David Robert Bates (born 5 October 1996) 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 ...

who plays as a defender for Mechelen. Bates has previously played for

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 Leagu ...

East Stirlingshire East Stirlingshire Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish association football club based in the town of Falkirk. The club was founded in 1881 and competes in the , in the fifth tier of the Scottish football league system. The club's origins ca ...

Brechin City Brechin City Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the townDespite the name of the football club, Brechin is not an official city. Brechin was historically known as a city because it has a cathedral. of Brechin in Angus. The club ...

, Rangers,

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

Cercle Brugge Cercle Brugge Koninklijke Sportvereniging () is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges. Cercle have played in the Belgian Pro League since the 2003–04 season, having previously spent several years in the Belgian Second Divisi ...

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...

and

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

. He has been capped four times at full international level by the

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

national team.

Club career

Raith Rovers

Born in Kirkcaldy, Bates began his career at his hometown club

. He was first included in a matchday squad on 21 September 2013, remaining an unused substitute in their 4–2

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. The Scottish Champio ...

home win over

Alloa Athletic Alloa Athletic Football Club is a Scottish association football semi-professional club based in the town of Alloa, Clackmannanshire. Formed as Alloa in 1880, the football club shortly changed its name to Alloa Association, and then to Alloa Ath ...

. He was again unused in 13 more league games and two Scottish Challenge Cup fixtures. In January 2015, Bates was loaned to

Scottish League Two The Scottish League Two, known as cinch League Two for sponsorship reasons, is the fourth tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish League Two was e ...

team

for the remainder of the campaign. He made his debut on 3 January, playing the full 90 minutes of a 3–0 loss at

Berwick Rangers Berwick Rangers Football Club is a football team based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, England, just south of the border with Scotland. Founded in 1881, they currently play in the , the fifth tier of Scottish football, despite hailing fr ...

. Two weeks later, he received a straight red card in a 3–1 home defeat to Annan Athletic. He made 17 appearances in all for the Shire; in his last one he headed the first goal of his career as they finished the season with a 5–1 loss to Albion Rovers at

Ochilview Park Ochilview Park is a football stadium in Stenhousemuir in the Falkirk council area of Scotland. It is the home ground of Scottish League Two club Stenhousemuir, and is also currently shared by Scottish Championship club Queen's Park and Eas ...

. On 25 July 2015, Bates made his first appearance for Raith, playing the entirety of a 1–0 win at

Cowdenbeath Cowdenbeath (; sco, Coudenbeith) is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is north-east of Dunfermline and north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a police burgh in 189 ...

in the first round of the Challenge Cup. On 8 August, he played his first league game, a 3–0 win over Livingston at Stark's Park on the first day of the Championship season. On 11 September 2015, Bates moved on loan to

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

until 12 December 2015.

Rangers

On 5 August 2016, Bates moved on a development loan to Rangers until January 2017. At the end of his loan, Bates moved on a permanent basis to Rangers. He made his debut for Rangers in a

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 Scottis ...

match against Kilmarnock on 6 April 2017, starting at centre-back. Bates made his European debut in the opening game of Rangers' 2017–18 season against Progrès Niederkorn on 29 June 2017.

Hamburger SV

On 12 April 2018,

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of three ...

announced the signing of Bates on a four-year contract after his contract expired with Rangers in the summer of 2018. By February 2019 he was described as a "favourite" at the club, having started in 13 of 20 Hamburg's league games. Football writer Daniel Busch commented that Bates "plays like a 'no-nonsense centre-back' and already has strong physical attributes. Having improved his passing so quickly, he will further improve and become a more rounded player". In May 2019, he suffered a ligament part rupture in his left ankle during the away game against

SC Paderborn 07 Sport-Club Paderborn 07 e.V., commonly known as simply SC Paderborn 07 () or SC Paderborn, is a German association football club based in Paderborn, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club has enjoyed its greatest successes since the turn of the mille ...

, effectively ending his season. On 8 August 2019, Bates signed for

on a season-long loan. After starting only one match in the Owls' 1-0 EFL Cup victory over

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

, he suffered a hip flexor injury that ruled him out for an extended period. On 7 August 2020, Bates signed a season-long loan for

Aberdeen

Bates returned to Scotland in August 2021, signing a three-year contract with

Mechelen

After one season with Aberdeen, Bates signed a three-year contract with Belgian club K.V. Mechelen on 1 September 2022.

International career

Bates was selected for the Scotland under-21 team in September 2018. He made four appearances for the under-21 team, all in the early part of the 2018–19 season. Bates was then called into the full

squad in November 2018, and he made his international debut in a 4–0 win against

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

on 17 November.

Career statistics

Club

International

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bates, David 1996 births Living people Footballers from Kirkcaldy Scottish men's footballers Men's association football defenders Raith Rovers F.C. players East Stirlingshire F.C. players Brechin City F.C. players Rangers F.C. players Scottish Professional Football League players 2. Bundesliga players Belgian Pro League players Scotland men's under-21 international footballers Scotland men's international footballers Hamburger SV players Scottish expatriate men's footballers Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Aberdeen F.C. players Cercle Brugge K.S.V. players Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium K.V. Mechelen players