On This Day: Celtic become first British football team to win European Cup
On This Day: Celtic become first British football team to win European Cup
Julian Gavaghan
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May 25: Celtic became the first British football team to win the European Cup on this day in 1967 – achieving a feat no Scottish club has matched since.
The Glasgow side, which was traditionally supported by the Catholic population of the once deeply sectarian city, beat Inter Milan 2-1 at the final in Lisbon.
The victory came a year before Manchester United became the first English club to win the coveted best-in-Europe trophy.
In a British Pathé newsreel, jubilant supporters were filmed lining the streets of Glasgow to cheer as the team bus triumphantly returned to Celtic Park.
Fans who showed up to greet them included a boy with the names of the players hand-stitched onto his woollen sweater.
The first man off the bus was manager Jock Stein, a former coalminer from Lanarkshire, who beamed as he carried the cup.
He then led his players into the stadium, which was packed with more than 50,000 jubilant fans.
Stein is one of three Scottish coaches to win the trophy, although Celtic remains the only team from Scotland to have ever won it.
Sir Alex Ferguson and Sir Matt Busby, who like Stein were born within 15 miles of Glasgow’s city centre, both won the cup with three-times winners Manchester United.
Stein’s ‘Lisbon Lions’ team, unlike Busby’s and Ferguson’s, was composed entirely of players who were born within 30 miles of the club’s stadium.
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The four English managers to win the European Cup are Bob Paisley, who won it three times with Liverpool; Brian Clough, who claimed the title twice with Nottingham Forest; Tony Barton who was successful once with Aston Villa; and Joe Fagan, who earned it once with Liverpool.
Chelsea have also been victorious in the competition, but with Italian boss Roberto Di Matteo. Spaniard Rafa Benitez also guided Liverpool to the pinnacle of European football in 2005.
More British Pathé videos from yesteryear
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