Sam Wardrop (born 20 October 1997) is a Scottish

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 last played as a defender for Ettan Fotboll club

Ljungskile SK Ljungskile SK is a Swedish football club located in Ljungskile, a town within Uddevalla Municipality. They currently play in the Swedish third tier, Division 1. History Ljungskile SK, formed in 1926, is famous for their promotions between 19 ...

. His previous clubs include

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

, Dundee United and Dumbarton.

Career

Wardrop started his career at

, and captained the club's Under-20s to victory in the 2017 Scottish Youth Cup final. On 1 August 2017, Wardrop joined

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

club Dumbarton on loan, until May 2018. He scored his first senior goal, the winner, against

Inverness Caledonian Thistle Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, commonly known as Caley Thistle, is a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland. The team currently competes in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional F ...

in September 2017. Wardrop signed a two-year contract with Dundee United on 31 May 2018. After suffering an injury that ruled out a potential loan return to Dumbarton in January 2019, he rejoined the club on loan in January 2020 playing seven times prior to the season being ended early by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Wardrop was then released by United in May 2020 and signed a permanent contract with Dumbarton. He left the club after one season in June 2021 and subsequently signed a one-year contract with

Airdrieonians Airdrieonians Football Club is a Scottish professional football team in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, who are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League One. They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United ...

but left just two months into the season for personal reasons. In 2024, after documenting his return to professional football on social media, he agreed a deal with Swedish Ettan Fotboll club

International career

Wardrop was selected for the Scotland U17 team in the

UEFA under-17 Championship The UEFA European Under-17 Championship or simply UEFA Under-17 Championship, is an annual football competition contested by the European men's under-17 national teams of the member associations of UEFA. Spain is the most successful team in this ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, where the

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beat them in the semi-finals. He was selected for the

under-20 Junior is a category of athletics in which athletes compete under the age of 20 years. Countries all around the world compete in athletics. World Junior Athletics Competitions are held every two years which contain the best junior competitors in ...

squad in the

2017 Toulon Tournament The 2017 Toulon Tournament (officially french: 45ème Festival International "Espoirs" – Tournoi Maurice Revello) was the 45th edition of the Toulon Tournament. The tournament was named after Maurice Revello, who started the tournament in 1967 a ...

. After a historic first ever win against

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, which was at any level. Scotland later won the bronze medal. It was the nations first ever medal at the competition.

Personal life

Wardrop attended Bearsden Academy. After leaving professional football in 2021, Sam set up his own business offering football and fitness coaching to young players alongside fellow Celtic academy graduate Aidan Nesbitt. In 2023, he began documenting his return to professional football through a series of vlogs on his social media accounts, including training sessions in the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

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and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

where he eventually signed a contract with

Career statistics

References

External links

* * 1997 births Living people Scottish men's footballers People educated at Bearsden Academy Men's association football defenders Dumbarton F.C. players Celtic F.C. players Dundee United F.C. players Airdrieonians F.C. players Ljungskile SK players Scottish Professional Football League players Scottish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Scotland men's youth international footballers {{Scotland-footy-defender-1990s-stub