2016–17 Celtic F.C. season

On 20 May 2016, Brendan Rodgers was appointed as the club's new manager,[2] succeeding Ronny Deila in the role.[3]

On 23 June 2016, Celtic made £1.1 million from the £11 million sale of Victor Wanyama from Southampton to Tottenham Hotspur because the club had inserted a ten percent sell on clause in his contract when he was sold by the club to Southampton in July 2013.[4]

On 10 September 2016, Moussa Dembélé became the first Celtic player to score a hat-trick in an old firm match, in a 5–1 home victory, against Rangers since 1973 (the last was Harry Hood in the Scottish League Cup).[5][6] It was also the first hat-trick scored in a league match against Rangers since 1966 (the last was Stevie Chalmers).[5][7]

On 24 September 2016, Scott Sinclair broke Jimmy McGrory's record of scoring in Celtic's five successive opening league matches of the season in the 1930s, by scoring in Celtic's six successive opening league matches of the season.[8][9]

On 27 November 2016, Celtic won the Scottish League Cup, after beating Aberdeen 3–0 in the Final at Hampden Park, with goals from Tom Rogic, James Forrest, and a Moussa Dembélé penalty. It was a milestone trophy for the club, as it was the 100th major trophy won during the club's existence.[10][11] (one European Cup, 47 Scottish League championships, 36 Scottish Cups, and 16 League Cups).

On 13 December 2016, Brendan Rodgers 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 in the Scottish Premiership. The record had been set by Martin O'Neill after his first 18 games incharge (in 2000–01).[12][13]

On 28 December 2016, Celtic won 2–0 at home to Ross County in the Scottish Premiership, a result which meant the club had gone throughout the entire year of 2016 without a single domestic defeat at Celtic Park.[14][15]

On 31 December 2016, Celtic inflicted a first home defeat on Old Firm rivals Rangers at Ibrox Stadium in all competitions since September 2015, with a 2–1 win in the Scottish Premiership.[16][17]

On 29 January 2017, Celtic won 4–0 at home to Heart of Midlothian in the Scottish 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), with this victory at Celtic Park being their 27th domestic match unbeaten.[18][19]

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 to cover costs for releasing the club's players who were called up by their country for international duty during the UEFA Euro 2016 Finals tournament and the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying campaign.[20]

On 12 March 2017, Celtic drew 1–1 at home with Rangers in the Scottish Premiership, a result that ended a run of 22 consecutive league victories in-a-row.[21] It is record only bettered by Martin O'Neil's Celtic team who managed 25 consecutive league wins in-a-row in 2003–04.[22]

Wikinews has related news: Celtic FC wins sixth consecutive Scottish Premiership title

On 2 April 2017, Celtic won 5–0 at Heart of Midlothian in the Scottish Premiership, to win the earliest Scottish league championship in 88 years with eight league matches still remaining (since Rangers in 1928–29, who also did also with 8 games remaining).[23][24]

On 29 April 2017, Celtic won 5–1 at Rangers in the Scottish Premiership, to record the club's biggest scoreline for a victory at Ibrox since 1897 (4–0 win in 1897).[25]

On 7 May 2017, PFA Scotland named Scott Sinclair as the Player of the Year, Kieran Tierney as the Young Player of the Year, Brendan Rodgers as the Manager of the Year. Moussa Dembélé was also named as the winner of Goal of the Season, as well as Sinclair, Tierney, Dembélé, Mikael Lustig, Stuart Armstrong and Scott Brown were named in the Premiership Team of the Year.[26][27]

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.[28][29]

On 21 May 2017, Scottish Football Writers' Association named Scott Sinclair as the Footballer of the Year, Kieran Tierney as the Young Player of the Year and Brendan Rodgers as the Manager of the Year.[30][31]

On 21 May 2017, Celtic won 2–0 at home to Heart of Midlothian in the Scottish Premiership, a result which meant Celtic had completed a full 38 match league season without losing a match, becoming the first team to go an entire Scottish top flght league season without a defeat since 1898–99 (only 18 league matches back then).[32] 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 goal scored (105) from 2003–04, and title winning points margin (29) from 2013–14 for a SPL / SPFL Premiership league 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.[33][34]

