Scottish football Sébastien Costa 2MG03

Summary Introduction Glasgow Rangers Glasgow Celtic

Introduction Football is the most popular sport in Scotland and is the country's national sport. There is a long tradition of football games in Orkney, Lewis and southern Scotland, especially the Scottish Borders, although the modern game (Association Football) first took off in the Nineteenth century in west central Scotland, primarily Glasgow and Dunbartonshire. Scotland has the second oldest Football Association in the world and its own premier league and knockout competition. The Scottish Premier League (SPL) is the top league in Scotland, and consists of a single division of 12 teams. It has existed since 1998 (before then the top league was the Premier Division of the Scottish Football League). This league has one of the world's most famous football rivalries; between Celtic F.C and Rangers F.C. Together the two clubs are known as the 'Old Firm' by virtue of the profitability of their rivalry. Both teams have won more awards than other teams such as Real Madrid and AC Milan who struggle to keep up with the Old Firm with League Wins (Rangers have 51 league championships and Celtic have 41. Rangers have won more league championships than any other club in the world and are second only to Linfield from Northern Ireland in terms of trophies won

Glasgow Rangers Rangers Football Club are a football club from Glasgow, United Kingdom who currently play in the Scottish Premier League. Rangers have won 51 league titles,a world record, and have won more major trophies than any football club in the world.The club's home, the all-seated 51,082-capacity Ibrox Stadium in south-west Glasgow, has been accredited as one of UEFA's five- star stadia. The stadium was the first one in Scotland to be granted this accolade, although it now shares the rating with Hampden Park, Scotland's national stadium. Rangers' players and fans today are multi-national and of various religions, although the club have traditionally been identified with and favoured the Protestant and Unionist community of Scotland. For most of their history, Rangers have enjoyed a fierce rivalry with their cross-city opponents Celtic. The club are nicknamed The Teddy Bears, from the rhyming slang for Gers, which in turn is short for Rangers, and the fans are known to each other as "Bluenoses" or "Huns". The club's correct name is simply Rangers F.C., although they are sometimes referred to as Glasgow Rangers.

Glasgow Celtic Celtic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in Glasgow, which competes in the Scottish Premier League, the highest form of competition in Scotland. The full name of the club is The Celtic Football Club. Until 1994, the club's full name was The Celtic Football and Athletic Company Ltd. Celtic play home games at Celtic Park commonly referred to as Parkhead, which has a capacity of 60,832, and is currently the largest football stadium in Scotland. In , Celtic Park attracted an average attendance of 57,927, making the club second after Manchester United in average attendance for any football club in the UK. Together with their rivals, Rangers F.C., they form the Old Firm which is one of the most famous and fiercest rivalries in sport. Celtic has traditionally been linked with its founding roots which stemmed from the Irish immigrant community in Glasgow. In 1967, Celtic became the first British team to win the European Champions Cup, which had previously been the preserve of Italian, Portuguese and Spanish clubs. Celtic won every competition that they entered that season: the Scottish League, the Scottish Cup, the Scottish League Cup, the European Cup and the Glasgow Cup.

Old Firm The term Old Firm refers to the rivalry between the Scottish football teams Celtic F.C. and Rangers F.C., both based in Glasgow. One theory has it that the expression derives from Celtic's first game in 1888, which was played against Rangers. A newspaper report stated that both sets of players "got on so well that you would believe that they were old firm friends." However, William J. Murray states that the term derives from the commercial benefits of the two clubs' rivalry, which were viewed with distaste in some quarters in the early days of the game.The two clubs are easily the most successful in Scotland, having won between them 63 Scottish Cups and 93 Scottish Premier League championships (as of 2007). Interruptions to their ascendancy have occurred infrequently, most recently with the challenge of the New Firm of Aberdeen and Dundee United in the first half of the 1980s. Starting with the season, the Old Firm clubs finished in the top two places in every season until , when Hearts finished second behind Celtic. As of May 5, 2007, Rangers and Celtic had played each other 375 times, with Rangers winning 149 matches, Celtic 134 matches and 92 drawsThe two clubs normally compete four times a year in the SPL and are regularly drawn against each other in the two Scottish cup competitions.

Shunsuke Nakamura