A list of matches played by Celtic Football Club in the North American continent.

Click on the name of an opponent to see a picture of the programme for that match (if available).

NORTH AMERICAN TOUR
1931

Ticket for the cancelled match against Newark Americans

This was Celtic's first ever tour of the USA and it was taken during the Great Depression. The Celtic party left Yorkhill quay in Glasgow on a Caledonia steamship and arrived in New York in late May. Times were hard as was shown in the game against Montreal Carsteel when Peter Scarff scored five goals while wearing a green dress shirt as there weren't enough hooped strips to go around. Celtic players on the tour: William Cook, Charles Geatons, William Hughes, Joe McGhee, Denis Currie, Alex Thompson, Peter McGonigle, James McStay, John Morrison, Charles Napier, Hugh Smith, John Thompson, Robert Thompson, Robert Whitelaw, Peter Wilson, Peter Scarff, James McGrory. Manager: William Maley.

Against Hakoah All-Stars, Jimmy McGrory broke his jaw and Charlie Napier and Peter Scarff were sent off along with two Hakoah players. Football was rough in the 30's, it was a game for men, not the ladyboys that play today. In the match against Pawtucket Rangers the Celtic players needed help in order to leave the ground safely. Our favourite Celtic historians, Tom Campbell and Pat Woods, mention this in their book "Images of Scotland: Celtic Football Club 1887 - 1967" -

A Celtic vs Rangers match, but in Providence, Rhode Island. The 'freindly' turned into a roughhouse affair and Celtic required a police escort at time-up.

Willie Maley was far from complimentary about the arrangements.

"The ground was like a furnace, the dressing-room conditions disgraceful and the referee had no control whatever."

During this tour Celtic spotted two future Celts. The first was Montreal born goalkeeper Joe Kennaway who was playing for Fall River F.C. when Celtic spotted him. He later signed for Celtic - to replace John Thompson who was tragically killed that September - and was an immediate success. Kennaway played for Celtic from 1931 to 1939 winning three Scottish F.A. cup medals and two Scottish championship medals. He played four times for the Scottish League team (Ireland twice and England twice) and also for Scotland against Austria at Hampden Park in 1933 - he also played for Canada against the USA in 1926 making him a rare double international. He returned to Canada at the outbreak of the second World War but later moved to Providence where he played and then coached at Brown University from 1946 to 1959. Joe Kennaway became an American citizen in 1948. He was posthumously inducted into the New England Soccer Hall of Fame in 1997.

JOE KENNAWAY
Born: Point St. Charles, Montreal, Quebec, Jan 25, 1905. Died Johnston, Rhode Island, March 7, 1969.

The second, James McGuire was Scottish by birth and had gone to the United States in the mid-1920s after winning two Scottish schoolboy international caps. His first major club was the Brooklyn Wanderers, a team he joined in 1929 and quickly established himself in a lineup of experienced players. McGuire returned to Scotland with Celtic immediately after the tour. However, he failed to get into the the first team and was soon on his way to England where he played 70 games for Northampton Town between 1932 and 1936. When he left Northampton he returned to the States and played for Brooklyn St. Mary's Celtic. St Mary's reached the U.S. Open Cup final in 1938 only to lose to Chicago Sparta. One year later, with McGuire at center half, his team won the trophy by defeating Chicago Manhattan Beer. When he retired as a player he turned to administration and served two separate terms as president of the United States Soccer Football Association and was a member of the FIFA Organizing Committee for the 1974 World Cup in West Germany.

JAMES McGUIRE
Born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1911 and died in Hyde Park, NY on November 26, 1974

Celtic achieved 8 wins, 1 draw, 3 losses in twelve matches. Details below.

NORTH AMERICAN TOUR
1951

In 1951 the Celts went to Toronto to play Fulham of England after winning the Scottish Cup against Motherwell. The Canadian Soccer Football Association and the United States Soccer Football Association, co-sponsors of the Celts tour, thought it would be appropriate for them to bring the cup along. Jimmy McGrory was the manager and true to the Celtic tradition (don't spend too much money) the prized possession of the Scottish FA was taken to New York in a small wooden box. In New York the wooden box was lost and McGrory picked up a shopping bag from Macy's, one of New York's top department stores. The team arrived in Toronto around eight o'clock and newspapermen and radio commentators were on hand, television was not in vogue in those days. Stepping from the train at Toronto's Union Station McGrory asked "Where the hell is the cup?" Nobody could find it but eventually a young Scottsih lad, taking his holidays to follow his favourite team, said "Mr McGrory here it is." The story was used throughout the World and since then the Scottish Cup has never again been allowed out of Scotland.