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 (only bettered by PSG who won Ligue 1 by 32 points in 2015–16).[35] 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).[33]

On 27 May 2017, Celtic won 2–1 against Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup final at Hampden Park, with the Celtic goals coming from Stuart Armstrong and Tom Rogic. The result meant that the team completed the domestic treble for the fourth time in the club's history and finished a 47 match domestic season without losing a match.[36][1]

Celtic preceded the 2016–17 campaign with a pre-season tour of Slovenia, with matches against Celje, Olimpija Ljubljana and Maribor. The Hoops also made a short trip over the Slovenia–Austria border to face Sturm Graz, in preparation for the UEFA Champions League qualifiers. Brendan Rodgers' side also faced Wolfsburg, Leicester City, Barcelona and Inter Milan in a busy pre-season schedule. Celtic's first warm-up match ended in a 2–2 draw with Celje; Nadir Çiftçi and Tom Rogic 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 on the scoresheet. Celtic achieved another positive result only days later, this time against Olimpija Ljubljana, with Leigh Griffiths 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 side Wolfsburg in Brendan Rodgers' first match at Celtic Park. This was followed by a draw with Leicester City in Glasgow, and defeats to Barcelona in Dublin and Inter Milan in Limerick.

Celje v Celtic

30 June 2016 Friendly	Celje	2 – 2	Celtic	Celje, Slovenia
	Miškić  28', 49'	Celtic Report	Çiftçi  56' Rogic  75'	Stadium: Arena Petrol Referee: Iztok Gornjak (Slovenia)

Sturm Graz v Celtic

3 July 2016 Friendly	Sturm Graz	0 – 1	Celtic	Graz, Austria
		Celtic Report	Christie  35'	Stadium: Merkur Arena Referee: Alexander Harkam (Austria)

Olimpija Ljubljana v Celtic

6 July 2016 Friendly	Olimpija Ljubljana	1 – 2	Celtic	Ljubljana, Slovenia
	Zajc  58'	Celtic Report	Griffiths  27', 56'	Stadium: Stožice Stadium Referee: Asmir Sagrković (Slovenia)

Maribor v Celtic

9 July 2016 Friendly	Maribor	0 – 0	Celtic	Maribor, Slovenia
		Celtic Report		Stadium: Ljudski vrt Referee: Tadej Meznar (Slovenia)

Celtic v VfL Wolfsburg

16 July 2016 Friendly	Celtic	2 – 1	VfL Wolfsburg	Glasgow, Scotland
	McGregor  22' Christie  63'	Celtic Report	Seguin  12'	Stadium: Celtic Park Referee: Bobby Madden (Scotland)

Celtic faced Lincoln Red Imps (Gibraltar) in the Second Qualifying Round of the UEFA Champions League.[37] The first leg saw the part-time underdogs record a shock 1–0 victory, thanks to Lee Casciaro's second half finish.[38] However, Celtic turned the tie around in the second leg, winning 3–0 on the night, with goals from Mikael Lustig, Leigh Griffiths and Patrick Roberts.[39]

Lincoln Red Imps v Celtic

12 July 2016 Second Qualifying	Lincoln Red Imps	1 – 0	Celtic	Gibraltar, Gibraltar
	Casciaro  48'	Report		Stadium: Victoria Stadium Attendance: 1,632 Referee: Andreas Ekberg (Sweden)

Celtic v Lincoln Red Imps

20 July 2016 Second Qualifying	Celtic	3 – 0 (3 – 1 agg.)	Lincoln Red Imps	Glasgow, Scotland
	Lustig  23' Griffiths  25' Roberts  29'	Report		Stadium: Celtic Park Attendance: 55,632 Referee: Bartosz Frankowski (Poland)

Celtic faced Astana (Kazakhstan) in the Third Qualifying Round of the UEFA Champions League. The first leg saw a Yuriy Logvinenko header cancelled out by a late goal from Leigh Griffiths, resulting in a 1–1 draw.[40] 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.[41]

Astana v Celtic

27 July 2016 Third Qualifying	Astana	1 – 1	Celtic	Astana, Kazakhstan
	Logvinenko  19'	Report	Griffiths  78'	Stadium: Astana Arena Attendance: 29,000 Referee: Paolo Mazzoleni (Italy)

