Celtic – Club: de Club facts

The match

Next Wednesday evening, Club will travel to Glasgow for the UEFA Champions League match of the 5th matchday in the league phase. Some European stats for this match:

• It is Blauw-Zwart’s 366th European match and the 418th for Celtic FC.
• It is the 67th European match between a Belgian club and a Scottish club.
• This is Blauw-Zwart’s 101st match in the UEFA Champions League and the 67th since the group stage.
• This is Club’s 11th UCL (group stage) campaign and Celtic’s 13th.

It is the very first European confrontation between both teams. Celtic FC is the 136th unique opponent in Club Brugge’s European history. The only other time Club played against a Scottish club in Europe was in the very first edition of the UCL group stage. In the 1992-1993 season, Celtic’s city rivals Rangers FC were Blauw-Zwart’s opponents.

At Olympia, Club took the lead just before half time through Tomasz Dziubiński, but after the break Pieter Huistra (ex-Lierse) equalized for Rangers (1-1). At Ibrox, the home team was able to score first through Ian Durrant. Lorenzo Staelens was able to even the score, but Scott Nisbet scored the winning goal (2-1).

On their own field, the Bhoys achieved 3 wins and 1 defeat against Belgian teams.

In the past, Club Brugge had one Scottish player in its ranks: Jack Hendry.

• He was a youth product of Celtic FC. He also played 27 games for the Glasgow club’s first team. He won the double twice (2018 and 2019).
• From 2021 to 2023, defender Jack Hendry played for Club (with a six-month loan to Cremonese (Ita) in between).
• In 2022 he scored in Club’s title match against Antwerp (1-3).
• Since last year, Hendry has been playing for Al-Ettifaq in Saudi Arabia. In his first season he finished sixth in the Saudi Pro League.

In addition to Hendry, these players have also played for both Club and Celtic:

• Boli Bolingoli-Mbombo (Bel): Club youth product who played for Club from 2013-2017 (64m 7g). The full-back briefly played for Celtic in the 2021-22 season. Currently active at Standard.
• Dedryck Boyata (Bel): Club player since 2022 (26m 1g). Played in defense for Celtic from 2015 to 2019 (90m 12g).
• Stefan Šćepović (Srb): Played for Club in the 2010-2011 season (7m 1g). The attacker was active at Celtic in 2014-2015 (9m 4g).
• Joos Valgaeren (Bel): Joined Club from Celtic in 2005 and defended the Blue-Black ranks for 3 seasons (38m 0g).

And then of course there is Arne Engels, who moved from FC Augsburg (Ger) to the Celts this summer.

• The 21-year-old midfielder was a regular at Club NXT in 1B when he was bought away by FC Augsburg in January 2023. He has already played 50 matches (3g).
• He has also started well at Celtic with a goal against Slovan Bratislava and already 3 assists in the UCL, plus 2 goals in the Scottish Premiership (vs Hearts and Dundee FC).
• Engels has already provided 3 assists in the UCL. Of all Belgians, only Kevin De Bruyne (6 assists in 2022-23 and 4 assists in 2017-18, 2018-18 and 2020-21) distributed more assists at the champions ball in 1 season.

Club is halfway through the league phase with 6 out of 12 in 22nd place in the ranking. Club must try to maintain its place in the top 24, because the teams that fall outside after eight match days will no longer play European Football this season.

• On the first matchday, Club lost with an exaggerated 0-3 score to UCL finalist Borussia Dortmund (Jamie Gittens 2x, Serhou Guirassy).
• More success for Club on the second matchday: they won 0-1 at the Austrian champions SK Sturm Graz thanks to a beauty from Christos Tzolis.
• On the third matchday, Club went to rest at AC Milan with a goal behind (Pulisic) and a man less (red card Onyedika). After the break, Club was still able to celebrate thanks to a goal from Kyriani Sabbe, but Tijjani Reijnders put the match in the favor of the home team with 2 goals (3-1).
• On the previous match day, Club was able to perform with a win against Premier League club Aston Villa FC. After a bizarre handball from Villa defender Mings, captain Hans Vanaken was able to successfully score from the spot.

Celtic has scored 1 point more than Club halfway through, good for 15th place in the rankings.

• On the first match day, the Glasgow club defeated Slovan Bratislava 5-1. Liam Scales, Kyogo Furuhashi, Arne Engels, Daizen Maeda and Adam Isah were the executioners, Kevin Wimmer saved the honor for the Slovaks.
• On the second matchday, Celtic got a taste of their own medicine from Borussia Dortmund. Daizen Maeda was able to quickly erase an Emre Can goal, but after that things happened quickly: a hat trick from Karim Adeyemi and a penalty from Serhou Guirassy made it 5-1 at half time. After the break, Guirassy and Felix Nmecha added 2 more (7-1).
• On the third matchday, Celtic drew 0-0 at Atalanta BC.
• Last matchday, RB Leipzig was defeated in Celtic Park. The visitors took the lead through Christoph Baumgartner, but Nicolas Kühn turned the deficit into a 2-goal lead before half-time. Reo Hatate recorded the 3-1 final score.

The opponent

The Celtic Football Club was founded in 1887. The rivalry with city rivals Rangers FC dates back to May 1888 when they played their first Old Firm. The club plays in green and white colors. Celtic won more than 100 trophies during his successful career! Domestically, it won 54 league titles, 42 Scottish Cups and 21 League Cups. The greatest European success dates back to 1966-67 when Celtic became the first British team to win the European Cup (2-1 vs Inter Milan). In this century it played one more European final: the UEFA Cup was lost 2-3 to FC Porto, 80,000 fans traveled to Seville where the final took place.

