The 2016–17 season was the 128th season of competitive football by

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

. They competed in the

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish ...

, Champions League,

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

and

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,domestic treble A treble in association football is achieved when a club team wins three trophies in a single season. A ''continental treble'' involves winning the club's national league competition, main national cup competition, and main continental trophy. A ...

(the 11th in Scottish football), while going undefeated in 47 domestic games and were nicknamed the " Invincibles".

Season overview

May

On 20 May 2016,

Brendan Rodgers Brendan Rodgers (born 26 January 1973) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Premier League club Leicester City. Rodgers began his career as a defender at Ballymena United, where he stayed un ...

was appointed as the club's new manager, succeeding

Ronny Deila Ronny Deila (born 21 September 1975) is a Norwegian football manager and former player, who is the manager of Standard Liège. He spent most of his playing career at Odd before becoming head coach at Strømsgodset, winning the Norwegian Cup in ...

in the role.

June

On 23 June 2016, Celtic made £1.1 million from the £11 million sale of

Victor Wanyama Victor Mugubi Wanyama (; born 25 June 1991) is a Kenyan professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Major League Soccer club CF Montréal and the Kenyan national team. Wanyama became the first ever Kenyan player to scor ...

from

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

as the club had inserted a ten percent sell on clause in his contract when he was sold to Southampton in July 2013.

September

On 10 September 2016, Moussa Dembélé became the first Celtic player to score a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in an

Old Firm The Old Firm is the collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are by far the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply em ...

match since 1973 (the last was Harry Hood in the

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

), in a 5–1 home victory against Rangers. It was also the first hat-trick scored in a league match against Rangers since

Stevie Chalmers Thomas Stephen Chalmers (26 December 1935 – 29 April 2019) was a Scottish footballer who played as a centre-forward and spent the majority of his career with Celtic. He is the club's fifth-highest goalscorer with 236 goals and is consid ...

in 1966. On 24 September 2016,

Scott Sinclair Scott Andrew Sinclair (born 25 March 1989) is an English professional footballer who plays as a winger for EFL League One club Bristol Rovers. He represented England at youth level, from the under-17s to the under-21s, and also played for Gre ...

scored in the first six successive opening league matches of the season, breaking

Jimmy McGrory James Edward McGrory (26 April 1904 – 20 October 1982) was a Scottish footballer who played for Celtic and Clydebank as a forward and then went on to manage Kilmarnock before returning to Celtic as manager after the end of the Second World Wa ...

's previous club record of five.

November

On 27 November 2016, Celtic won the

, after beating

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

3–0 in the

Final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

Hampden Park Hampden Park (Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden''), often referred to as Hampden, is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The -capacity venue serves as the national stadium of football in Scotland. It is the no ...

, with goals from

Tom Rogic Tomas Petar Rogic ( ; sr-Cyrl, Томас Петар Рогић, ; born 16 December 1992) is an Australian professional footballer who most recently played as an attacking midfielder for West Bromwich Albion and the Australia national team. ...

, James Forrest, and a Moussa Dembélé penalty. It was a milestone for the club: the 100th major trophy in its history (one

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

, 47

Scottish League championships The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km sout ...

, 36 Scottish Cups, and 16 League Cups).

December

On 13 December 2016,

broke the record for the best unbeaten start to a domestic season as a Celtic manager in their first season in his 19th match in charge, with a 1–0 win at home to

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish association football, football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire who currently compete in the Scottish Championshi ...

in the

. The record had been set by

Martin O'Neill Martin Hugh Michael O'Neill, (born 1 March 1952) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. Starting his career in Northern Ireland, O'Neill moved to England where he spent most of his playi ...

after his first 18 games in charge (in 2000–01). On 28 December 2016, Celtic won 2–0 at home to Ross County in the Premiership, a result which meant the club had gone throughout the entire year of 2016 without a single domestic defeat at

Celtic Park Celtic Park is the home stadium of Celtic Football Club, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest football stadium in Scotland, and the eighth-largest stadium in the United Kingdom. It is also ...

