John Patrick Egan (born 20 October 1992) 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 lea ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, it is the highest divi ...

club

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. They play their home ...

and the Republic of Ireland national team. Beginning his career at

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

, he had loan spells with

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The club competes in , the third tier of English football, and is managed by Graham Alexander. The club was founded in 1903 and ...

and

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth level of English football. The team are known as "The Shrimpers", a reference ...

, but was released by the Wearside club without making an appearance for the first team. In July 2014, he joined Gillingham, and was named Player of the Year in his first season, and voted in the League One PFA Team of the Year in his second. In July 2016, he joined

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

, where he was captain of the club in his second season. In July 2018, he rejoined Sheffield United and was part of the team that got promoted to the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

. Internationally, Egan has represented the Republic of Ireland at under-17, under-19 and under-21 level. He made his debut for the senior side in March 2017.

Early and personal life

Born in

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

, Egan started his career with Greenwood FC in Togher. His father John Egan respresented Kerry in

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

, and his mother, Mary Egan, was a football player and has a League of Ireland medal under her belt. He played

hurling Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men and women. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goa ...

and Gaelic football for

Bishopstown Bishopstown () is a suburb of Cork, located in the south west of the city. It is made-up of the townlands of Ballineaspigbeg and Ballineaspigmore (sometimes spelled Ballinaspigmore), and is located in the civil parish of St. Finbar's in the hi ...

Club career

Early career

Egan was loaned by

in January 2012. Egan made his professional debut for Palace in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

third round playing the full 90 minutes in their 1–0 loss to

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...

. In March 2012, Egan joined

Football League One The English Football League One, known as Sky Bet League One for sponsorship reasons, or simply League One, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League One is the second-highest division of the English Football League an ...

side

on a month's loan to ease a defensive crisis, making his début for the Blades that evening in a defeat at

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

. In July 2012, Egan was called up by Martin O'Neill for Sunderland's pre-season tour to South Korea to take part in the Peace Cup. He came on as a substitute for the injured Wes Brown in the 3rd place play-off against

FC Groningen Football Club Groningen () is a Dutch professional association football club based in Groningen, Groningen (province), Groningen province. Founded in 1971 as the successor of GVAV-Rapiditas, GVAV, Groningen compete in the Eredivisie, the first t ...

of the Netherlands, playing 50 minutes of the 3–2 victory. After a solid pre-season, he was praised by Martin O'Neill and handed the number forty-two jersey for the season. At the start of November 2012 after being around the first team Egan signed a three-month loan deal with

to get games under his belt. He made his début for Bradford on 6 November in a 0–0 draw at home to Chesterfield. His loan was cut short two weeks later after suffering a broken leg, returning having played four games for the Bantams. This injury ruled him out for a year but during his rehab, Egan agreed to a one-year contract extension with Sunderland in March 2013. On 27 February 2014, Egan joined League Two side

on an emergency loan. His first goal came on 11 March 2014, in a 2–2 draw against

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The club was formed in ...

, where he scored a "spectacular long-distance effort". He later went on to win Southend's 'Goal of the Season' award and the strike was a sensation on YouTube gaining over 35,000 views. On 28 March 2014, Egan extended his loan stay with the ''Blues'' until the end of the 2013–14 season.

Gillingham

On 3 July 2014, amid interest from several clubs from League One and the Championship, Egan signed a two-year deal with Gillingham following his release from Sunderland. Egan enjoyed a fantastic debut season with Gillingham, playing 52 times and scoring 5 goals. He also won the main Player of the Year and Away Player of the Year awards for the club to cap off a good year after finishing 12th in League One. In April 2016, Egan was named in the League One

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's Football in England, En ...

for his performances over the 2015–16 season.

Brentford

Egan rejected the offer a new contract by Gillingham at the conclusion of the 2015–16 season and joined Championship club

. He scored his first goals for Brentford when he scored twice in a 2–0 win over Ipswich Town on 16 August 2016. In December 2016 the Professional Football Compensation Committee ruled that Brentford should pay Gillingham an initial net compensation fee of £400,000, an additional £25,000 for every 20 games that he plays for Brentford, up to 80 games, as well as a 20% sell-on fee and a fee of £75,000 in the event that Brentford are promoted to the

within the period of the player's three-year contract. After the sale of captain Harlee Dean in August 2017 to

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

, Egan was appointed as the new captain of Brentford. During the 2017–18 season, Egan impressed as Brentford kept 15 clean sheets as they finished 9th in the

Sheffield United

Egan re-joined former loan club Sheffield United on 19 July 2018 on a four-year contract for an undisclosed club-record fee. In his first season with the team, he helped them gain promotion to the

. On 21 August 2020 he signed a new four-year contract, keeping him at the club until 2024. Egan departed the club upon the expiry of his contract.

Burnley

In September 2024, Egan signed for

side

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

on a free transfer on a one-year deal.

Hull City

On 3 February 2025, Egan signed an eighteen-month contract with

side

for an undisclosed fee. He made his Hull City debut on 12 February against his former team in a 2–0 defeat.

International career

On 28 March 2017, Egan made his senior international debut, starting in a friendly against

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

at the

Aviva Stadium Aviva Stadium, also known as Lansdowne Road (, ) or Dublin Arena (during UEFA competitions), is a List of stadiums in Ireland by capacity, sports stadium located in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, with a capacity for 51,711 spectators ...

. He captained his country for the first time in September 2019 in a 3–1 win against

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

at the Aviva Stadium. On 1 September 2021, he was named FAI Senior International Player of the Year for 2020, the same day that he scored his first international goal in a

2022 World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

qualifier: a 2–1 loss against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

:''Scores and results list Ireland's goal tally first.''

Honours

Sheffield United *

runner-up: 2018–19, 2022–23 Individual * Gillingham Player of the Year: 2014–15 *

: 2015–16 League One *Sheffield United Community Player of the Year: 2019–20, 2020–21 * FAI Senior International Player of the Year: 2020

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Egan, John 1992 births Living people Men's association football central defenders Association footballers from Cork (city) Bishopstown Gaelic footballers Bishopstown hurlers Dual players Gaelic footballers who switched code English Football League players Premier League players Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's international footballers Republic of Ireland men's under-21 international footballers Republic of Ireland men's youth international footballers Sunderland A.F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Burnley F.C. players Hull City A.F.C. players Republic of Ireland expatriate men's association footballers 21st-century Irish sportsmen