While Celtic cling on for dear life to remain in the Scottish Premiership title race, there are plenty of former Hoops stars that are also looking to win their respective leagues.
With eight games to go, Martin O’Neill’s side are five points behind league leaders Hearts and will need to win every game in order to retain their crown.
Success isn’t optional at Parkhead and for those who have since left Glasgow, their experience of competing for trophies may help them in their current quest. With that, 67 Hail Hail has picked out nine former Celtic players who could end up with a winners’ medal.
Which Celtic player had the biggest impact despite spending one season at the club?
Odsonne Edouard – Lens (Ligue 1)
Odsonne Edouard is back to his best and scoring goals for fun in France with Lens, leaving them a point behind Paris Saint-Germain.
PSG have been the dominant force in France and everyone is hoping that Lens can topple them and take their crown to become champions.
Edouard recently rejected Haiti’s attempts to get him to play at the World Cup so that he didn’t close the door on his dream of playing for France. If he helps Lens win Ligue 1, that dream may become a reality.
Luis Palma – Lech Poznan (Ekstraklasa)
On-loan midfielder Luis Palma may be open to returning to Celtic in the summer but his full focus is on a pulsating title race in Poland right now.
22 points separate first and last while top and 10th are only eight points apart in one of the most thrilling domestic contests on the globe.
As it stands, Palma’s team are in pole position to win the league, but don’t be surprised if that changes.
Would you give Luis Palma another chance at Celtic?
Yuki Kobayashi – Jagiellonia Bialystok (Ekstraklasa)
Forgotten Hoops defender Yuki Kobayashi is going head-to-head with Palma in the title race and the pair will actually face each other this weekend.
Jagiellonia Bialystok won the league title for the first time in their history and three points on Sunday 4 April will leave them level on points with Lech Poznan.
Kobayashi has only been a bit-part player, but his experience of being around winners may help.
Greg Taylor, Jonjoe Kenny & Giorgos Giakoumakis – PAOK (Greek Super League)
The trio of players here have all been involved in title races with Celtic, some more successful than others, and are in another close contest.
PAOK had spent a period of the season at the top of the Greek Super League but are now in third place but only a couple of points behind AEK Athens.
They won the league in the 2023/24 season, can the former contingent of Hoops players take the trophy away from Athens and back to Thessaloniki?
Maryan Shved – Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukrainian Premier League)
Marian Shved made very little impact at Celtic and had something of a renaissance while away, but is finding game time in his homeland hard to come by.
Shakhatar Donetsk are joint-top of the Ukrainian Premier League, competing with surprise contenders LNZ Cherkasy only above them on goal difference.
Shved has been used sparingly by Arda Turan and will hope he can play a part for the final stages of the season.
Armstrong Oko-Flex – Levski Sofia (Bulgarian First League)
At the start of the season a title race wasn’t on the cards for Armstrong Oko-Flex as he was at Botev Plovdiv. However, impressive performances saw him earn a move to the Bulgarian giants.
Levski Sofia are the league leaders and are threatening to bring an end to Ludogarets’ domestic dominance, even if they did actually lose in the recent meeting between the two.
Oko-Flex appears to have found his home in Bulgaria and winning a league title would be a perfect way to cap off a successful first few months with Levski.
Marco Tilio – Rapid Vienna (Austrian Bundesliga)
Marco Tilio completed a move to Rapid Vienna last summer after winning the A-League Grand Final with Melbourne City while on loan.
Tilio barely got a sniff in Glasgow and hasn’t been a regular in Austria either.
From his 10 league appearances, Tilio has only scored once but could end up with another domestic trophy as Rapid hope to leapfrog Sturm Graz, who are top of the table by a point.
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