Kyogo Furuhashi’s two goals at Hampden Park did not just win the League Cup Final for Celtic, they also created a small piece of history.
Kyogo became the first Japanese – and indeed Asian – player to score for Celtic in a League Cup Final. His goal means that now players from 12 different countries have scored for the Hoops in the League Cup Final.
Celtic have competed in 35 League Cup Finals, winning 20 of them. In total, the Bhoys have scored 70 goals across all of these finals (57 in winning finals, 13 when losing), and conceded 41 in total (12 in winning finals, 29 when losing).
Unsurprisingly the nationality which scored the first and most goals for Celtic in the final of the League Cup is Scotland. Other nations to have achieved this are (in chronological order by first time it happened): Iceland, England, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Poland, Ireland, Wales, Australia, France and Japan.
Celtic’s first ever final was in 1956, when they beat Partick Thistle 3-0 (this was a replay after the first game finished 0-0). Celtic’s scorers that day were Bobby Collins and John McPhail (2), both of whom were Scottish. In total, 26 Scottish players have scored for Celtic in League Cup Finals, scoring 49 goals, the most recent of which was Ryan Christie when Celtic won the 2018 final.
It took more than twenty years and 16 games before a non-Scottish player scored for Celtic in a League Cup Final. In this case it was an Icelandic player, Johannes Evaldsson, whose goal in the 1977/78 season final was not enough to help Celtic to victory as they lost 2-1 to Rangers. He remains the only Icelander to score for Celtic in these finals.
The next nationality to score in a League Cup Final for Celtic was England. Paul Elliott scored as Celtic lost 2-1 to Rangers in 1990. Since then two other English players have scored for Celtic, Tommy Johnson (2000, 2-0 v Aberdeen) and Dion Dublin (2006, 3-0 v Dunfermline). English-born Kris Commons has also scored for Celtic in a League Cup Final but as a Scotland internationalist, he counts as Scottish.
The next three nationalities to score for Celtic in a League Cup Final were all Scandinavian. In 1997, Marc Rieper became the only Danish player to score for Celtic in these games when Celtic beat Dundee United 3-0. In that same final Henrik Larsson also scored, becoming the only Swede to do so (and has scored five goals in these finals). In the 2000 final, Norwegian Vidar Riseth helped Celtic beat Aberdeen 2-0, still the only Norwegian to do so for the Hoops.
The 2006 League Cup Final saw Celtic’s first and only Polish player to score in these finals, with Maciej Zurawski helping the Bhoys to a 3-0 win versus Dunfermline. Celtic’s next final saw two Irish scorers: Darren O’Dea and Aiden McGeady (Scottish-born but an Irish internationalist) score as Celtic beat Rangers 2-0 in 2009; surprisingly these are the only two Irish players to have done this for Celtic in a League Cup Final.
Joe Ledley was the first and so far only Welshman to score for Celtic in a League Cup Final when his goal wasn’t enough to stop Rangers winning 2-1 in 2011. Next up was an Australian scorer, Tom Rogic, when Celtic beat Aberdeen 3-0 in 2016. Moussa Dembele became the first French scorer for Celtic in these finals in the same game. Dembele also scored in 2017 and his compatriot, Christopher Jullien scored the only goal as Celtic beat Rangers 1-0 in 2019.
The twelfth country to score for Celtic in a League Cup Final became Japan after Kyogo’s two fantastic finishes helped Celtic come from behind to win the 2021 League Cup by two goals to one.
Thinking ahead to next season, what might be the next nationality to score in a League Cup Final for Celtic? Of course they have to get there first – and new players could be added before then – but the current Hoops’ squad includes players from Israel, the USA, Belgium, the Netherlands, Croatia, Portugal and Greece.
Guest column by @hailhailhistory
— Tam sellic son (@TamsellicsonIII) December 19, 2021
