Sam Curtis (born 1 December 2005) 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

League of Ireland Premier Division The League of Ireland Premier Division ( ga, Príomhroinn Sraith na hÉireann), also known as the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, is the top level division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland f ...

club

St Patrick's Athletic St Patrick's Athletic Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Lúthchleas Phádraig Naofa) is a professional Irish association football club based in Inchicore, Dublin, that plays in the Irish Premier Division. Founded in May 1929, they played origin ...

. He is the youngest ever player to play in the

League of Ireland The League of Ireland ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally us ...

Club career

Youth career

A native of

Navan Navan ( ; , meaning "the Cave") is the county town of County Meath, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In 2016, it had a population of 30,173, making it the List of urban areas in the Republic of Ireland by population, tenth largest settlement in ...

County Meath County Meath (; gle, Contae na Mí or simply ) is a county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. It is bordered by Dublin to the southeast, Louth to the northeast, Kildare to the south, Offaly to the sou ...

, Curtis began playing with his local side Parkvilla, before moving to top

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

youth side, St Kevin's Boys before moving to the academy of

club

Shamrock Rovers Shamrock Rovers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Ruagairí na Seamróige) is an Irish association football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is the most su ...

. In June 2019, he captained the Dublin District Schoolboys League representative team to winning the prestigious Kennedy Cup. While at Rovers, he made his debut in senior football for the club's reserve team Shamrock Rovers II in Ireland's second tier, the

League of Ireland First Division The League of Ireland First Division ( ga, Céad Roinn Sraith na hÉireann), also known as the SSE Airtricity League First Division, is the second level division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland football league system. Th ...

. His debut came on 17 October 2020 in a 3–1 win over

Athlone Town Athlone Town Association Football Club () is an Irish football club from Athlone who are playing in the League of Ireland. The club is the oldest in the League as it was founded in 1887. First elected to the League of Ireland in 1922, they pl ...

at age 14, making him the youngest player in

history. He spent time on trial at

AS Roma ' (''Rome Sport Association''), commonly referred to as Roma (), is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its existence, except for ...

and

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, th ...

in the summer of 2021.

St Patrick's Athletic

2021 season

On 25 July 2021, it was announced that Curtis, as well as his brother Ben, had signed for

, where they would initially play with the club's under 19 side. Curtis made his senior debut for the club came on 13 August 2021, replacing the injured

Lee Desmond Lee Desmond (born 22 January 1995) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a centre back or centre midfielder for USL Championship club Sacramento Republic. Career Early career Desmond played youth football with Malahide United, Cru ...

in injury time of a 2–1 win over

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

Richmond Park Richmond Park, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, is the largest of Royal Parks of London, London's Royal Parks, and is of national and international importance for wildlife conservation. It was created by Charles I of England, C ...

, making him the club's youngest ever player at 15 years and 255 days old (this record has since been taken by Mason Melia in 2023). He made his

UEFA Youth League The UEFA Youth League is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 2013. In its current format, it is contested by the youth teams of the clubs competing in the UEFA Champions League ...

debut on 29 September 2021 in a 2–1 loss to Serbian side

Crvena Zvezda Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional football club based in B ...

2022 season

Both Sam and brother Ben Curtis signed their first professional contracts on 20 January 2022. Curtis' first start for the club came on 6 May 2022 in a 4–0 win away to

Drogheda United Drogheda United Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Dhroichead Átha Aontaithe) is a semi-professional Irish association football club based in Drogheda, County Louth playing in the League of Ireland Premier Division. They play their home matches ...

United Park Head In The Game Park, also known as United Park, and formerly O2 Park and Hunky Dorys Park for sponsorship purposes, is a football stadium in Drogheda, Ireland. The ground has been home to League of Ireland side Drogheda United since 1979. I ...

. His form in May 2022 saw him voted as the club's Player of the Month by supporters. His first appearances in European competition came in the summer of 2022 when he came off the bench in a 1–1 draw with

NŠ Mura Nogometna šola Mura ( en, Mura Football School), commonly referred to as NŠ Mura or simply Mura, is a Slovenian football team, playing in the town of Murska Sobota. Founded in 2012, the team currently plays in the Slovenian PrvaLiga, the top ...

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

and in a 1–0 away win against

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side

CSKA Sofia CSKA Sofia ( bg, ЦСКА София) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia and currently competing in the country's premier football competition, the First League. ''CSKA'' is an abbreviation for ''Central Sport ...

in the

UEFA Europa Conference League The UEFA Europa Conference League (abbreviated as UECL) is an annual football club competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. Clubs qualify for the competition based on their ...

