Ryan Patrick Nolan (born 17 February 1999) 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 as a defender for Hércules

Club career

Born in

County Clare County Clare ( ga, Contae an Chláir) is a county in Ireland, in the Southern Region and the province of Munster, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council is the local authority. The county had a population of 118,817 ...

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 ...

, Nolan was raised in

Torre-Pacheco Torre-Pacheco () is a municipality in the autonomous community of Murcia in southeastern Spain. It covers an area of 189.4 km² and its population in 2019 was 35,676. The only high ground in the municipality is Cabezo Gordo hill, the location ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

from a young age - due to this, Nolan is also eligible to play for the

Spain National Football Team The Spain national football team ( es, Selección Española de Fútbol) has represented Spain in international men's football competitions since 1920. It is governed by the Royal Spanish Football Federation, the governing body for football in ...

despite having played for

youth teams. Whilst playing for Torre Pacheco youth team, Nolan was noticed by former player

Pierluigi Casiraghi Pierluigi Casiraghi (; born 4 March 1969) is an Italian professional football coach and former player who played as a striker. Casiraghi began his playing career in Italy in 1985, with Monza. He later played for Juventus, and Lazio, before end ...

and subsequently recommended to

Internazionale Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter is ...

. Signing a youth contract, Nolan went on to Captain Inter’s Primavera youth team and, gaining the trust of then-coach

Luciano Spalletti Luciano Spalletti (; born 7 March 1959) is an Italian football manager and a former player. He is currently the manager of Italian Serie A club Napoli. Playing career Born in Certaldo, Metropolitan City of Florence, Spalletti started his career ...

, was named on the substitutes bench for various first-team games. On 2 September 2019, Nolan left

and signed with

Arezzo Arezzo ( , , ) , also ; ett, 𐌀𐌓𐌉𐌕𐌉𐌌, Aritim. is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of above sea level. ...

. On 31 January 2020, Nolan joined

Serie C The Serie C () is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing body that runs the Serie C. The unification of the Lega Pro ...

club

Giana Erminio Associazione Sportiva Giana Erminio S.r.l. is an Italian football club based in Gorgonzola, Lombardy. The team currently plays in Italy's . History The club was founded in 1909 as ''Unione Sportiva Argentia'', and later adopted the current name ...

on loan. In the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic, Nolan's contract with

was terminated by mutual consent on 24 September 2020. He subsequently returned to Spain to join

Getafe Getafe () is a municipality and a city in Spain belonging to the Community of Madrid. , it has a population of 180,747, the region's sixth most populated municipality. Getafe is located 13 km south of Madrid's city centre, within a flat ar ...

. Nolan was due to make his first team debut in December 2020 but was ruled out for the season after he tore his cruciate ligament in training. In February 2022 he signed for

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

. In August 2022 he signed with

Raith Rovers Raith Rovers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the town of Kirkcaldy, Fife. The club was founded in 1883 and currently competes in the Scottish Championship as a member of the Scottish Professional Football Leag ...

, taking the number 5 shirt. Nolan made his league debut for Raith Rovers on July 30, 2022, playing the full 90 minutes in an away game against

Cove Rangers Cove Rangers Football Club is a senior Scottish football club currently playing in the Scottish Championship. They are based in the Cove Bay area of Aberdeen and play their football at Balmoral Stadium, having left their former home at Allan ...

. On March 18, 2023, Nolan scored his first league goal in the reverse fixture against

, in a 6–1 home win. On July 15, 2023, it was announced that Nolan had returned to Spain to play for Hércules.

International career

Nolan has represented The Republic of Ireland national team at underage level. He has been capped at U16, U17, and U18 - he has made the provisional U21 squad on one occasion, although he did not make the final squad. He's also eligible to represent

as he moved to the country when he was 8 years old.

References

1999 births Living people Association footballers from County Clare Republic of Ireland expatriate men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's youth international footballers Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Men's association football defenders Inter Milan players SS Arezzo players AS Giana Erminio players Getafe CF B players Getafe CF footballers Northampton Town F.C. players Serie C players Segunda División B players Irish expatriate sportspeople in Spain Irish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Italy {{Ireland-footy-defender-stub