Kieran O'Neill Dowell (born 10 October 1997) is an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish ...

club

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

. Dowell previously played for Everton, where he had loan spells with

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

and

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

Club career

Everton

Born in

Ormskirk Ormskirk is a market town in the West Lancashire district of Lancashire, England, north of Liverpool, northwest of St Helens, southeast of Southport and southwest of Preston. Ormskirk is known for its gingerbread. Geography and administr ...

, Lancashire, Dowell joined Everton's academy at the age of 7. After progressing through the ranks and the reserve side, he signed a scholarship with the club in June 2014. He then scored in a friendly for the Everton U21 side, in a 1–0 win over

Rhyl Rhyl (; cy, Y Rhyl, ) is a seaside town and community (Wales), community in Denbighshire, Wales. The town lies within the Historic counties of Wales, historic boundaries of Flintshire (historic), Flintshire, on the north-east coast of Wales at ...

on 26 July 2014. Dowell made his debut for the club on 11 December 2014, replacing the injured

Christian Atsu Christian Atsu Twasam (10 January 1992 – ) was a Ghanaian professional footballer who primarily played as a winger, although he was also deployed as an attacking midfielder or left back. Atsu began his career with Porto, also spending a seas ...

11 minutes into a

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

group match against

FC Krasnodar FC Krasnodar is a Russian professional football club based in Krasnodar that plays in the Russian Premier League. The club was founded in 2008. In 2009, the club was promoted to the Russian First Division, the second highest division of the Ru ...

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a football stadium in the Walton area of Liverpool, England. It has been the home stadium of Premier League club Everton F.C. since its completion in 1892. Located in a residential area 2 miles (3 km) north of Liverpool ...

. Everton, who had already advanced into the next round, lost 0–1. With his only first team appearances of the season, he signed his first professional contract with the club. After being given a number 51 shirt in the 2015–16 season, Dowell, however, suffered ankle injury that saw him sidelined for two months. He scored on his return for the Everton U21 on 6 December 2015, in a 3–1 win over Liverpool U23. Dowell went on to score nine more goals for the reserve side, including a stunner against Southampton U21 and a hat-trick against Leicester City U23. On 30 April 2016, he made his

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

debut as an 87th-minute substitute for

Ross Barkley Ross Barkley (born 5 December 1993) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Ligue 1 club Nice. Barkley began his professional career at Everton in 2010. After loan spells at Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds United he b ...

in a 2–1 home win over

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...

. Dowell then started the final game of the 2015–16 season against

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

at Goodison Park. Two months after making his Premier League debut, Dowell signed a three-year contract with the club, keeping him until 2019. In the 2016–17 season, Dowell was a member of the Everton U23 squad to win the inaugural Premier League 2 title, in which he made the total of 22 appearances and scoring 5 times.
His performance throughout April won him April's Premier League 2 Player of the Month.

Loan spells

On 3 August 2017, Dowell signed on a season-long loan with

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

side

. He made his Forest debut, coming on as a second-half substitute, in a 1–0 win over

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east ...

in the opening game of the season. He scored his first goal for Forest in a 4–3 win at

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

on 12 August 2017. Since making his Nottingham Forest debut, he became a first team regular. Dowell scored again on 30 September 2017, in a 2–1 win over

. Four weeks later, on 28 October 2017, he scored his first ever hat-trick, in a 3–2 win over

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...

. After the match, Dowell's performance was praised by local newspaper ''

Nottingham Post The ''Nottingham Post'' (formerly the ''Nottingham Evening Post'') is an English tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper which serves Nottingham, Nottinghamshire and parts of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire. The ''Post'' is p ...

'' and the club's supporters. However, Mark Warburton was sacked as Forest manager on 31 December 2017 and was replaced by

Aitor Karanka Aitor Karanka de la Hoz (Basque and ; born 18 September 1973) is a Spanish football manager and former player who was most recently the head coach of Segunda División club Granada. Save for a brief spell in the United States at age 32, Karanka ...

