Despite Celtic's turbulent campaign, the Scottish Premiership champions have a strong presence at this summer's World Cup. In total, eight Celts have been included in World Cup squads, only two of which are representing Scotland. After sending only four players to the previous four editions, this is the second-most Celtic players at any World Cup ever, after ten who went to France '98, of which eight were Scottish back then.
However, it is even rarer that two Celtic players go head-to-head in a World Cup match. Well, this did happen during Sunday night fixture in Monterrey. Benjamin Nygren started as Sweden demolished Tunisia 5-1 at Estadio BBVA, with Sebastian Tounekti introduced as a late substitute for the Eagles of Carthage. Now, Tounekti did come on seven minutes after Nygren was replaced by Lucas Bergvall, but let's not get bogged down in details!
This though got us thinking, how many times previously has a Celtic player represented both sides in a World Cup match throughout history?
World Cup matches featuring a Celtic player on both teams
- 14 June 2026: Sweden 5-1 Tunisia - Benjamin Nygren (start) & Sebastian Tounekti (sub).
- 5 December 2022: Japan 1-1 Croatia - Daizen Maeda (start) & Josip Juranović (start).
- 12 June 2010: Korea Republic 2-0 Greece - Ki Sung-yueng (start) & Georgios Samaras (start).
Sunday night was only the third time in World Cup history that there has been a Celtic player on the park for both teams. This first happened at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium 16 years ago. That day, Ki Sung-yong started as Korea Republic beat Greece 2-0, with Georgios Samaras in the lineup for Otto Rehhagel's team.
The only other occasion was three and a half years ago in Qatar. In the round of 16, Daizen Maeda actually broke the deadlock for Japan against Josip Juranović's Croatia in Al Wakrah. In the end, the Croatians would prevail on penalties at Al-Janoub Stadium en route to another semi-final.
So, after Nygren and Tounekti's clash in Mexico, could this happen again? Well, the answer is that it almost certainly will. On Saturday, Tounekti's Tunisia will take on Maeda's Japan, before the Samurai Blue face Sweden and Nygren in Texas the following Thursday. With former Celt Virgil van Dijk starting and scoring for the Netherlands, Group F is the one for Celtic supporters to pay close attention to.
In the knockout stages too, if Korea Republic and Canada finish second in their respective groups, we'll see Yang Hyun-jun come up against Alistair Johnston at SoFi Stadium on 28 June. Meantime, after opening night wins, both the United States featuring Auston Trusty as well as Scotland, containing Anthony Ralston and Kieran Tierney, both are well-placed to progress. Thus, in a few days time, it's likely there will have been more Celtic World Cup meetings this summer than at all 22 previous editions combined.
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