. On 31 December 2016, Celtic inflicted a first home defeat on Old Firm rivals Rangers at

Ibrox Stadium Ibrox Stadium is a football stadium on the south side of the River Clyde in the Ibrox area of Glasgow, Scotland. The home of Rangers Football Club, Ibrox is the third largest football stadium in Scotland, with an all-seated capacity of . O ...

in all competitions since September 2015, with a 2–1 win in the Premiership.

January

On 29 January 2017, Celtic won 4–0 at home to Heart of Midlothian in the Premiership, with the team breaking a 50-years-old club record for the longest unbeaten start to a domestic season (26 matches in-a-row in 1966–67 by the

Lisbon Lions The Lisbon Lions is the nickname given to the Celtic team that won the European Cup at the Estádio Nacional in Lisbon, Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose ma ...

), with this victory at Celtic Park being their 27th domestic match unbeaten.

February

On 2 February 2017, it was announced that Celtic would be awarded £386,543 (of a £1.75 million shared by Scottish clubs) by

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

to cover costs for releasing the club's players who were called up by their country for international duty during the

UEFA Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe o ...

Finals tournament and the

UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from September 2014 to November 2015 to determine the 23 UEFA member men's national teams joining the automatically qualified host team France in the UEFA Euro 2 ...

campaign.

March

On 12 March 2017, Celtic drew 1–1 at home with Rangers in the Premiership, a result that ended a run of 22 consecutive league victories. It is record only bettered by Martin O'Neill's team who managed 25 league wins in a row in 2003–04.

April

On 2 April 2017, Celtic won 5–0 away to Hearts in the Premiership, to win the earliest

Scottish league championship The Scottish League Championship (currently the Tennents League Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic rugby union league system within Scotland. Operated by the Scottish Rugby Union, the championship was founded in 1973 as the fi ...

in 88 years with eight league matches still remaining (Rangers did so in 1928–29 with the same number of outstanding fixtures). In the

2016–17 Scottish Cup The 2016–17 Scottish Cup was the 132nd season of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. The tournament was sponsored by bookmaker William Hill in what was the sixth season of a nine-year partnership, after contract negotia ...

semi-final, Celtic eliminated Rangers in an Old Firm encounter, the first time they had beaten their

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

rivals at this stage of the competition since 1925, at the seventh attempt. On 29 April 2017, Celtic won 5–1 away to Rangers in the Premiership to record the club's biggest scoreline for a victory at Ibrox since a 4–0 win 1897.

May

On 7 May 2017,

PFA Scotland The Professional Footballers' Association Scotland (PFA Scotland) is the association for professional footballers in Scotland. It was known as the Scottish Professional Footballers' Association (SPFA), but that organisation was dissolved and repla ...

named

as the

Player of the Year Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year (POY) . In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is he ...

Kieran Tierney Kieran Tierney (born 5 June 1997) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a left-back or centre-back for Premier League club Arsenal and the Scotland national team. Tierney came through the Celtic youth system and made his first t ...

as the Young Player of the Year,

as the

Manager of the Year Manager of the Year may refer to: * Major League Baseball Manager of the Year Award * League Managers Association Manager of the Year * Premier League Manager of the Season The Premier League Manager of the Season is an annual association footba ...

. Moussa Dembélé was also named as the winner of

Goal of the Season In English football, the Goal of the Season is an annual competition and award given on BBC's ''Match of the Day'', in honour of the most spectacular goal scored that season. It is typically contested between the winners of the preceding ten Goa ...

, as well as Sinclair, Tierney, Dembélé,

Mikael Lustig Carl Mikael Lustig (; born 13 December 1986) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a right or centre back. Beginning his career with Umeå FC in 2004, he went on to represent GIF Sundsvall, Rosenborg BK, Celtic, and Gent bef ...