Players at the time included McPhail (captain), Hunter, Fallon, Rollo, Evans, Boden, Baillie, Weir, Collins, Peacock and Tully. Back in Scotland after the tour, Celtic added the St. Mungo Cup to their list of honours.

GILES HERON
Giles Heron was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1922. He played at centre forward for the Jamaican national team as well as playing for the American club side Detroit Corinthians. During this tour he was spotted by a Celtic scout and later signed in 1951. He scored on his debut a 2-1 win against Morton and quickly became known as the ‘Black Flash’. In May 1952 he was released by Celtic and signed for Third Lanark. Heron also played for Kidderminster Harriers before returning to play for his original club. He excelled at many sports including boxing, cricket and ice-hockey. Father of highly regarded jazz musician and poet Gil Scott Heron whose lyrics and music inspired the majority of cutting edge American Black musicians in the late 70’s and 80’s.

NORTH AMERICAN TOUR
1966

This tour of the States started with the team having a holiday in Bermuda and playing against a couple of local teams. It was on this tour living, sleeping and eating together that a young team of Scottish youths would be moulded into the team that became the Champions of Europe in the coming season. Jock Stein saw enough on this tour to convert Bertie Auld from a traditional winger to a midfielder and a partnership with the late, great Bobby Murdoch. We all know how well that worked out.

Bobby Lennox mentions this tour in his 1982 autobiography "A Million Miles For Celtic" (written by Gerry McNee and Forwarded by Jock Stein - ISBN 0 09 150240 3, Stanley Paul publishers). Reading it it is obvious that Bobby really enjoyed himself on this tour for he tells us "... it was a dream and really gave us a chance to mix and get to know each other. Morale was sky high" He goes on to remember some funny moments from the tour -

We were there only a couple of days when my buddy Jimmy Johnstone and I bought a couple of 'Texas-Style' hats to make us look like a couple of big shots! We had decided to mosey along to the room shared by Billy McNeill and John Clark to show off our purchases. Billy looked really impressed as he took the hat from my head then with a grin and a flick of the wrist sent it spinning across the room, over the balcony and down eight storeys! I remained calm and casually picked up a book by his bedside and inquired, "Enjoying this Billy?" Before he could reply I had sent it spinning in the same direction as my hat. He froze in his tracks with a look of horror on his face and I remember thinking, "It can't be that good a book". John Clark flew past me onto the balcony and as I ran over it was raining five pound notes. Billy's entire holiday money had been hidden in the pages!

In eleven matches played, Celtic scored 47 goals and conceded only 6. The table below shows a list of all matches played, dates, venues, results and indicates if a programme was issued or not.

Tour dates: May 12, 1966 - June 12, 1966. Results: 8 wins, 0 draws, 3 losses | Goals: 47 for, 6 against.

" with that impressive record behind us we looked forward to 1966-7 with confidence yet not realizing that for all of us the greatest season of our lives was about to dawn."

Bobby Lennox

Celtic returned from this tour to win every competion that they entered during the 1966/67 season. They won the European cup, beating Internationale Milan 2-1 in the final in Lisbon, pipped a great Rangers team to the Scottish League Championship, beat Aberdeen in the Scottish FA Cup final and won the Scottish League Cup beating Rangers (again) at Hampden Park.

NORTH/SOUTH AMERICAN TOUR
1968

The tour of North and South America and Canada in 1968 was more of a holiday than work for the players of that time. The team arrived in the states on May 16 but didn't play their first match until ten days later. The mode of transport was vastly more modern than that used by the touring Celtic teams of the 30's and 50's. Those teams had travelled by sea on a Cunard liner and the journey took days rather than hours. This group of young Celts were getting used to the best and, for once, it looks like no expense was spared. Writing in his tour diary, Dr John Fitzsimons described the journey ....

"Splendidly attired in green club blazers and grey flannels our party of 16 players and five officials board the plane at Prestwick Airport that is to take us to New York on the first stage of our transatlantic tour."

The green club jackets and matching grey flannels didn't last long for he tells us later that ....

"For the next week the players are free to enjoy themselves as they please. The first indication that all are in true holiday mood is the casual wear chosen by those immaculate young men of 24 hours ago. Some of the creations now being paraded would make the Beatles look staid by comparison."

