Mark Sykes (born 4 August 1997) is an Irish 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 English club

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 ...

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 ...

. Born in Northern Ireland, he plays for the Republic of Ireland national team.

Club career

Glenavon

Born in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

, Sykes began his career with

Glenavon Glenavon Football Club is a Northern Irish semi-professional football club that competes in the NIFL Premiership. Founded in 1889, the club hails from Lurgan and plays its home matches at Mourneview Park. Club colours are blue and white. Gar ...

. In December 2017 he was linked with a transfer away from the club. In February 2018 he signed a new contract until the end of the 2018–19 season. In March 2018 he was described by a journalist as "one of the most outstanding young prospects in the Irish League".

Oxford United

In January 2019 he signed for English club

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and th ...

, making his debut on 8 January 2019 in the

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

. He scored his first goal for Oxford against

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

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 ...

on 27 August 2019, and his first league goal in a 2–1 victory over

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional Association football, football club, based in London Borough of Merton, Merton, London, that plays in the EFL League Two, after being relegated from the EFL League One following the 2021–22 EFL Leagu ...

on 29 December 2019. In his three and a half seasons at the club he made 137 appearances and scored 12 times, including Oxford's consolation goal in their 2–1 defeat to

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their home ...

in the 2020 EFL League One play-off Final at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

Bristol City

In May 2022,

announced that they had signed Sykes, with the transfer becoming official on 1 July 2022, on a three-year deal with the option of a further year.

International career

He has also played for Northern Ireland at under-18, under-19 and under-21 youth levels. He made his debut for the under-21 side in September 2016, in a 2–0 defeat to Macedonia and as of 28 January 2019 had 11 caps and 2 goals. He received his first call-up to the Northern Ireland senior team in May 2019. He was called up again in September 2019. In August 2020 he informed the

Irish Football Association The Irish Football Association (IFA) is the governing body for association football in Northern Ireland. It organised the Ireland national football team from 1880 to 1950, which after 1954, became the Northern Ireland national football team. ...

(which governs football in Northern Ireland) that he no longer wished to be considered for their squad, instead opting for the Republic of Ireland. In March 2022, he was named in Stephen Kenny's Republic of Ireland squad for forthcoming friendly matches. Sykes was named as a late inclusion to the squad in November 2022 for the Republic of Ireland's November friendlies with Norway and Malta, following the withdrawals of two players through injury. On 20 November 2022, Sykes made his debut in a 1–0 win over

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

, becoming the first

–born player to represent the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

since 1946.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Glenavon *

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Samuel Gelston's Whiskey Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland. Ina ...

: 2015–16 Individual *Ulster Young Footballer of the Year 2017–18

References

1997 births Living people Sportspeople from Belfast Republic of Ireland association footballers Republic of Ireland international footballers Association footballers from Northern Ireland Republic of Ireland international footballers from Northern Ireland Glenavon F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players Bristol City F.C. players NIFL Premiership players Association football midfielders Northern Ireland youth international footballers Northern Ireland under-21 international footballers English Football League players {{NorthernIreland-footy-bio-stub