Celtic v Astana

3 August 2016 Third Qualifying	Celtic	2 – 1 (3 – 2 agg.)	Astana	Glasgow, Scotland
	Griffiths  45+2' (pen.) Dembélé  90+2' (pen.)	Report	Ibraimi  62'	Stadium: Celtic Park Attendance: 52,952 Referee: István Kovács (Romania)

R	No.	Pos.	Nation	Name	Scottish Premiership	Scottish Cup	Scottish League Cup	Europe	Total
1	10	FW		Moussa Dembélé	17	5	5	5	32
2	11	MF		Scott Sinclair	21	3	1	0	25
3	9	FW		Leigh Griffiths	12	1	0	5	18
4	14	MF		Stuart Armstrong	15	2	0	0	17
5	18	MF		Tom Rogic	7	1	3	1	12
6	27	MF		Patrick Roberts	9	0	0	2	11
7	49	MF		James Forrest	6	0	2	0	8
8	42	MF		Callum McGregor	6	1	0	0	7
9	20	DF		Dedryck Boyata	5	0	0	0	5
10	23	DF		Mikael Lustig	1	2	0	1	4
11	8	MF		Scott Brown	1	1	0	1	3
12	63	DF		Kieran Tierney	1	1	0	0	2
13	17	MF		Ryan Christie	1	0	0	0	1
	6	MF		Nir Bitton	1	0	0	0	1
	28	DF		Erik Sviatchenko	1	0	0	0	1
	53	MF		Liam Henderson	1	0	0	0	1
	5	DF		Jozo Šimunović	1	0	0	0	1
Own goals					0	0	0	1	1
Total					106	17	11	16	150

Last updated: 27 May 2017

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

N	P	Nat.	Name	League			League Cup			Scottish Cup			Europe			Total			Notes
8	MF		Scott Brown	12			2						3			17
23	DF		Mikael Lustig	5						1			3			9
6	MF		Nir Bitton	4			1			1			1			7
9	FW		Leigh Griffiths	4			1						1			6
1	GK		Craig Gordon	3			1						1			5
5	DF		Jozo Šimunović	4						1						5
28	DF		Erik Sviatchenko	3									1			4
18	MF		Tom Rogic	1			1			2						4
11	MF		Scott Sinclair	2									1			3
3	DF		Emilio Izaguirre	2									1			3
10	FW		Moussa Dembélé	3												3
49	MF		James Forrest	2									1			3
42	MF		Callum McGregor	2	1								1			3	1
20	DF		Dedryck Boyata	3												3
22	DF		Saidy Janko	1									1			2
2	DF		Kolo Touré	1									1			2
14	MF		Stuart Armstrong	1									1			2
63	DF		Kieran Tierney	1									1			2
4	DF		Efe Ambrose										1			1
25	MF		Stefan Johansen										1			1
34	DF		Eoghan O'Connell										1			1
27	MF		Patrick Roberts	1												1
53	MF		Liam Henderson	1												1
88	MF		Eboue Kouassi	1												1

Last updated: 27 May 2017
Source: Competitive matches
Ordered by , and
= Number of bookings; = Number of sending offs after a second yellow card; = Number of sending offs by a direct red card.

• Scott Brown's red card against Ross County on 16 April 2017 was subsequently downgraded to a yellow card.[42]

Player	Against	Result	Date	Competition
Moussa Dembélé	Rangers	5–1 (H)	10 September 2016	Scottish Premiership
Moussa Dembélé	St Johnstone	2–5 (A)	5 February 2017	Scottish Premiership
Moussa Dembélé	Inverness CT	6–0 (H)	11 February 2017	Scottish Cup
Scott Sinclair	Hearts	0–5 (A)	2 April 2017	Scottish Premiership

(H) – Home; (A) – Away; (N) – Neutral

As of 27 May 2017.

Rank	Name	League	Scottish Cup	League Cup	Europe	Total	Played Games
1	Craig Gordon	20	3	4	1	28	55
2	Dorus de Vries	0	0	0	0	0	5
3	Logan Bailly	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total		20	3	4	1	28	60