. Dowell fell out of favour under the new manager and struggled to hold a place in the starting eleven. He played just 59 minutes during the last eight games of the season. Kieran Dowell 2021-08-07 2

On 28 December 2018, it was announced that Dowell would join

as of 2 January 2019 on loan for the rest of the season. On 28 April 2019 United were promoted to the Premier League. The following season, on 11 July 2019, Dowell joined

on a season-long loan. On 3 January 2020, Everton cancelled Dowell's loan to Derby and sent him on loan to

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...

for the remainder of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

. On 14 July 2020, Dowell scored a hat-trick as Wigan defeated

by a scoreline of 8–0; the result was Wigan's biggest victory in club history.

Norwich City

On 30 July 2020, Dowell joined

club

on a three-year deal, for a reported fee of £1.5m. He scored on his debut for Norwich in a 3–1

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

defeat to

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

on 5 September 2020. On 1 May 2021, Dowell scored twice as Norwich City defeated

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

4–1 to secure the

title and make an instant return to the Premier League. Dowell scored his first

goal for Norwich City on 16 April 2022 in a 3-2 loss to

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

where he also registered an assist to teammate

Teemu Pukki Teemu Eino Antero Pukki (born 29 March 1990) is a Finnish professional footballer who plays as a striker for EFL Championship club Norwich City and the Finland national team. Pukki began his career with KTP and made his debut on senior leve ...

. On 21 February 2023, he made his final appearance for Norwich City, starting in a win over

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

, thereafter sustaining a knee injury that ended his season.

Rangers

On 24 May 2023, it was announced that Dowell had signed a pre-contract agreement to join

side

. He made his debut for the club, starting the match, in a 1-0 defeat away to

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

on 5 August 2023. He scored his first goal for Rangers during a league match at home to

Livingston Livingston may refer to: Businesses * Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010) * Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline * Livingston International, a North American custom ...

on 12 August 2023. On 7 November 2023, Dowell made an appearance for the Rangers B team in a

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,Airdrieonians Airdrieonians Football Club is a Scottish professional football team in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, who are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League One. They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United ...

. He started the match and scored the second goal for Rangers in a 4-2 defeat.

International career

After representing England at lower youth levels, Dowell was selected for the England under-20 team for the first time, making his debut in a 1–1 draw against

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

alongside Everton teammate

Dominic Calvert-Lewin Dominic Nathaniel Calvert-Lewin (born 16 March 1997) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Everton and the England national team. Calvert-Lewin began his career at local team Sheffield United, making his seni ...

. In May 2017, Dowell was selected for the England U20 in the

2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 21st edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its inception in 1977 as ...

. After setting up two goals in a 3–0 win over

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

on Matchday 1 of the group stage, he scored the only goal against hosts

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

, ensuring a place in the second round for England. He also started in the final, in which England beat

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

1–0 for England's first triumph in a global tournament since their

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

victory in 1966. Following the end of the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup, Dowell was called up to the

England U21 The England national under-21 football team, also known as England under-21s or England U21(s), is considered to be the feeder team for the England national football team. This team is for England players aged under 21 at the start of the calen ...

squad, for whom he made his debut in a 1–1 draw with Netherlands U21 on 1 September 2017. On 27 May 2019, Dowell was included in England's 23-man squad for the

2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-21 Euro 2019) was the 22nd edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship (25th edition if the Under-23 era is also included), the biennial international youth football ch ...

Personal life

Born in

, England, Dowell grew up supporting Everton, the team he would eventually play for, and idolised

Mikel Arteta Mikel Arteta Amatriain (born 26 March 1982) is a Spanish professional football manager and former player. He is the manager of club Arsenal. Arteta began his senior career at Barcelona in 1999 but limited playing time led to a loan to Paris ...

. While at the academy, he was a ball-boy when he was 14. At 20, he moved out of his parents' house for an apartment.

Career statistics

Honours

Norwich City *

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

Rangers *

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

: 2023–24 England U20 *

FIFA U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 whe ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

England U21 *

Toulon Tournament The Toulon Tournament (officially the Festival International "Espoirs" – Tournoi Maurice Revello) is a football (training match) tournament, which traditionally features invited national teams composed of youth players from U-17 to U-23 level. ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

References

External links

*
Everton profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dowell, Kieran 1997 births Living people Footballers from Ormskirk English men's footballers England men's youth international footballers English people of Irish descent Men's association football midfielders Everton F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Derby County F.C. players Wigan Athletic F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players Rangers F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players