Celtic, founded on 6 November 1887, remain the central fact of Scottish football life for their own support: rooted at Celtic Park, repeatedly expected to win, and judged accordingly. Their 2025/26 Premiership title followed the 2024/25 league win, with that season also bringing the League Cup; in this record, the club stand on 16 Premiership titles, eight Scottish Cups and eight League Cups.
The current squad is sizeable rather than spare: 38 players, with an average age of 26, and a market value of around £109m according to Transfermarkt. That is the financial and sporting scale Celtic carry into the 2026/27 pre-season, with the Premiership and Champions League qualifying play-off stage on the horizon.
Last season’s numbers underlined the familiar contrast between Celtic Park and the road. At home, Celtic averaged 2.3 goals scored and 0.8 conceded per match, the sort of home attacking output that keeps opponents pinned back for long spells. Away from home they still carried a threat, scoring 1.6 per match, though the 1.4 conceded points to a less controlled picture.
The goals were spread across a useful front line rather than resting on a single scorer. Benjamin Nygren led with 21, followed by Daizen Maeda on 17, Hyun-jun Yang on 10, Kelechi Ịheanachọ on nine and Arne Engels on seven. Celtic also struck first inside 20 minutes in six of 18 league matches, a habit that made several afternoons simpler than they might otherwise have been.
They finished the previous league run with six straight wins: 3-1 at home to Hearts, 3-2 at Motherwell, 3-1 against Rangers, 2-1 at Hibernian, 3-1 against Falkirk and 1-0 against St Mirren. Celtic enter the new campaign as reigning champions, with a strong home profile, clear attacking depth and European qualifying to negotiate.
