The Gers

Lore & Background

Rangers have won the Scottish League title 55 times, the Scottish Cup 34 times, the Scottish League Cup a record 28 times and the domestic treble on seven occasions. Rangers won the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1972 after being losing finalists twice, in 1961 (the first British club to reach a UEFA tournament final) and 1967. The club has lost a further two European finals, the UEFA Cup final in 2008 and the UEFA Europa League final in 2022. By number of trophies won, Rangers are one of the most successful clubs in the world. Rangers has a long-standing rivalry with Celtic, the two Glasgow clubs being collectively known as the Old Firm, considered one of the world's biggest football derbies. The rivalry is linked to sectarianism in Glasgow, with Rangers and its fanbase being associated with Protestantism and British unionism. Rangers had a policy from the First World War until the late 1980s of refusing to employ Catholic players and staff. With more than 600 Rangers supporters' clubs in 35 countries worldwide, Rangers has one of the largest fanbases in world football. The club holds the record for the largest travelling support in football history, when an estimated 200,000 Rangers fans arrived in the city of Manchester for the 2008 UEFA Cup final. An estimated 100,000 fans arrived in Seville for the 2022 UEFA Europa League final.

In Their Own Story

The rain slicked the streets leading up to Ibrox, but the crowd moved with purpose. Old John held his grandson's hand tight as they passed the turnstiles. Inside, the roar was a physical weight, pressing against the chest. When the team emerged from the tunnel in blue and white hoops, the chant began low, then rose like a tide. For ninety minutes, there was only the pitch, the goal, and the shared breath of thousands believing together.

Reader's Guide

One of the eleven original members of the Scottish Football League, Rangers remained in the top division continuously until a financial crisis during the 2011–12 season saw the club enter administration and the original company liquidated with the assets moved to a new company structure. The club was accepted as an associate member of the Scottish Football League and placed in the fourth tier of the Scottish football league system in time for the start of the following season. Rangers then won three promotions in four years, returning to the Premiership for the start of the 2016–17 season; in their climb through the Scottish lower divisions, Rangers became the only club in Scotland to have won every domestic trophy. In 2020–21 Rangers won their first Scottish championship in ten years, a then world record fifty-fifth league win which also stopped rivals Celtic's quest to break the domestic record of nine titles in a row.

Did You Know?

• Rangers were formed by four founders – brothers Moses McNeil and Peter McNeil, Peter Campbell and William McBeath – who met at West End Park in March 1872.
• Rangers' first match, in May 1872, was a goalless friendly draw with Callander on Glasgow Green.
• Rangers' first-ever Scottish Cup win came in 1894 after a 3–1 final victory over rivals Celtic.
• Bill Struth was Rangers' most successful manager, guiding the club to 14 league titles before the onset of the Second World War.
• The Ibrox disaster occurred on 2 January 1971 when large-scale crushing on a stairway exit at an Old Firm game claimed 66 lives.