The party had arrived in New York at 4 p.m. local time, 40 minutes faster than the 6 and a bit hours it was scheduled to take. However, his was only the first leg of the journey. The camp where the team was to be based was in Newport, a suburb of Miami in Florida. By 6 p.m. they were aboard a Boeing 727 bound for Miami and their resort motel. The players and officials were very impressed by the facilities for Dr Fitzsimons ended his first day entry by describing the accommodation .....

"Motel! Picture our surprise and pleasure when we behold a magnificent 14-storey hotel situated right on the beach and with all the other trappings of luxury at hand. We find ourselves housed in the Penthouse suites. Scrumptious!"

Over the next few days the Celtic party relaxed and took advantage of all that Miami has to offer. Colour television (this was new technology) with multiple channels, deep sea fishing and golf were among the favourites. On the 24th of May it was time to leave Miami and board the plane back to New York in time for the entire party to attend the Bob Foster v Dick Tiger light heavyweight championship boxing bout.

It was still two days until the first of the two matches played against A.C. Milan. On the 25th they went to the famous New Belmont Racetrack and on the 26th attended a service in St. Patrick's Cathedral, not knowing that a few days later it would be used for the funeral of assassinated US President John F. Kennedy. That night Celtic met A.C. Milan at the Roosevelt Stadium in the first of the two matches. Milan were champions of Europe and Italy and half of the fans attending the match were there in support of the Italians. Celtic only managed a 1-1 draw which disappointed the players and officials but they would get another chance in the match in Toronto .... and there was to be a trophy up for grabs.

On the 28th, Celtic took a short flight from NY to Toronto and booked into the Royal York Hotel. The tempo was changing. Not so relaxed as it had been as Dr Fitzsimons recorded .....

"the big man is back on the ball and it's now training in earnest."

The match in the C.N.E. Stadium in Toronto was scheduled for June 1st and 31,000 fans turned up to set a stadium record attendance. Celtic are magnificent during the match and give Milan a taste of what Inter had suffered just 1 year earlier in Lisbon. Celtic attack from start to finish, scoring two goals through Lennox and Gallagher with no reply from the Italians.

The final match of the tour was against Nececa of Mexico in Mexico City. Because of the difference in altitude, some of the party have difficulty breathing properly and it seems to affect the players during the match. At half-time Celtic are 3-1 down, Billy McNeill heading Celtic's only goal. During the half-time break the Celtic players are given oxygen and they play a bit better in the 2nd half - Wallace scoring to make the final score 3-2 to Nececa.

On June 5th the players took a cultural excursion to the Mexican pyramids and visited the shrine of Our Lady of Guadeloupe. The next day the party departed for Glasgow and arrived back at the old Abbotsinch airport in Paisley (now Glasgow Airport).

CHAMPIONSWORLD SERIES 1
2003

This tour was organised by ChampionsWorld, a New Jersey-based sports promoter The ChampionsWorld Series 1, which also featured Barcelona, Juventus and AC Milan attracted 422,000 spectators in all and was broadcast to more than 50 countries worldwide.

CHAMPIONSWORLD SERIES 2
2004

Celtic returned to America in July 2004 to play in the 2nd ChampionsWorld Series of matches against Roma, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United. The tour was organised by New Jersey-based sports events promoter Charlie Stillitano, head man of ChampionsWorld. Eight other teams took part - MANCHESTER UNITED (England); AC MILAN (Italy); CHELSEA (England); AS ROMA (Italy); LIVERPOOL (England); BAYERN MUNICH (Germany;) FC PORTO (Portugal). At the start of the 2003/04 season, Celtic lost to Manchester United in Seattle and beat Boca Juniors in Clevland, Ohio in the innaugral series.

Martin ONeill and his hooooooped heroes were away for 13 days, from 19 to 31 July. The Celtic players had four days rest and light training at their base camp in Seattle before playing Chelsea in the first match on Saturday July 24 in the Seahawks Stadium where they met Man U last year. Next up was our UEFA Cup opponents from last season, Liverpool on Monday July 26 in the Rentschler Field, East Hartford, Connecticut, followed by Manchester United on Wednesday July 28 at Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia and finally AS Roma in the SkyDome, Toronto on Saturday, July 31.

Television Coverage was by Fox Sports World/ Fox Sports Espanol and Setanta in the UK. ChampionsWorld made a loss from this tournament and folded as a result.

UNITED STATES TOUR
2006

Celtic played three matches in the USA during this tour - two against MLS teams and one against a mexican league team.

UNITED STATES TOUR
2007

Celtic played two matches in the USA during this tour - the first against the MLS All-Stars team and the other against Chicago Fire.