Callum William McGregor (born 14 June 1993) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for and captains Scottish Premiership club Celtic.
A Celtic academy graduate, McGregor has spent his entire professional career at the club, except for a single season on loan at Notts County in 2013–14. He is one the most decorated players in Celtic's history, winning ten Scottish Premierships, six and eight Scottish League Cups. He succeeded Scott Brown as captain from the 2021–22 season. He has won the Scottish Domestic treble five times, once as captain.
Internationally, McGregor represented Scotland at every youth level before making his debut for the senior side in 2017, representing them at UEFA Euro 2020 and Euro 2024. He went on to earn 63 caps before retiring from international football in 2024.
Club career
Celtic
Early career
McGregor began his career with Scottish club Celtic, coming through the club's
youth system alongside
Dylan McGeouch,
who was a teammate in youth
Victory Shield internationals at Under-16 level.
He scored a hat-trick for Celtic in the 8–0 2012 Scottish Youth Cup Final victory over Queen of the South at
Hampden Park.
McGregor appeared in four successive Scottish Youth Cup finals between 2010 and 2013, with the club winning all of them.
McGregor has spoken of the influence that the late Tommy Burns had on him as a young footballer, stating that Burns had always indicated his belief that McGregor would be the next successful product of Celtic's youth academy. McGregor particularly cites a conversation with Burns as a 13-year old as staying with him throughout his whole career, where he urged him to match his ability with the correct attitude and a desire to prove himself.
2013–14 season: Loan to Notts County
McGregor joined English League One club Notts County on a five-month loan in August 2013.
Among his teammates that season was fellow loanee midfielder
Jack Grealish, a future England international.
He scored on his debut for the "Magpies" on 7 August, in a 3–2 win over Fleetwood Town at
Meadow Lane in the first round of the League Cup.
Following a man of the match appearance against Crewe Alexandra where McGregor netted two goals, Notts County boss
Chris Kiwomya challenged McGregor to reach 10 goals for the season in his loan spell.
McGregor played the full match in a memorable League Cup encounter for the club, facing off against a Liverpool side which featured future Rangers manager Steven Gerrard, Raheem Sterling, and Daniel Sturridge, as well as being managed by his future Celtic manager, Brendan Rodgers.
McGregor's loan expired at the start of January 2014, with his 12 goals in all competitions making him the current top scorer for Notts County at that stage.
Following the expiry of his loan in January, clubs such as Wolverhampton Wanderers were credited with an interest in McGregor.
McGregor ended the season with 14 goals in all competitions
2014–15 season: Celtic debut and first goal
McGregor made his first team debut for Celtic against KR Reykjavík on 15 July 2014 in a Champions League qualifier and he scored the only goal of the game.
He also scored against
Legia Warsaw and
NK Maribor in subsequent qualifying rounds. He made his Scottish Premiership debut against St Johnstone on 13 August 2014 and scored a goal in a 3–0 victory for Celtic. On 29 August 2014, McGregor signed a new five-year contract with Celtic.
2015–16 season
2016–17 season
McGregor made his 100th appearance for the club in a 2–1 win at Dundee on 19 March 2017.
[ He scored in two successive Old firm victories against Rangers in the space of a week in April 2017.]
2017–18 season
Having previously been on target in qualifying matches, on 31 October 2017 McGregor scored his first goal in the group stages of the Champions League, striking the equaliser at home to Bayern Munich (James Forrest providing the assist), although the German team responded to claim a 2–1 win.[ This secured a second consecutive domestic treble for Celtic, the first time this had been done in Scottish football history.]
2018–19 season
McGregor signed a new contract with Celtic in December 2018, due to run until the end of the 2022–23 season.
2019–20 season
His contribution during 2019–20 was equally important, starting all 30 matches of the curtailed Premiership campaign (being off the field for just 26 minutes in total), all four of the League Cup fixtures and four of the five Scottish Cup matches – including two that were delayed until the end of the calendar year – as a fourth treble was secured.[ Callum McGregor draws on Scotland experience in Celtic's shoot-out success, BT Sport, 21 December 2020] Along with continental (14) and international appearances (6), he was again among Europe's most active footballers.
2020–21 season
In 2020–21 the club lost control of all three trophies and did not win any of their matches against Rangers, with McGregor scoring an own goal in one visit to Ibrox Stadium[ Rangers go 19 points clear of Celtic after Callum McGregor own goal settles Old Firm derby, The Independent, 2 January 2021] and being sent off in the first half of another.[ Callum McGregor won't ditch Celtic for England insists John Kennedy, Glasgow Live, 3 May 2021] His contribution in terms of minutes played remained very high, with 49 appearances for Celtic (4256 minutes, not including the aforementioned Scottish Cup matches although completed within the span of that season) and 14 for the national team (954 minutes) up to the delayed UEFA Euro 2020 finals.
