Reserve football Celtic ran a
reserve side from their early days, known at the time as the
Crusaders. Other clubs in the 1880s also gave their reserve sides distinctive names, with
Rangers calling their Second XI the
Swifts, and
Queens Park naming their reserves the
Strollers. Celtic's first known involvement in
reserve league football, was their participation in the
Scottish Combination league in 1896. Several Scottish League clubs fielded 2nd XIs ('A' sides), as well as Queens Park Strollers. However, by the 1900s Celtic manager
Willie Maley was only using a small, if versatile, squad of players, and the decision was made to stop fielding a reserve team altogether. In 1909, a new Scottish Reserve League was set up, again often including at least one non-reserve side of a non-league club in each of its seasons. The league was disbanded during
World War I, but effectively re-established in 1919 as the
Scottish Alliance League. As with previous incarnations, this reserve league also contained the first XI of several non-league sides.
Malky MacDonald,
Johnny Crum,
George Paterson,
Jimmy Delaney,
John Divers and
Willie Buchan all emerged during this time from the reserve side and went on to form the nucleus of the Celtic first team that won the
league championship in 1936 and 1938, and the
Scottish Cup in 1937. A league
AGM in 1938, resulted in the non-league sides being removed and the league became exclusive to First Division reserve sides. The advent of
World War II, however, once again saw the suspension of national reserve league football in Scotland, although regional leagues were set up. The national Reserve League restarted at the end of the war, once again mirroring the sixteen club top-tier division. The subsequent years into the 1950s saw various changes to the leagues, but Celtic's achievements at reserve level were undistinguished, with two fourth-place finishes in 1952 and 1954 their highest positions. Although Stein left in 1960 to manage
Dunfermline Athletic, promising players continued to emerge from the reserves, such as
Bobby Murdoch,
Jimmy Johnstone and
George Connelly. In August 1968, the reserves needed to defeat
Partick Thistle by at least seven goals to win their Reserve League Cup group section; Celtic won 12–0, with
Lou Macari scoring four goals. and
Pat Bonner,
Charlie Nicholas and
Paul McStay in the 1980s. When the
Scottish Premier League was founded in 1998, the reserve league was replaced by an
under 21 league with some overage players permitted. During the 2010s,
James Forrest,
Callum McGregor and
Kieran Tierney all progressed as youths at Celtic and became established first-team players at the club.
Tierney was later transferred to
Arsenal for a transfer fee of £25m, a record fee for a Scottish footballer. In July 2018, it was reported that reserve leagues would be reintroduced in lieu of the development leagues that had been in place since 2009. The top tier of the new
SPFL Reserve League featured 18 clubs, whilst a second-tier reserve League comprised nine clubs. Other than a minimum age of 16, no age restrictions applied to the leagues. At the end of its first season (2018–19), Celtic – along with several other clubs – intimated that they would withdraw from the Reserve League to play a variety of challenge matches. They later entered a small league (under-21 plus three overage) along with three other Scottish clubs and
Brentford and
Huddersfield Town from the English leagues. In the 2021/22 season, Celtic B (and Rangers B) began playing in the
Lowland Football League (the fifth tier of the senior setup). There was a proposal to include them in an expanded
Scottish League Two (fourth tier) still under consideration by the SPFL for the year after that.
Cup competitions There were numerous cup competitions for reserve sides since the earliest days; e.g. the Edinburgh 2nd XI Cup first played in the 1870s and the Scottish 2nd XI Cup which existed from 1882 to 1988. A plethora of cups were introduced during the 1880s but the advent of professionalism a decade later put pressure on club finances, and during the 1890s these tournaments gradually fell away. The Scottish 2nd XI Cup was first competed for during season 1881–82 and was competed for each season up until 1988. The Scottish Reserve League Cup was introduced in 1945 and was last held in season 2013–14. In June 2016, it was announced that the
Challenge Cup would be expanded to include Under-20 sides from each
Scottish Premiership club. In the
2016-17 edition, Celtic U20 won their opening tie against
Annan Athletic and then eliminated
Cowdenbeath (both of the
fourth level) before being knocked out by the then-
League 1 club
Livingston; they progressed further than all other Under-20s teams. In the
2017–18 Challenge Cup, the side were beaten by
Annan Athletic in the first round.
International tournaments Celtic's U20s were the first Scottish participants in the
NextGen Series - a youth tournament based on the
UEFA Champions League. In the
2011–12 season, Celtic were drawn against
Barcelona,
Manchester City and
Marseille, and finished third in their group. Celtic confirmed that they would play in the
2012–13 edition tournament as well; the team were again eliminated in the
Group Stage. In 2013–14 Celtic's senior team
qualified for the Champions League group stages, meaning that the youth squad could play in the
first edition of the
UEFA Youth League. In the following season there was no chance to participate in that competition due to the first team's failure to qualify, but in
2015–16 an additional route into the tournament opened up to domestic youth (Under-17) champions, and Celtic qualified as the Scottish holders of that title. After navigating two rounds, Celtic were eliminated on penalties by
Valencia. In 2016–17 the senior team
succeeded in reaching the Champions League group stage, so the youth squad also entered
that season's Youth League via that route (they had also qualified through the Under-17 path again in any case). In the Youth League, the
Group Stage mirrored the tough draw in the senior tournament, and Celtic collected just one point and finished fourth. Qualification was the same in
2017–18 – the Under-17s won the Scottish league but in any case the first team
reached the Champions League groups. Celtic also successfully applied to compete in the
2014–15,
2015–16 and
2016–17 editions of the England-based
Premier League International Cup.
Youth football A Youth Division was set by the Scottish League in 1993 and ran until 2012. This was an Under-18 league initially, but changed to Under-19s from 2003 onwards. Celtic Youths won the league for four consecutive seasons from 2002–03 to 2005–06. The
Scottish Youth Cup was set up in 1984 and open to all senior clubs in Scotland. It was initially an U19 tournament, but is now for U20 sides. Celtic are historically the most successful club in the competition, winning 14 finals. ==Celtic B==