Old Firm
The Old Firm is a collective term for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply embedded in Scottish culture. It has reflected and contributed to political, social and religious division and sectarianism in Scotland. As a result, matches between them have had an enduring appeal around the world.
Between them the two clubs are among the most trophied in the world, having won a combined 110 Scottish League championships, 76 Scottish Cups, and 50 Scottish League Cups. Interruptions to their ascendancy have occurred rarely, mainly in the two decades after the Second World War from 1946 to 1965 when five other clubs won the league, and in the first half of the 1980s with the challenge of the New Firm of Aberdeen and Dundee United. Since the 1985–86 season, one half of the Old Firm has won the Scottish League every season, and in all but one of seventeen seasons between 1995–96 and 2011–12, both clubs finished in the top two places.
In the early 2010s, Rangers endured financial difficulties, and its holding company was liquidated in 2012. Subsequently, the club had to apply for entry to the bottom tier of the Scottish league. As a result of the liquidation, many Celtic supporters maintain that the current Rangers is distinct from the pre-2012 club, and the rivalry no longer exists under the Old Firm identity. Instead, they use the more generic term Glasgow derby to refer to the rivalry. While Rangers climbed back through the divisions, Celtic were champions in each of the next nine campaigns; Rangers won the title in 2020–21 to prevent a tenth for Celtic, which would have beaten a record set by Celtic in the 1960s and 1970s and matched by Rangers in the 1980s and 1990s.
As of 3 January 2026, Celtic and Rangers have played each other 449 times in major competitions; Rangers have won 172 matches, Celtic 171, and 106 ended in a draw.
The clubs have large fan bases around Glasgow and Scotland and have supporters clubs in many towns throughout Scotland and in cities around the world. In 2005 the presence of Rangers and Celtic was estimated to be worth £120 million to the Scottish economy each year.
Origin of 'Old Firm'
The origin of the term is unclear but may derive from the two clubs' initial match in which the commentators referred to the teams as "like two old, firm friends", or alternatively may stem from a satirical cartoon published in 'The Scottish Referee' sports newspaper prior to the 1904 Scottish Cup final between the sides, depicting an elderly man with a sandwich board reading "Patronise The Old Firm: Rangers, Celtic Ltd", highlighting the mutual commercial benefits of their meetings. The name may also be a reference to these two teams being among the original eleven members of the Scottish Football League formed in 1890 .At the turn of the 21st century, the two clubs jointly registered the 'Old Firm' term at the Intellectual Property Office; it was confirmed this was still being renewed as a trademark in 2021.
Rivalry and sectarianism
The competition between the two clubs had roots in more than just a simple sporting rivalry. It has as much to do with Northern Ireland as Scotland and this can be seen in the flags, cultural symbols, and emblems of both clubs. It was infused with a series of complex disputes, sometimes centred on religion, Northern Ireland-related politics, national identity, and social ideology.Another primary contributor to the intensity of the rivalry in the west of Scotland was that Rangers supporters are historically native Scots and Ulster Scots, and Celtic supporters are historically Irish-Scots. Although the confrontation between the two sets of supporters was often labelled as 'Sectarianism', 'Native-Immigrant tension' was an equally accurate catalyst for hostility between the two teams' supports in Scotland. Rangers' traditional support was largely from the Protestant community, and for decades the club had an unwritten rule whereby they would not knowingly sign a player of the Catholic faith. The policy was decried by Graeme Souness when he became manager, and he brought ex-Celtic forward Mo Johnston to the club in a very public move away from the practice, which no longer continues. Celtic's support was largely from those of Irish Roman Catholic backgrounds and while the club practiced no exclusion of Protestants and signed many of them to play for the team, there was a pro-Catholic mindset among some of the employees. One effect is that Scottish flags are rarer than might be expected amongst both sets of supporters; Celtic fans are more likely to wave the Irish tricolour while Rangers fans tend to wave the Union Jack.
