Celtic shirt history: the hoops, the shamrock and the numbers on the shorts

The Corner · 27 October 2026

Few kits in football are as easy to spot as Celtic's green and white hoops. The club has worn them since 1903 and guarded the pattern so closely that, for decades, it refused to print numbers across it. The players wore their numbers on their shorts instead. Here is where the hoops came from, how the numbers finally moved, and what Celtic shirts look like when the hoops are left at home.

Where the hoops came from

Celtic was founded in November 1887 in the parish of St Mary's, in the East End of Glasgow. The man behind it was Brother Walfrid, a Marist brother who saw a football club as a way to raise money for the poorest families in the area. The team played its first match in May 1888, against Rangers, which tells you how far back that rivalry goes.

Green and white were there from the start, the layout was not. The very first kit in 1888 was a white shirt with a green collar and black shorts. The horizontal hoops arrived in August 1903 and have been the home kit ever since. The colours and the shamrock on the crest point to the Irish roots of the founders and of the community the club grew out of.

Why Celtic put the numbers on the shorts

Hoops have one weakness: a number on the back cuts straight through them. Celtic decided the pattern mattered more, and the shirts stayed clean for a very long time. When numbers became necessary, the club printed them on the shorts. Accounts from the period credit chairman Bob Kelly with protecting the design. European ties were the exception: from 1975 UEFA required numbers on the back, so in European games Celtic wore them on the hoops.

In the league it ended only in the 1994/95 season, when the Scottish League made shirt numbers compulsory. Celtic first tried numbers on the sleeves, then put them on the backs for the Old Firm game at Ibrox at the end of August 1994. Shorts numbers stayed for a while, smaller and on the front only. For collectors that is a handy fact: an older Celtic home shirt with a plain back has not necessarily lost its print. It may never have had one.

The shamrock, the star and the clean front

The Celtic crest carries a four-leaf shamrock. On newer shirts a single star sits above it, for the 1967 European Cup won against Inter in Lisbon. Celtic were the first club from the British Isles to lift that trophy. If you want the bigger picture on how clubs count their stars, we covered it in Stars above the badge: what they mean on football shirts.

Sponsors came and went. In 1992/93 Celtic played without a shirt sponsor, so shirts from that year carry just the crest and the maker's logo. Beer brands and bookmakers followed in later years, and none of them was ever allowed to touch the hoops.

Away from home: stripes, lime and black

For collectors the away shirts are often the more interesting ones, because that is where Celtic leaves the hoops behind. The oldest Celtic on our rail, the 1992/93 Umbro away, is black with vertical green stripes split by a thin white line, finished with a buttoned polo collar. Look closely and you will see the crest and the year 1888 woven into the fabric.

Nike's 2010/11 away went for lime green with a tonal diamond pattern, and adidas in 2023/24 chose black with green trims and a grandad collar. Three decades, three makers, not one hoop between them.

From our rail

• Celtic 1992/93 away shirt by Umbro: black with green stripes and a clean front from the season without a sponsor.
• Celtic 2010/11 away shirt by Nike: lime green, Tennent's on the chest, gold star above the crest.
• Celtic 2023/24 away shirt by adidas: black with green trims, from the season Celtic won the league and the Scottish Cup.

Every Celtic shirt we have is in the Celtic shirts category, and the rest of Scotland sits under Scottish football.

FAQ

When did Celtic start wearing hoops?

In August 1903. Before that the club wore green and white in other layouts, starting with a white shirt and green collar in 1888. The hoops have been Celtic's home kit for more than a hundred years.

Why did Celtic wear numbers on their shorts?

To keep numbers off the hoops. The club stuck to it until 1994/95, when the Scottish League made shirt numbers compulsory, and Celtic first wore league numbers on their backs in an Old Firm game at Ibrox in August 1994. In European ties they had worn them since 1975.

What does the star above the Celtic crest mean?

It marks the 1967 European Cup, won 2-1 against Inter in Lisbon. Celtic were the first club from the British Isles to win it.

← All posts in The Corner