Ryan Sweeney (born 15 April 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 as a defender for

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

Early life

Sweeney was born in

Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames (hyphenated until 1965, colloquially known as Kingston) is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, England. It is situated on the River Thames and southwest of Charing Cross. It is notable as ...

and attended

Richard Challoner School Richard Challoner School is an all boys secondary school with a mixed sixth form that is federated with Holy Cross School, New Malden. It has an academy status and is located in Surrey, England. The school is named after Bishop Richard Chall ...

New Malden New Malden is an area in South West London, England. It is located mainly within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames and the London Borough of Merton, and is from Charing Cross. Neighbouring localities include Kingston, Norbiton, Raynes ...

where he was captain of the school football team. Sweeney's brother

Dan Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa **Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoir ...

was also in the academy at

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 ...

and currently plays for

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a large town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevena ...

Playing career

AFC Wimbledon

Sweeney began his career with his local club

, joining their youth academy at the age of eight in 2005. He signed his first professional contract with AFC Wimbledon in February 2015. Sweeney made his

Football league The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

début for AFC Wimbledon on 6 April 2015, coming on as an 80th-minute substitute during the 4–0 away loss against

Dagenham and Redbridge Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club is a professional association football club based in Dagenham, Greater London, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Often known simply as ...

. He started Wimbledon's next match on 11 April 2015, a 0–0 draw against

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 ...

Kingsmeadow Kingsmeadow is a football stadium in Norbiton, Kingston upon Thames, London, which is used for home matches by Chelsea Women and Chelsea U21s. It was formerly the home of Kingstonian F.C. and AFC Wimbledon and has a capacity of 4,850, with 2, ...

, and was named man of the match. Sweeney began the 2015–16 season with the club's under-21 side before injury to

Karleigh Osborne Karleigh Anthony Jonathan Osborne (born 19 March 1988) is an English football manager and former professional footballer who is the head coach of Brentford Women. As a player, Osborne was a central defender and made over 160 Football League a ...

saw

Neal Ardley Neal Christopher Ardley (born 1 September 1972) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a right midfielder. He is currently the manager of Solihull Moors. Ardley was capped at Under-21 level by England. Ar ...

give Sweeney his chance in defence against

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 13 February 2016. Wimbledon won the match 4–1 and Sweeney earned praise for his performance. He kept his place in the side until he was sent-off for conceding a penalty in a 2–1 defeat at

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district in Lancashire, England. It is in Morecambe Bay on the Irish Sea. Name The first use of the name was by John Whitaker in his ''History of Manchester'' (1771), w ...

on 12 March 2016. Sweeney signed a new contract with Wimbledon in March 2016 after attracting interest from

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 ...

clubs

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

and

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

. On 4 August 2016 Wimbledon announced that they had agreed a fee with

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

for the transfer of Sweeney.

Stoke City

On 5 August 2016, Sweeney completed his move to

for an undisclosed fee, understood to be in the region of £250,000.

Bristol Rovers loan

On 20 January 2017 Sweeney joined

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been c ...

on loan for the remainder of the 2016–17 season. He impressed on his debut for the club, keeping a clean sheet in a 1–0 victory over local rivals

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at ...

during which he had a header cleared off the line. He played 16 times for the Gas helping he club finish in 10th position. Sweeney rejoined The Pirates on loan for the 2017–18 season. He scored his first goal for the Gas in a 3–1 win against

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

. Sweeney made 27 appearances in 2017–18 scoring four goals as Rovers finished in 13th position.

Mansfield Town

Sweeney joined

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they ...

on loan for the 2018–19 season. After a successful six-month loan, Sweeney signed for the Stags on a permanent basis in January 2019.

Dundee

In June 2021, Sweeney signed with

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 ...

side

on a two-year deal. He would make his debut from the bench in a 2–2 league draw against St Mirren. Sweeney scored his first goal for Dundee in a league game away to

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 ...

in October 2021. Although the club would be relegated that season, Sweeney impressed enough to be awarded Dundee's Players' Player of the Year and the Andrew De Vries Player of the Year awards.

International career

On 18 May 2015 Sweeney was called up to the Ireland U-18s squad for the first time.

Republic of Ireland U21s

On 15 March 2017, Sweeney was called up to the

Republic of Ireland national under-21 football team The Republic of Ireland national under-21 football team, is the national under-21 football team of the Republic of Ireland and is controlled by the Football Association of Ireland. The team played its first match in 1978 and has competed in the U ...

for the first time for the Under 21 European Championship qualifier match against

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

. He played the whole game as Ireland ran out as 1–0 winners thanks to a 2nd half goal from Olamide Shodipo.

Career statistics

Honours

Club

AFC Wimbledon *

Football League Two play-offs The EFL League Two play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from fourth to seventh in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are part of the annual Engli ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

Individual

Dundee * Andrew De Vries Memorial Trophy: 2021–22 * Players' Player of the Year: 2021–22

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sweeney, Ryan Living people 1997 births Republic of Ireland association footballers Footballers from Kingston upon Thames Association football defenders AFC Wimbledon players Stoke City F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players Dundee F.C. players English Football League players Scottish Professional Football League players