Wembley Cup 2009

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Celtic became the first Scottish club to play at the revamped Wembley Stadium when in July 2009 they took to this famous field to partake in the inaugural Wembley Cup. Played over two days the Bhoys marked this landmark occasion in style by winning the lucrative pre-season tournament.

The inaugural Wembley Cup was held on Friday 24 and Sunday 26 July and apart from the Hoops the tournament featured Barcelona, Tottenham Hotspur, and Eygptian side Al Ahly. Shown live in the UK on Sky Sports the games were also broadcast live to some 90 countries around the world. The format of the competition would see Celtic take on Al Ahly and Spurs. Tony Mowbrary’s men opened the tournament against the African side and they produced an excellent performance to run out 5-0 winners.

Massimo Donati and a Scott McDonald penalty gave Celtic a 2-0 half-time lead. After the break Shaun Maloney, McDonald and Chris Killen added further to the scoreline as the Celts – wearing for the first time their new ‘bumblebee’ away strip – eased to victory. Spurs would draw their opener 1-1 with the European Cup holders.

Sunday saw Barcelona defeat Al Ahly 4-1 – meaning a draw was enough for Celtic to lift the cup. With a Champions League qualifier against Dynamo Moscow just three days away Hoops boss Tony Mowbray elected to field a relatively young side made up mostly of fringe players. That seemed to make little difference to the standard of the Celts play and a Chris Killen header after a great cross from Paul Caddis gave the Hoops the opening goal after just nine minutes. An excellent run and finish from Georgios Samaras put Celtic 2-0 up at the break. Despite several changes during half-time and over the period of the second half, giving the Celtic side an even more inexperienced look, Mowbray’s men comfortably held on for victory against the Londoners to take the trophy.

Darren O’Dea – who was stand-in skipper for the game with Tottenham – lifted the trophy as the Celts claimed the second piece of silverware of the Mowbray era (following on from the Translink Cup success in Brisbane,Australia) and Celtic became the winners of the inaugural annual tournament.