. He won the clubs' Player of the Month award for the second time in the season, for September 2022. He made a total of 20 appearances in all competitions during his first full season at the club. His form in his breakthrough season at the club led to reported interest from

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

and

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2023 season

Curtis started the 2023 season off well, making the Right wingback position his own following the departure of Barry Cotter in the offseason. He started the first 6 games of the season in the position, leading up to the March international break which earned him his first callup to the Republic of Ireland U21 side with Pats assistant manager

Jon Daly Jon Daly, sometimes credited as Jonathan C. Daly, Jon C. Daly or Jonathan Barney Daly, is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer best known for his sketch comedy work on the Comedy Central series ''Kroll Show''. In 2013 he starred as H ...

tipping him for a bright future in the game. He earned the club's Player of the Month award for his performances in March 2023. On 19 May 2023, Curtis scored the first goal of his senior career, heading home a

Jake Mulraney Jake David Mulraney (born 5 April 1996) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for League of Ireland Premier Division club St Patrick's Athletic. Born in Dublin, Mulraney has previously played for Ilkeston, Queens Park ...

corner in a 1–0 Dublin derby win away to Shelbourne at

Tolka Park Tolka Park ( ga, Páirc na Tulchann) is an Irish football ground located in the north Dublin suburb of Drumcondra, on the northern banks of the River Tolka. It is currently the home ground of League of Ireland club Shelbourne. The stadium fo ...

. He was voted as the club's Player of the Month for the second time in the season for May 2023. On 30 June 2023, Curtis scored a header from a

corner to give his side a 3 goal lead in an eventual 7–0 win over UCD at

. On 4 August 2023, he scored his 3rd goal of the season, volleying home his sides second goal in a 2–0 win away to

Sligo Rovers Sligo Rovers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Ruagairí Shligigh) is an Irish professional football club playing in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland. The club is based in Sligo in the west of Ireland. The club was founded in 1928 ...

at the The Showgrounds, in what was his 50th appearance for the club in all competitions. On 28 October 2023, he was named as the club's Young Player of the Year for 2023. On 12 November 2023, Curtis was part of the starting XI in the 2023 FAI Cup Final, in a 3–1 win over

Bohemians Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Beer * National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst * Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...

in front of a record breaking

FAI Cup The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup (FAI Cup), known as the Extra.ie FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as Derry ...

Final crowd of 43,881 at the

Aviva Stadium Aviva Stadium (also known as Lansdowne Road) is a sports stadium located in Dublin, Ireland, with a capacity for 51,700 spectators (all seated). It is built on the site of the former Lansdowne Road Stadium, which was demolished in 2007, and r ...

. On 15 November 2023, it was announced that Curtis had been included in the

PFAI Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association of Ireland Team of the Year (often called the PFAI Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to the group of eleven players voted by their fellow players as having perform ...

and was one of the 3 nominees for the

PFAI Young Player of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association of Ireland Players' Young Player of the Year (often called the PFAI Players' Young Player of the Year, the PFAI Young Player of the Year, or simply the Young Player of the Year) award is given to the footb ...

award, alongside James Clarke and Jack Moylan.

International career

Curtis featured for the Republic of Ireland U15 side in 2019, captaining the side at age 13. He was a prominent player for the Republic of Ireland U17s during their qualification campaign over 2021–2022, scoring 2 goals in 6 appearances. Curtis captained the Republic of Ireland U18 side over 2021–2022. His first call up to the Republic of Ireland U19 team came in September 2022. Curtis received his first call up to the Republic of Ireland U21 side came in March 2023, for a friendly against Iceland U21, despite still being just 17 years old. He played the full 90 minutes in the game as his side came from behind to win 2–1 after playing an hour with 10 men. On 20 June 2023, he was named as Republic of Ireland U18 Player of the Year for 2022 at the

FAI International Football Awards The FAI International Football Awards is an awards evening held to honour the best Republic of Ireland international footballers of the year. Senior International awards Senior International Player of the Year Senior Women's International P ...

Career statistics

Honours

St Patrick's Athletic *

(2):

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

;Individual * FAI Under-18 International Player of the Year (1): 2022 *

Young Player of the Year (1):

(1):

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Curtis, Sam 2005 births Living people Men's association football defenders St Patrick's Athletic F.C. players League of Ireland players Association footballers from County Meath Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's youth international footballers