Liam Patrick Kelly (born 23 January 1996) 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 ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

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 Scottis ...

club Motherwell and the Scotland national team. Kelly has previously played for Rangers, East Fife, Livingston and

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

Club career

Rangers

Kelly joined Rangers aged ten and played in the club's youth sides, notably scoring the final penalty during Rangers under-17s

Glasgow Cup The Glasgow Cup is a football tournament open to teams from Glasgow, Scotland. Operated by the Glasgow Football Association, it was competed for annually by senior Glasgow clubs from 1887 until 1989. It is now (since the 2019–20 amended rul ...

win in 2012. After training with the first-team for the majority of the 2014–15 season and featuring on the bench, Kelly signed a contract extension on 25 February 2015, until the summer of 2018.

Loan moves

On 8 January 2016, Kelly joined East Fife in

Scottish League Two The Scottish League Two, known as cinch League Two for sponsorship reasons, is the fourth tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish League Two was e ...

on a six-month loan. During his time at

Bayview Stadium Bayview Stadium, known formerly as New Bayview, is a football stadium in the Scottish town of Methil, Fife. It is home to East Fife. It was opened in 1998, after the club relocated from the original Bayview Park across town. The stadium can ac ...

, Kelly played in 16 league matches and was part of the side which won the League Two title. Upon returning to Rangers, Kelly travelled to the United States with the first team for a pre-season training camp. However, on 15 July 2016, he was loaned out to the then

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

team Livingston until January 2017. He made his debut for ''Livi'' the next day in a

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

match against St Mirren.

Livingston

Kelly moved to Livingston, where he had previously been on loan, for an undisclosed fee in June 2018. He played regularly for Livingston in the 2018–19 season, but then invoked a release clause in his contract.

Queens Park Rangers

On 14 June 2019, Kelly signed for

for an undisclosed fee on a four-year contract. He made his debut on 13 August 2019, in an EFL Cup match against

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

saving two penalties in a 5–4 penalty shootout win.

Motherwell (loan)

On 6 January 2021, Kelly moved on loan to Motherwell for the remainder of the season.

Motherwell

On 5 July 2021, Kelly returned to Motherwell on a permanent transfer from Queens Park Rangers, signing a three-year contract.

International career

Kelly has represented Scotland at various age levels, up to an including the under-21 team. Kelly received his first call-up to the senior

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

squad in March 2019 for games against

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

and

San Marino San Marino (, ), officially the Republic of San Marino ( it, Repubblica di San Marino; ), also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino ( it, Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino, links=no), is the fifth-smallest country in the world an ...

. After many call-ups to the squad, Kelly made his full international debut in a friendly against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

on 17 October 2023.

Style of play

Kenny Miller Kenneth Miller (born 23 December 1979) is a Scottish professional football coach and former player. Miller, who played as a striker, is one of only five post-war players to have played for both Rangers and Celtic. Miller began his career at ...

, who played alongside Kelly at Rangers and was also his player-manager at Livi, said of him in 2018: "He's excellent with the ball at his feet. He's a proper modern-day goalkeeper".

Personal life

He is the brother of Livingston defender Sean Kelly. In October 2023 the siblings faced each other from 12 yards in a Scottish Premiership fixture, with Sean scoring his penalty past Liam.

Career statistics

Honours

Club

;Rangers under-17 *

: 2012 ;East Fife *

: 2015–16 ;Livingston *

: 2016–17

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Liam 1996 births Living people Footballers from Glasgow Scottish men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Rangers F.C. players East Fife F.C. players Livingston F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Motherwell F.C. players Scottish Professional Football League players English Football League players Scotland men's youth international footballers Scotland men's under-21 international footballers Scotland men's international footballers