, Stuart Armstrong and

Scott Brown Scott Brown may refer to: Sportsmen *Scott Brown (American football), American college football coach of Kentucky State * Scott Brown (baseball) (born 1956), former Major League Baseball pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds *Scott Brown (footballer, bor ...

were named in the Premiership Team of the Year. On 19 May 2017, Scott Brown was named as the Scottish Premiership Player of the Season and Brendan Rodgers was named as the Scottish Premiership Manager of the Season. On 21 May 2017,

Scottish Football Writers' Association The Scottish Football Writers' Association (SFWA) is an association of Scottish football journalists and correspondents writing for newspapers and agencies. It was founded in 1965. Awards __NOTOC__ Every year the SFWA presents awards to outsta ...

named Scott Sinclair as the Footballer of the Year, Kieran Tierney as the Young Player of the Year and Brendan Rodgers as the

. On 21 May 2017, Celtic won 2–0 at home to Hearts in the league, a result which meant Celtic had completed a full 38 match season without losing, becoming the first team to go an entire Scottish top flight season without a defeat since Rangers in 1898–99 (when only 18 league matches were played). The team also bettered the club's best points total (103) and most wins (33) from 2001–02, fewest defeats (1) from 2001–02 and 2013–14, most goals scored (105) from 2003–04, and title winning points margin (29) from 2013–14 for a

SPL SPL may refer to: Association football * Saudi Professional League * Scottish Premier League * SportPesa Premier League, Kenya * Singapore Premier League * RoboCup Standard Platform League, matches between autonomous robots Computing Program ...

/ SPFL Premiership season (since 1998–99), finishing the season with 106 points, 34 wins, no defeats, 106 goals scored, and a title winning points margin of 30 points. On 21 May 2017, Celtic's title winning points margin of 30 points was also the second largest points gap ever between first and second place in top flight leagues across

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

(only bettered by PSG who won

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

by 31 points in 2015–16). Celtic's total of 106 points accumulated in the league is a European record for top flight league (Barry Town of Wales in 1996–97 reached 105 points). On 27 May 2017, Celtic won 2–1 against Aberdeen in the

Scottish Cup final The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the Scottish Cup, is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in Football in Scotland, Scottish football. Organised by the Scottish Football Association, it is the ...

, with the Celtic goals coming from Stuart Armstrong and

. The result meant that the team completed the

domestic treble A treble in association football is achieved when a club team wins three trophies in a single season. A ''continental treble'' involves winning the club's national league competition, main national cup competition, and main continental trophy. A ...

for the fourth time in the club's history and finished a 47 match domestic season without losing a match.

Results and fixtures

Pre-season and friendlies

Celtic preceded the 2016–17 campaign with a pre-season tour of

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

, with matches against

Celje ) , pushpin_map = Slovenia , pushpin_label_position = left , pushpin_map_caption = Location of the city of Celje in Slovenia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Cou ...

, Olimpija Ljubljana and

Maribor Maribor ( , , , ; also known by other #Name, historical names) is the second-largest city in Slovenia and the largest city of the traditional region of Styria (Slovenia), Lower Styria. It is also the seat of the City Municipality of Maribor, th ...

. The Hoops also made a short trip over the Slovenia–Austria border to face

Sturm Graz Sportklub Sturm Graz is an Austrian association football club, based in Graz, Styria, playing in the Austrian Football Bundesliga. The club was founded in 1909. Its colours are black and white. In its history, Sturm Graz has won the Austrian f ...

, in preparation for the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

qualifiers.

' side also faced

Wolfsburg Wolfsburg (; Eastphalian: ''Wulfsborg'') is the fifth largest city in the German state of Lower Saxony, located on the river Aller. It lies about east of Hanover and west of Berlin. Wolfsburg is famous as the location of Volkswagen AG's hea ...