Celtic were founded in 1887 on the promise that the club would deliver much-needed money and resources to a poverty-stricken Irish Catholic population in East Glasgow and quickly drew large crowds at their matches, becoming a symbol for that section of the local population which were marginalised in other areas of society and had previously shown little interest in the emerging sport. Rangers had been founded 15 years earlier in 1872 and had no particular religious leanings in their early decades, indeed they were described by the press as friends of Celtic in match reports at the turn of the 20th century. In that era Rangers had won three successive championships and expanded their stadium at great expense, only for one of the new wooden stands to collapse during a Scotland v England fixture in April 1902, killing 25 and injuring hundreds of others. The disaster forced the club to rebuild Ibrox for a second time and financed this by selling off their best players, with Celtic, in particular, taking advantage of the weakness to win six successive titles between 1905 and 1910 before Rangers returned to their previous strength. The sporting side of the rivalry was now established, with their meetings providing considerable financial benefit as seen in the Scottish Cup finals of 1904 and 1909 when they drew twice and a further replay was ordered, with supporters of both teams deciding to riot on the assumption the results were being fixed to make more money – amid multiple injuries and considerable damage to Hampden Park, the trophy was withheld.
The political aspect of the feud also developed in that period, with perhaps the most significant development occurring in 1912 when Belfast shipbuilders Harland and Wolff set up a new yard in Glasgow due to instability in Ireland. Hundreds of Ulster Protestant workers, many of Scottish descent, also made the move, and they adopted Rangers – the closest large club to the Govan yard – as their new team. Other events such as World War I and the Easter Rising contributed to the club being adopted as a symbol of the Scottish establishment and of British Unionism in the face of Irish Catholic rebellion personified by the success of Celtic and from that time on, many across Scotland and Northern Ireland became supporters of Rangers or Celtic over and above their local teams according to their own political and religious leanings, including polarised attitudes towards 'The Troubles'.
Nevertheless, this dividing line seems to be blurred in 21st century Glasgow: religious adherence, in general, is falling, marriages between Protestants and Catholics have never been higher and the old certainties – the Rangers supporter voting Conservative and the Celtic supporter voting Labour — are no longer in evidence. In 2005 both Celtic and Rangers joined a project to tackle bigotry and sectarianism in sport, but there was little change in the behaviour and subsequent prosecution of the fans.
The majority of Rangers and Celtic supporters do not get involved in sectarianism, but serious incidents do occur with a tendency for the actions of a minority to dominate the headlines. The Old Firm rivalry fuelled many assaults on derby days, and some deaths in the past have been directly related to the aftermath of Old Firm matches. An activist group that monitors sectarian activity in Glasgow has reported that on Old Firm weekends, violent attacks increase ninefold over normal levels. An increase in domestic abuse can also be attributed to Old Firm fixtures.
A freedom of information request found that Strathclyde Police incurred costs of £2.4 million for the seven derbies played during the 2010–11 season, with the clubs only contributing £0.3 million towards that. Other high-profile games involving Rangers and Celtic incurred much lower costs. The reason for the disparity in costs and the contribution made is that Strathclyde Police had to increase its activity elsewhere in Glasgow and beyond, while the clubs were only responsible for costs incurred in the vicinity of their stadium. In a period between April 2016 and December 2017, when nine matches were contested, more than £550,000 was spent by Celtic, Rangers, the SFA and the SPFL on policing inside the stadium alone. Rangers paid more than Celtic despite having a smaller capacity and a plan for the away support at Ibrox which required less of a 'human barricade' of officers to separate the rival supporters than was necessary at Celtic Park.
In 2015, former Rangers player Brian Laudrup said that the Old Firm topped all of the rivalries he had played in, which included the Milan derby and the Fiorentina-Juventus meetings in Italy; ex-Celtic striker Henrik Larsson, who experienced El Clásico in Spain and De Klassieker in the Netherlands, has made similar comments. Jim Bett, who had already played in Iceland prior to joining Rangers in the 1980s and thereafter moved to Belgium, stated that he declined an opportunity to return to the Ibrox club due to the sectarianism associated with life as a footballer in the west of Scotland, in contrast to his positive experiences living abroad.