The Hoops, as they were once called, play their home matches at Celtic Park. The old stadium, where the club had played since 1892, was demolished in 1998 and replaced by the current stadium. With 60,832 seats, it is the largest stadium in Scotland.

In the UEFA Champions League, Celtic managed to survive the group stage 3 times, but each time they fell in the 1/8th finals: in 2007 vs AC Milan, in 2008 vs FC Barcelona and in 2013 vs Juventus.

Previous season:

• Celtic became champions for the 12th time in the last 13 seasons. It ended with an 8-point lead (93) over Rangers FC of former Club Brugge coach Philippe Clement.
• Celtic were also too strong for Rangers in the final of the Scottish FA Cup. This Old Firm won 1-0 thanks to a goal by Irishman Adam Idah in the 90th minute.
• No success in the Scottish League Cup where there was an early elimination at Kilmarnock in the 2nd round.
• In the Champions League, Celtic finished last in a group with Atlético Madrid, SS Lazio and Feyenoord. Celtic achieved 4 points, collected at home with a 2-2 draw against Atlético and a 2-1 win against Feyenoord.
• Top scorers were Matt O’Riley (Den) and Kyogo Furuhashi (Jpn) with 19 goals. O’Riley, who left Celtic for Brighton this summer, also provided the most assists with 18.

After 13 matchdays (only 12 for Celtic due to a catch-up match), the Celts are again at the top of the table in the Scottish Premiership (34 pts). Due to a defeat by competitor Aberdeen FC last weekend, Celtic is now the sole leader. It is 3 points ahead of Aberdeen and 11 ahead of Rangers FC. Celtic are still undefeated in their own country (11W 1D).

German right wing attacker Nicolas Kühn (24) is the most important man at Celtic this season. He is both top scorer (11 gls: 5 in league, 2 in UCL and 4 in league cup) and assist king (11 assists: 6 in league, 1 in UCL and 4 in league cup).

Last summer, South Korean Hyeon-gyu Oh left Celtic for a transfer to KRC Genk. In addition, these players also left: Joe Hart (end of career), Matt O’Riley, Tomoki Iwata, Mikey Johnston and Gustaf Lagerbielke.

The club strengthened itself with, among others, these players:

• Goalkeeper: Kasper Schmeichel
• Defender: Auston Trusty and Álex Valle
• Midfielders: Paulo Bernardo, Arne Engels and Luke McCowan
• Attackers: Adam Idah

Celtic’s coach is Brendan Rodgers (51). The Northern Irishman returned to the club since mid-2023. He previously managed the Bhoys from 2016 to 2019. He was also manager of the English clubs Liverpool FC, Leicester City FC, Swansea FC, Reading FC and Watford FC.

Celtic have already won twice in this UCL campaign. That is as many victories as in the 4 previous UCL campaigns (2W 6D 16L). It has been since the 2012-13 season that they won 3 times at the champions ball.

Celtic have already scored 9 times this season in the UCL. That is their joint highest total in the UCL along with 2012-13. It has not been since 1977-78 that they scored more goals in a European Cup for National Champions (then 13).

Milestones

• Romeo Vermant can play his 30th match for Club Brugge.
• It could be the 20th match for the other Club talent Joaquin Seys.
• Brandon Mechele can play the 80th European match for Club Brugge. Together with Simon Mignolet he can play his 30th match in the UCL (excluding preliminary rounds).
• Andreas Skov Olsen can play for the 10th time for Club in the UCL group stage/league phase.
• For Maxim De Cuyper and Ferran Jutglà it could be the 25th European match at Club.
• Hugo Vetlesen can play for Blauw-Zwart for the 20th time in a European context.

Club Brugge’s last 5 victories in the UCL were always with a clean sheet: 1-0 vs Aston Villa, 0-1 vs Sturm Graz, 2-0 vs Atlético Madrid, 0-4 at FC Porto and 1-0 vs Bayer 04 Leverkusen . Only Inter Milan (64%) have achieved a higher percentage of clean sheets in the UCL than Club Brugge (58%) since the start of the 2022-23 season.

Club Brugge has 5 players who played every minute of the UCL: Hans Vanaken, Simon Mignolet, Maxim De Cuyper, Brandon Mechele and Joel Ordóñez. This is the highest of any team in the UCL.

Coach Nicky Hayen can again call on Raphael Onyedika in the UCL, who was suspended against Aston Villa.

Brandon Mechele can play the 80th European match for Club Brugge. This would put him on the same number as Timmy Simons. Only Gert Verheyen (88) played more games in Europe for Club Brugge.

The referee

Bulgarian Georgi Kabakov was appointed ref for Wednesday’s match. He is assisted by his compatriots Martin Margaritov and Diyan Valkov (lines judges) and Vasil Minev (fourth official). The VAR is Dragomir Draganov (Bul), assisted by Christian Dingert (Ger). The UEFA referee observer is Nuno Alexandre Parreira de Castro (Por). The UEFA delegate is Knut Bjørn Nordheim (Nor).

The 38-year-old ref, from Plovdiv, has been refereeing matches at international level since 2013. In his own country he has been active as a referee at the highest level since 2008. He is a UEFA Category 1 level ref, the second highest level.

It is already the third time that Kabakov will officiate a Club match. In 2019, he already refereed 2 Club matches: in the Europa League at home against RB Salzburg (Aut) and also the memorable away match in the Champions League at Real Madrid (2-2). It will be Club’s eighth European match led by a Bulgarian ref.