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

and

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Football in Italy, Italian professional Association football, football ...

in a busy pre-season schedule. Celtic's first warm-up match ended in a 2–2 draw with Celje;

Nadir Çiftçi Nadir Çiftçi (born 12 February 1992) is a Turkish professional footballer who plays as a forward for TFF Second League club Karaman FK. In a nomadic career he has played for Portsmouth, Kayserispor, NAC Breda, Dundee United, Celtic, Eskişehir ...

and

scored as Celtic came from behind to avoid defeat. Rodgers recorded his first victory as manager in a 1–0 win over Strum Graz, with

Ryan Christie Ryan Christie (born 22 February 1995) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Premier League club AFC Bournemouth and the Scotland national team. He began his career with Inverness Caledonian Thistle before joining ...

on the scoresheet. Celtic achieved another positive result only days later, this time against Olimpija Ljubljana, with

Leigh Griffiths Leigh Griffiths (born 20 August 1990) is a Scottish professional footballer who most recently played as a striker for Australian club Mandurah City. Griffiths started his career at Livingston where he made his debut as a sixteen-year-old. He ...

striking twice. A scoreless draw with Maribor rounded off Celtic's preparations before the competitive action began. Celtic's remaining pre-season matches were interspersed with European football. The Bhoys recorded an impressive 2–1 victory over

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

side Wolfsburg in Brendan Rodgers' first match at

. This was followed by a draw with Leicester City in

, and defeats to Barcelona in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

and Inter Milan in

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

International Champions Cup

Scottish Premiership

UEFA Champions League

Second qualifying round

Celtic faced Lincoln Red Imps (

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

) in the Second Qualifying Round of the

. The first leg saw the part-time underdogs record a shock 1–0 victory, thanks to

Lee Casciaro Lee Henry Casciaro (born 29 September 1981) is a Gibraltarian footballer who plays as a forward for Lincoln Red Imps and the Gibraltar national team. With three international goals, he is Gibraltar's all-time leading scorer since joining UEFA, ...

's second half finish. However, Celtic turned the tie around in the second leg, winning 3–0 on the night, with goals from

and

Patrick Roberts Patrick John Joseph Roberts (born 5 February 1997) is an English professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Midfielder#Winger, winger for EFL Championship, Championship club Sunderland A.F.C., Sunderland. Club career Fulham ...

Third qualifying round

Celtic faced

Astana Astana, previously known as Akmolinsk, Tselinograd, Akmola, and most recently Nur-Sultan, is the capital city of Kazakhstan. The city lies on the banks of the Ishim (river), Ishim River in the north-central part of Kazakhstan, within the Akmo ...

(

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

) in the Third Qualifying Round of the

. The first leg saw a

Yuriy Logvinenko Yury Anatolyevich Logvinenko (russian: Юрий Анатольевич Логвиненко; born 22 July 1988) is a Kazakh former football player who played most of his career at Aktobe, and earned 53 caps for the Kazakhstan national football ...

header cancelled out by a late goal from

, resulting in a 1–1 draw. A week later, the Scottish champions progressed to the Play-Off Round, following a 2–1 win in the second leg. Moussa Dembélé's last-minute penalty secured Celtic's place in Europe until the end of the year.

Play-Off Round

Group Stage

Scottish League Cup

Scottish Cup

Player statistics

Squad, appearances and goals

Goalscorers

Last updated: 27 May 2017

Disciplinary record

Includes all competitive matches. Players listed below made at least one appearance for Celtic first squad during the season. *''

's red card against Ross County on 16 April 2017 was subsequently downgraded to a yellow card.''

Hat-tricks

(H) – Home; (A) – Away; (N) – Neutral

Clean sheets

''As of 27 May 2017.''

Team statistics

League table

Competition Overview

League results summary

Source:

Results by round

Technical staff

Transfers

In

Out

Total income: £3 million Total expenditure: £7.6 million Total profit/loss: £4.6 million