Christopher John McCann (born 21 July 1987) 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 ...

who plays for

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 ...

. A graduate of the youth system at Home Farm, McCann joined

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River ...

as a teenager, making his first team debut in 2005. He went on to make over 200 appearances for the club before joining Wigan Athletic on a free transfer in 2013. He has also won one cap for the Republic of Ireland U19 team.

Club career

Burnley

McCann was born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

County Dublin "Action to match our speech" , image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Dublin.svg , map_alt = map showing County Dublin as a small area of darker green on the east coast within the lighter green background of ...

. Brought over to Lancashire from the Irish club Home Farm, McCann progressed through the youth system at Burnley, and made his senior debut in the 2005–06 season, coming onto the pitch as an early substitute in the 4–0 win against

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed the ...

on 13 August 2005. McCann scored his first senior goal on the 27 September 2005, in the 3–0 win against

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn professio ...

. He started the 2006–07 season in the first-team squad, but reverted to the substitutes' bench after a few games as he sought to confirm his potential at

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

level. However, injuries saw him pressed into action as an emergency left-back and he took these opportunities – re-establishing himself in the first-team line-up. In 2008–09, McCann was linked with a possible move to a Premier League club. McCann began his debut Barclays Premier League season well, but an unfortunate knee injury and subsequent surgery to his cruciate following the game against Sunderland at Turf Moor in September sidelined the midfielder until December 2009 at the earliest. In his second match back from injury, he picked up a second injury that ruled him out for the rest of the season. Following Burnley's relegation from the Premier League McCann returned to the team and played in Burnley's first three pre-season friendlies against Bury,

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic be ...

and the first game of Burnley's tour of Singapore in which McCann was taken off with a knee injury. McCann played no further part in Burnley's pre-season and in the week before the Clarets season opener against

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

, news broke that the midfielder was a doubt for this game and would be sent to see a specialist. McCann returned to Championship action while being named captain of Burnley FC by manager Eddie Howe.

Wigan Athletic

On 26 June 2013, McCann agreed to join

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 193 ...

following the expiry of his contract with Burnley at the end of the month. He was reunited with former Burnley manager

Owen Coyle Owen Columba Coyle (born 14 July 1966) is a professional football manager and former player who is currently the manager of Scottish Championship club Queen's Park. He played as a striker for several clubs in England and Scotland, and made on ...

Atlanta United

On 6 July 2016, it was announced that McCann would join

Atlanta United FC Atlanta United FC, commonly known as Atlanta United, is an American professional soccer club based in Atlanta that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference. Founded in 2014, Atlanta United began p ...

for their inaugural season in 2017. He went out on loan between the time of his signing and the beginning of the 2017 MLS season. On 9 February 2019, McCann was waived by Atlanta.

Loan to Coventry City

On 2 August 2016, McCann joined

on loan until the start of the 2017

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Cana ...

campaign.

D.C. United

McCann signed with D.C. United on 12 February 2019. On 12 June 2019, McCann scored his first goal for D.C. United from a header against the

Philadelphia Union The Philadelphia Union are an American professional soccer club based in Chester, Pennsylvania. The Union compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Founded on February 28, 2008, the club began playing in 2010 ...

in the

U.S. Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a knockout cup competition in men's soccer in the United States of America. It is the oldest ongoing national soccer competition in that country. The 2023 U.S. O ...

. D.C. United and McCann mutually parted ways on 31 July 2019.

Oldham Athletic

McCann signed with

on 18 October 2019 on a short term deal. He made his Oldham debut the next day 19 October 2019 in a 1-0 defeat against

Macclesfield Town Macclesfield Town Football Club was an English professional football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, that was wound-up after a High Court ruling on 16 September 2020. Initially known as Macclesfield F.C., the club was formed in 1874 and ...

Shamrock Rovers

In December 2020 McCann signed for the League of Ireland Champions

International career

McCann has represented the Republic of Ireland at under-17, under-18 and under-19 level. He was first called up to the Republic of Ireland U21s for the matches against

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and

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Mac ...

on 16 and 20 November 2007 for the 2009 European U21 Championship qualifiers. On the wake of his call-up Ireland U21 manager,

Don Givens Daniel Joseph "Don" Givens (born 9 August 1949) is an Irish former footballer and coach. A forward, Givens played club football for Manchester United, Luton Town, Queens Park Rangers, Birmingham City, AFC Bournemouth, Sheffield United and Ne ...

, stated that "Chris has been involved with Ireland at other age levels but this is his first call-up to the Under-21 panel. He is a good player and deserves a chance at this level". He was selected in the squad for the 1–0 defeat to

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = ...

Podgorica Podgorica (Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Подгорица, ; Literal translation, lit. 'under the hill') is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Montenegro, largest city of Montenegro. The city was formerly known as Titograd ...

. However, he had to withdraw due to an injury. This was unexpected news as he has played the week before against

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syst ...

after he had missed three games with a groin injury. McCann was again named on the bench for the second match against

but opted out of the squad two hours prior to kick-off claiming it was a waste of his time being there. Don Givens criticised McCann saying, "I can never understand anybody that doesn't want to pull on the green shirt". He also added that this event could hinder McCann's future international career, "Will I pick him again? Would you?". Ireland went on to win the match in

Athlone Athlone (; ) is a town on the border of County Roscommon and County Westmeath, Ireland. It is located on the River Shannon near the southern shore of Lough Ree. It is the second most populous town in the Midlands Region with a population of ...

regardless of McCann's actions through a 90th-minute winner from the

Watford Watford () is a town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal en ...

midfielder John-Joe O'Toole. However, Givens later apologised for his criticism, "I take it back, its nice to see Chris developing into a player of true class". Despite smoothing things over with Givens he was never called up to the under-21s again. Since that event McCann has stated his desire to play for the full national side and hoped that his form for his club side could push him into Giovanni Trappatoni's squad.

Personal

McCann earned his U.S. green card in February 2017. This status also qualifies him as a domestic player for MLS roster purposes.

Career statistics

Honours

Burnley *

Football League Championship play-offs The English Football League Championship play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from third to sixth in the EFL Championship table and are part of the English Football League play-offs. , ...

: 2008–09 Wigan Athletic *

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

: 2015–16

Atlanta United Atlanta United FC, commonly known as Atlanta United, is an American professional soccer club based in Atlanta that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference. Founded in 2014, Atlanta United began p ...

MLS Cup The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The game is held in November and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Conference ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

;Shamrock Rovers *

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 ...

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 coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

References

External links

Chris McCann profile
at

Wigan Athletic F.C. Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McCann, Chris 1987 births Living people Association footballers from Dublin (city) Republic of Ireland association footballers Republic of Ireland youth international footballers Association football midfielders Home Farm F.C. players Burnley F.C. players Wigan Athletic F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Atlanta United FC players D.C. United players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Shamrock Rovers F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players Major League Soccer players League of Ireland players Republic of Ireland expatriate association footballers Irish expatriate sportspeople in England Irish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate soccer players in the United States