2021–22 season: Celtic captaincy
On 19 July 2021, following former club captain Scott Brown's move to Aberdeen, McGregor was awarded the Celtic captaincy after making 326 appearances for the club, scoring 53 goals and winning 14 trophies – six league titles, four Scottish Cups and four League Cups. He became the 22nd captain of the club
On 20 July 2021, in his first competitive appearance as club captain, McGregor was awarded Man of the Match in a 1–1 draw against FC Midtjylland in the UEFA Champions League Second qualifying round.
On 24 September 2021, McGregor signed a new five-year contract with Celtic, due to expire in the summer of 2026.
2022–23 season
McGregor became the first player to win five domestic trebles for a club, after winning both the Scottish Cup (against Inverness Caledonian Thistle) and the Scottish League Cup final (against rivals Rangers) and rounded of the season by winning an 8th league title for himself and a 53rd for Celtic.
2023–24 season
On 10 July 2023, McGregor signed a new five-year contract with Celtic, keeping him at the club until 2028.
2024–25 season
McGregor scored several long-range goals in the first few months of the 2024–25 season, putting him top of the goalscoring charts in the Scottish Premiership.
International career
Making his debut in October 2013, McGregor made five appearances and scored one goal for the Scotland national under-21 football team.
In October 2017, McGregor was once again included in the full squad for two 2018 World Cup qualifiers against Slovakia and Slovenia, but remained on the bench during both games. He made his debut a month later, starting in a friendly against the Netherlands.[ Serbia 1-1 Scotland (4-5 pens): Scotland seal dramatic Euro 2020 place – as it happened, The Guardian, 12 November 2020] He scored his first international goal during the final group fixture of the tournament against Croatia.[ Callum McGregor both hero and villain for Scotland against Croatia, says Borders football legend John Collins, Darin Hutson, The Southern Reporter, 23 June 2021]
McGregor was selected in the Scotland squad for UEFA Euro 2024. He played in the opening game of the tournament against hosts Germany on 14 June 2024; his 31st birthday, in a 5–1 defeat in Munich.
On 9 August 2024, after winning 63 caps, McGregor announced his retirement from international football.
Personal life
McGregor was a pupil at Lochend Community High School in Easterhouse.
In February 2016, McGregor was stopped by the police and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, having already been convicted and banned for speeding the previous year; he was later disqualified for 12 months.
Career statistics
Club
| + Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
!rowspan="2" | Club
!rowspan="2" | Season
!colspan="3" | League
!colspan="2" | National cup
!colspan="2" | League cup
!colspan="2" | Europe
!colspan="2" | Other
!colspan="2" | Total |
|
| Notts County (loan) | 2013–14 | League One | 14 |
| Celtic | 2013–14 | Scottish Premiership | 0 |
2014–15 | Scottish Premiership | 5 |
2015–16 | Scottish Premiership | 6 |
2016–17 | Scottish Premiership | 7 |
2017–18 | Scottish Premiership | 12 |
2018–19 | Scottish Premiership | 6 |
2019–20 | Scottish Premiership | 13 |
2020–21 | Scottish Premiership | 4 |
2021–22 | Scottish Premiership | 4 |
2022–23 | Scottish Premiership | 5 |
2023–24 | Scottish Premiership | 2 |
2024–25 | Scottish Premiership | 10 |
2025–26 | Scottish Premiership | 0 |
|
|
International
| + Appearances and goals by national team and year |
|
| Scotland | 0 |
| 0 |
| 0 |
| 0 |
| 1 |
| 1 |
| 1 |
| 0 |
|
- Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each McGregor goal.
| + List of international goals scored by Callum McGregor |
|
| UEFA Euro 2020 |
| 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying |
Honours
Celtic Youth
-
SPL U-19 League (2): 2009–10,
-
Scottish Youth Cup (4): 2009–10,
Celtic
-
Scottish Premiership (10): 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18,
-
Scottish Cup (6): 2016–17,
[ 2017–18,][ 2018–19,]
-
Scottish League Cup (8): 2014–15,
Individual
-
PFA Scotland Team of the Year (Premiership) (4): 2018–19,
-
PFA Scotland Players' Player of the Year: 2021–22
-
Scottish Premiership Player of the Month: August 2024
See also
-
List of Scotland national football team captains
External links
