and Celtic playing out a 0-0 draw with Hearts. The following day, manager Gordon Strachan resigned from the club and was replaced by former Celtic player Tony Mowbray, who had been manager of West Bromwich Albion. Category: Celtic Wiki
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