Lewis Allan Stevenson (born 5 January 1988) is a Scottish 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 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 Hibernian as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

or 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 ...

. He is currently the longest serving player at Hibs, having made his debut in September 2005, and holds the club record for league appearances. Stevenson is the only Hibs player to have won both the

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 ...

and the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup, He made his first full international appearance for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

in May 2018.

Career

Club

Stevenson attended

Balwearie High School Balwearie High School is a non-denominational comprehensive secondary school at the west end of Kirkcaldy in Scotland. Balwearie serves around 1500 pupils aged from 11 to 18 and includes a Department of Additional Support (DAS for short) for ch ...

in his hometown of

Kirkcaldy Kirkcaldy ( ; sco, Kirkcaldy; gd, Cair Chaladain) is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh and south-southwest of Dundee. The town had a recorded population of 49,460 in 2011, ...

. He joined the Hibernian

youth academy In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if t ...

aged 14 and played for the Scotland schoolboys team in 2003. He made his competitive debut for Hibernian in a

tie at

Ayr United Ayr United Football Club are a football club in Ayr, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League. Formed in 1910 by the merger of Ayr Parkhouse and Ayr F.C., their nickname is ...

in September 2005 but did not make his first

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...

appearance until the opening day of the 2006–07 season. Stevenson became a first-team regular under the

management Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

of John Collins, and he was named

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

in the 2007 Scottish League Cup Final victory. Stevenson scored his first goal for the club in a 2–0 win against Inverness CT on 26 February 2011. The goal came after more than 100 appearances without one, and Stevenson admitted to not knowing what to do in celebration. Stevenson played regularly for Hibernian during the 2011–12 season, and won the fans' player of the year award. This came during a season when Hibs struggled to avoid

relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

and Stevenson admitted that there were few candidates for the fans to choose from.

Pat Fenlon Patrick Fenlon (born 15 March 1969) is an Irish football coach and former player. Fenlon played as a midfielder for St Patrick's Athletic, Bohemians, Linfield, Shamrock Rovers and Shelbourne. As a manager he won five League of Ireland titles ...

, who made Stevenson team captain for one game, became Stevenson's sixth manager in seven years at Hibs during 2011–12. His number of appearances during the 2011–12 season meant that his contract was automatically extended for another year. Early in the 2012–13 season, Stevenson suffered a broken toe during an

Edinburgh derby The Edinburgh derby is an informal title given to any football match played between Scottish clubs Heart of Midlothian (Hearts) and Hibernian (Hibs), the two oldest professional clubs based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The two clubs have a fierce r ...

match. He returned to the first team three weeks ahead of schedule. Stevenson provided cover at left-back for defensive injuries and he earned praise from Pat Fenlon for his performance in an Edinburgh derby victory in the 2012–13 Scottish Cup. Stevenson was also used at right-back during the 2012–13 season. He agreed a new two-year contract with Hibs in March 2013. In December 2013, Stevenson recorded his 200th competitive appearance for Hibs. At this time, manager

Terry Butcher Terry Ian Butcher (born 28 December 1958) is an English football manager and former player. He works as an academy coach for Ipswich Town. During his playing career as a defender, Butcher captained the England national team, winning 77 caps ...

deployed Stevenson as a left midfielder. This change produced rewards, as Stevenson scored the second goal of his career in a game against

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. ...

, then won a match-winning

penalty Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) A p ...

against Hearts. Stevenson made his 250th appearance for the club in the fifth round of the 2014–15 Scottish Cup, becoming only the 60th player to record as many appearances since 1885. Stevenson was named captain for the game, a 3–1 win against

Arbroath Arbroath () or Aberbrothock ( gd, Obar Bhrothaig ) is a former royal burgh and the largest town in the council area of Angus, Scotland, with a population of 23,902. It lies on the North Sea coast some ENE of Dundee and SSW of Aberdeen. The ...

, to mark his achievement. In his following game for the club, Stevenson scored only his fourth career goal as Hibs won 2–0 against Rangers at Ibrox. During the 2015 close season, Stevenson signed a new two-year contract with Hibs. He was part of the Hibs team that won the

2015–16 Scottish Cup The 2015–16 Scottish Cup was the 131st season of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. The tournament was sponsored by bookmaker William Hill in what was the fifth season of a five-year partnership. The final was conteste ...

, defeating Rangers 3–2 in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

. In doing so, he became the first player to win both Scottish national cup competitions with Hibernian. After helping the team win promotion in 2016–17, he signed a two-year contract with Hibs in May 2017. Stevenson was also awarded a

testimonial match A testimonial match or testimonial game, often referred to simply as a testimonial, is a practice in some sports, particularly in association football in the United Kingdom and South America, where a club has a match to honour a player for servic ...

, played against

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

in July 2017. In November 2018, his contract with Hibs was extended to the end of the 2020–21 season. He was voted Hibs' Supporters' Association Player of the Year in 2018–19, and He has twice been voted Young Player of the Year in the past and received a Special Recognition award in 2014 by the Association. On 11 January 2021, Stevenson made his 500th competitive appearance for Hibs. A limited edition shirt was released to mark this landmark, with proceeds going to the Hanlon Stevenson Foundation. In January 2021, Stevenson agreed to a new contract with Hibs that is due to run until the summer of 2022. In November 2021, Stevenson agreed to extend his contract with Hibernian to the end of the 2022–23 season. During that season, he set a new club record for league games played, as he made his 450th appearance in a 1–0 win at St Mirren on 4 February 2023. Stevenson scored his first goal for Hibs in almost five years during a 1–1 draw at

St Johnstone St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland which is a member of the Scottish Premiership for the 2022–23 season. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun ''aka'' Saint Johnstoun – an old ...

on 22 April 2023. The goal, which helped Hibs secure a place in the top half of the 2022–23 Scottish Premiership table, was Stevenson's tenth in 588 appearances for Hibs. Stevenson signed another contract with Hibs in May 2023, a one-year agreement for the 2023–24 season.

International

Stevenson played eight times for the Scotland under-21 team between August 2007 and November 2008. On 14 May 2018, aged 30, Stevenson was called up to the

senior squad for the first time. He made his full Scotland debut on 29 May 2018, in a 2–0 defeat to

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

Career statistics

Honours

;Hibernian *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,2015–16 *

: 2006–07 *

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship, known as the cinch Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland Scotland (, ...

: 2016–17

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stevenson, Lewis 1988 births Men's association football fullbacks Men's association football midfielders Hibernian F.C. players Living people People educated at Balwearie High School Scotland men's under-21 international footballers Scotland men's youth international footballers Scottish men's footballers Scottish Premier League players Scottish Professional Football League players Footballers from Kirkcaldy Scotland men's international footballers