Celtic F.C. supporters

The supporters of Celtic F.C., a Scottish football club, were estimated in 2003 to number around nine million worldwide. Numerous fan magazines and supporters' websites are dedicated to the club, and there are in excess of 160 supporters' clubs in over 20 countries around the world.

Celtic supporters have traditionally come from the Catholic population of Scotland and people of Irish background, but not exclusively. In 2003, Celtic fans received awards from FIFA and UEFA for their exemplary fair and cordial conduct after 80,000 fans had travelled to Seville for the 2003 UEFA Cup Final.

Celtic F.C. was founded as a charity for poor Irish immigrants in Glasgow by Brother Walfrid, a Marist Brother originally from County Sligo, Ireland. Consequently, Celtic is strongly associated with Scotland's Irish Catholic community and have a significant number of supporters in Ireland and among members of the Irish diaspora elsewhere.

Celtic has developed a fanbase in a number of countries around the world, with over 160 supporters' clubs in over 20 countries around the world. Research in 2003 by Capita Consulting in conjunction with the Cranfield Institute estimated the worldwide fan base as being around nine million. This fanbase has extended to Japan since 2005, when Japanese international Shunsuke Nakamura joined the club, although the Tokyo Celtic Supporters' Club had already been established in 2001. In 2009, marketing agency Sports Revolution reported that there were an estimated seven million Celtic supporters in Japan alone. There are Celtic supporters clubs in South Korea, Sweden Croatia, Germany, Denmark and Norway while the club's profile in Kenya has been boosted by a team in Nairobi. Kibera Celtic, who were inspired by Celtic's charitable roots and use the profits from football to fund charitable initiatives in Kenya and throughout Africa. After the signing of Emilio Izaguirre in 2010, Hector Zelaya, the general manager of Izaguirre's former club Motagua, said that Izaguirre had sparked "Celtic mania" in Honduras and that many people now supported them.

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