Luke Terry O'Nien (born 21 November 1994) is an English 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

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

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 ...

and plays for club

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 ...

Career

Watford

O'Nien joined

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

as an Under-9. Having signed his first professional contract at

Vicarage Road Vicarage Road is a stadium in Watford, England, and is the home stadium of EFL Championship, Championship club Watford F.C., Watford. An all-seater stadium, its current capacity is 22,200. History It has been the home of Watford since 1922, w ...

in July 2013, he was then called up by the first team to the pre-season friendly tour in Italy after he impressed staff during training. O'Nien was then given the number 32 shirt. He had been an unused substitute on a handful of occasions during the 2013–14 season. He made his Watford debut as an 88th-minute substitute in a 3–0 win at home to

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

on 15 March 2014. After the match, O'Nien reacted to his debut against Barnsley. On 27 March 2014, O'Nien signed a one-month loan deal with

Isthmian League Premier Division The Isthmian League () is a regional football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 88 teams in fo ...

side

Wealdstone Wealdstone () is a district located in the centre of the London Borough of Harrow, England. It is located just north of Harrow, London, Harrow town centre and is south of Harrow Weald, west of Belmont, Harrow, Belmont and Kenton, London, Kenton, ...

. He made his debut as a late substitute in a win over Billericay Town on 31 March 2014, while his first start came three days later on 3 April 2014 in a 3–0 success over East Thurrock United. He ended the season gaining a Ryman Premier Division title medal as Wealdstone won the league. Following his loan spell, on 13 May 2014, O'Nien signed a new one-year deal with the ''Hornets''. He expressed delight over signing a new contract with the club. In August 2014, O'Nien returned to Wealdstone, now a

Conference South The National League South, officially Vanarama National League South, is a professional Association football league in England. National League South is the second division of the National Leagues and step 2 of the NLS and sixth-highest ti ...

side, on a season-long loan deal. Following Watford's promotion 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 ...

in 2015, O'Nien was one of three released by the club following the expiration of his contract.

Wycombe Wanderers

On 25 July 2015, O'Nien signed for League Two side

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 188 ...

on a one-year deal, having had a successful trial with the club. In 2017, he earned the accolade of Community Player of the Season. In the 2017–18 season, the club won promotion to

League One League One or League 1 may refer to: Association football * EFL League One, the third tier of football in England. * China League One, the second tier of football in China * K League 1, the top-tier football in South Korea * Lao League 1 * Lea ...

Sunderland

O'Nien joined

on 30 July 2018. He scored his first goal for the club in the 2–0 away game win against Shrewsbury Town in October 2018. His second goal for the club came on 27 November 2018 and it was Sunderland's fourth, and final, goal of an entertaining 4–2 home victory against promotion rivals Barnsley. In March 2019, he had consistent performances in an unfamiliar right back role in which he won multiple man of the match awards. At the end of the 2018–19 season O'Nien picked up the award of Young Player of The Season. In his first season at Sunderland, O'Nien got attacked by a Portsmouth fan at Fratton Park after he got accidentally pushed into the stands by a player on the opposing team. O'Nien appeared to get punched, kicked and hurled abuse at by nearby Portsmouth fans. However, O'Nien wasn't injured and didn't end up pressing charges. Following an impressive

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

season, O'Nien was named in the 2020–21 EFL League One Team of the Season at the league's annual awards ceremony on 29 April 2021. On 6 July 2021, O'Nien signed a new three-year contract extension with

. Ahead of the 2024–25 season, O'Nien was named as Sunderland's club captain. In the opening weekend of the new season, he scored against

Cardiff City F.C. Cardiff City Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It currently competes in , the third tier of the English football league system in the 2025–26 season following relegation. Founded in 1899 a ...

for his first goal of the campaign. O'Nien found the net again the following week, along with bagging an assist, making it three goal contributions in two games. He scored an

own goal An own goal occurs in sports when a player performs actions that result in scoring points for the opposition, such as when a Association football, footballer puts a ball into their own net. In some parts of the world, the term has become a met ...

while attempting to turn his head to dodge the ball while facing

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

on Matchday 4. This own goal ended Sunderland's 389-minute run without conceding a goal. In the 2024/2025 season Sunderland ended their eight-year wait to return to the Premier League after beating Sheffield United 2-1 with an injury-time winner in the Championship play-off final. O'Nien, who had to watch the rest of the match from the sidelines after dislocating his shoulder during the game, joked that he "covered more distance celebrating". After the match, he told Sky Sports that he had "never had anxiety like it", but that he was "so proud of these boys".

Personal life

O'Nien was born in

Hemel Hempstead Hemel Hempstead () is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England. It is located north-west of London; nearby towns and cities include Watford, St Albans and Berkhamsted. The population at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 cens ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

. He attended John F Kennedy Catholic School. His father Terry was a professional golfer. Owing to his ancestries, O'Nien is eligible to play international football for either the

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

national teams. His great-uncle is

Lim Kim San Lim Kim San ( zh, c=林金山, p=Lín Jīnshān; 30 November 1916 – 20 July 2006) was a Singaporean businessman, civil servant, and politician who served as a Cabinet minister with a variety of portfolios between 1965 and 1981. Prior to his ...

, a prominent local politician who played a role in the development of Singapore, particularly in the country's prominent public housing projects. O'Nien is married to wife Georgia and has two children, a boy and a girl.

Career statistics

Honours

Sunderland *

EFL Championship play-offs The English Football League (EFL) 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-o ...

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

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

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Motors, Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English association football, football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and ...

; runner-up: 2018–19 Individual * EFL League One Team of the Season:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:ONien, Luke 1994 births Living people Footballers from Hemel Hempstead English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Watford F.C. players Wealdstone F.C. players Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players English Football League players Isthmian League players National League (English football) players British Asian footballers English people of Singaporean descent 21st-century English sportsmen