Celtic’s Scottish Cup dominance in numbers
Celtic vs. St. Johnstone in the Scottish Cup semifinals Hampden Park in Glasgow will host the event on April 20 at 15:00 BST. Follow the coverage on the website and app of BBC Sport; listen to it on BBC Sounds or BBC Radio Scotland.
What is Celtic’s relationship to the Scottish Cup? It was their first major trophy, and ever since that fateful day on April 9, 1892, they have maintained their love affair with the competition, setting record after record.
This Sunday’s semi-final matchup between the Glasgow club and St. Johnstone will be an attempt to win the trophy for the third consecutive season. Let’s take a look at how Celtic fell in love with the cup.
It all began at Ibrox
When Queen’s Park played an emerging Celtic team on March 12, 1892, they had already won half of the previous 18 Scottish Cup finals.
The cup final was played at the home of city rivals Rangers, with new stands being erected at Ibrox to accommodate a then-record crowd of 40,000.
Despite the half-inch of snow covering the field, Celtic won thanks to a goal by John Campbell in the 60th minute. The pitch was declared playable. However, due to persistent crowd encroachment, the match was declared null and void following a joint protest by the two clubs to the Scottish FA.
Campbell would score once more in the replay a month later in front of 26,000 people, and Alexander McMahon would score a hat trick, and James Kelly would score Celtic’s other goal in a 5-1 victory. As a result, Celtic became the first team to win the Scottish Cup, Glasgow Cup, and Glasgow Charity Cup all in one season.
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Rare losses
After winning the Scottish Cup in each of the previous two seasons, Celtic travels to Hampden on Sunday. In the 2023 championship game, they beat Inverness Caledonian Thistle 3-1 and beat Rangers 1-0 in May.
Two is also the number of times Celtic have lost to Rangers in a Scottish Cup match over the past eight years. In April 2021, they lost in the fourth round 2-0 to their Old Firm rivals, and in the semi-final a year later, they lost 2-1 after extra time to the eventual cup winners.
Four straight
The record for winning the Scottish Cup final in a row is held by Celtic. Rangers, Aberdeen, and Queen’s Park have all won it three times in a row, but Celtic has only won it four times, from 2017 to 2020.
Defining dominance
In the past eight seasons, Celtic have won the Scottish Cup six times, with only St. Johnstone and Rangers losing the trophy for a while. Indeed, over the past 11 seasons, they have won it seven times.
Hibs was destroyed
The most significant victory in a Scottish Cup final has always belonged to Celtic. Given that their team featured highly regarded players like John Brownlie, John Blackley, Alex Edwards, Pat Stanton, Arthur Duncan, and Alan Gordon, Hibs went to Hampden in May 1972 with confidence.
In the League Cup earlier in the season, Celtic had a shocking 4-1 defeat to Partick Thistle, but Jock Stein’s star-studded team made no mistakes this time, defeating Eddie Turnbull’s team 6-1 in front of 106,102 people. As Hibs responded, Dixie Deans scored a hat trick, Lou Macari scored twice, and captain Billy McNeil scored once.
Lennox & the Trebles
With the League Cup already won and the Premiership lead by 15 points, Celtic are on track to win the domestic treble for the eighth time, a record. In 2022 and 2023, they last won the treble. Additionally, Bobby Lennox, a legendary Celtic winger, holds the record for most appearances in a Scottish Cup final.