On 23 August 1923, at ten o'clock at night, the statutes of a new club were approved in Vigo. Celta Vigo turn 104 on 23 August 2027. This is a team that started out in red and became the sky blue symbol of an entire region.

Two clubs become one

Vigo had two rivals, Real Vigo Sporting and Real Club Fortuna. Journalist Manuel de Castro, known as "Handicap", launched a campaign to unite them into one strong Galician team.

The clubs' general meetings approved the merger on 12 July 1923, and a joint committee wrote the statutes. The first president was Manuel Bárcena, Count of Torre Cedeira.

A name from the ancient Celts

The name came from a contest and was chosen on 10 August. "Celta" beat suggestions such as "Breogán", "Club Galicia" and "Real Club Olímpico".

It refers to the Celtic peoples who once lived in Galicia. So from the start the new club made clear it wanted to represent the whole region.

From red to sky blue

Few remember it, but Celta's first kit was a red shirt, black shorts and blue socks. Later came the sky blue and white of the Galician flag, which according to VAVEL were chosen by popular vote.

There is also a poorly documented legend that Celta won the right to these colours by beating Deportivo. In 2023, for the centenary, the team wore a red away shirt again, with sky blue shoulders, the Galician flag and a collar dedicated to the two founding clubs.

Crown and the Cross of Saint James

The first crest had a red shield with two stylised Cs and the royal crown. King Alfonso XIII granted his patronage in 1923, and with it the right to the title "Real".

A year after the founding the shield turned sky blue, and in 1928 the red Cross of Saint James was added. The crown was removed during the Second Republic and returned later.

At the end of the 1920s Balaídos opened, with a 7-0 win over Real Unión of Irún in which Polo scored twice. Today it holds almost 25,000 fans.

EuroCelta, Aspas and PAOK

In the late 1990s the "EuroCelta" was born, with Aleksandr Mostovoi, Valery Karpin, Mazinho and Gudelj. It knocked Liverpool, Juventus and Benfica out of the UEFA Cup, and in 2004 it reached the last 16 of the Champions League.

Liverpool went out 4-1 on aggregate in 1998-99, and in 2000 the team also celebrated the Intertoto Cup. The sky blue shirt was also worn by Pahiño, Claude Makélélé, Haim Revivo, Zvonimir Boban, Santiago Cañizares and David Silva.

In 2017 it played a Europa League semi-final against Manchester United and went out narrowly, 2-1 on aggregate. Captain Iago Aspas is the top scorer in its history with 222 goals, and his goals kept the team up on the final day in 2019 and 2020.

In 2024-25 it finished seventh in La Liga and returned to Europe after nine years. In the 2025-26 Europa League it knocked out PAOK and Lyon before falling to Freiburg in the quarter-finals.

Celebrate with us

From the merger of two Vigo clubs to the goals of Aspas, Celta carry all of Galicia on their shirt. Happy 104th birthday to the Celestes!

See our collectible jerseys at sportarena.gr.

Photo: the Balaídos stadium in Vigo – Rion Tools, Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.