Stephen Gerard O'Donnell (born 11 May 1992) is a Scottish 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

right-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 club

Motherwell Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...

and the Scotland national team. He has previously played for

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland and currently plays in the . Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not ...

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...

and

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...

, and was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the e ...

once by the Scotland under-21 team in 2013 before being selected 26 times at full level from 2018, including at the

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international men's association footb ...

tournament.

Club career

Early career

A pupil at

St Aidan's High School St Aidan's High School (simply referred to as St Aidan's) is an 11–18 mixed, Roman Catholic, secondary school in Wishaw, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Motherwell. It was rated 'good' by Education ...

Wishaw Wishaw (; ; ) is a large town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, on the edge of the River Clyde, Clyde Valley, south-east of Glasgow city centre. The town is part of the Motherwell and Wishaw (UK Parliament constituency), Motherwell and Wishaw c ...

, O'Donnell began his career as a youth player with Wishaw Wycombe Wanderers and captained the

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

under-17 team. He then joined

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 Foot ...

, where he was part of the team that won the

Scottish Youth Cup The Scottish Youth Cup (also known as the SFA Youth Cup) is an annual football in Scotland, Scottish football competition run by the Scottish Football Association for under-18 teams,Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland and currently plays in the . Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not ...

on a one-year contract after impressing on

trial In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal, w ...

. He went on to make his debut on 17 September as a substitute in a 4–0 win at home to

Ayr United Ayr United Football Club are a football club in Ayr, Scotland, who play in the , the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League. Formed in 1910 by the merger of Ayr Parkhouse and Ayr F.C., their nickname is The Honest Men, fro ...

. In

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, O'Donnell played in 38 matches as Partick Thistle won

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

to the

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. Th ...

and reached the final of the

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,PFA Scotland First Division Team of the Year as a result of his performances. SOD vs Limassol

On 27 January 2015,

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 sys ...

club

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

upped an initial offer of £50,000 for O'Donnell to £125,000. This offer was accepted by Partick Thistle; however, O'Donnell rejected the personal terms on offer at Blackpool in favour of seeing out the remaining six months of his contract. He left Partick Thistle upon the expiry of his contract at the end of the 2014–15 season, having made 139 appearances for the club.

Luton Town

On 22 June 2015, O'Donnell signed a two-year contract with League Two club

. He made his Luton debut in a 3–1 win at home to newly promoted Championship club

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern League and Western L ...

in the League Cup on 11 August. O'Donnell's first goal for the club was a 90th-minute winner in a 2–1 win at home to

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club, commonly referred to as Orient, is a professional association football club based in Leyton, Waltham Forest, London, England. The team compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. ...

in the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...

on 1 September. He finished the 2015–16 season with 33 appearances and one goal. O'Donnell netted his second Luton goal in 2016–17 from a 25-yard shot in a 1–1 draw at home to

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil, a town in Somerset, England, with a council named Yeovil Town * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town W.F.C., an English women's football team affiliated with Yeovil T ...

on 13 August 2016. However, a loss of form saw O'Donnell lose his place in the team to academy graduate James Justin after a 2–0 defeat away to

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1896 as Crawley Foo ...

on 17 September. He regained his place in the team to make his first league start in five matches after Justin suffered a calf injury in the warm up before Luton's 2–1 win away to Leyton Orient on 15 October. O'Donnell lost his place once more when Justin returned from injury for Luton's 3–1 win away to

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third level of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

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 ...

on 5 November, but a

half-time In several team sports, matches are played in two halves. Half-time (also written halftime or half time) is the name given to the interval between the two halves of the match. Typically, after half-time, teams swap ends of the field of play in or ...

substitute appearance in the next round at home to

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

club

Solihull Moors Solihull Moors Football Club is a professional association football club based in Solihull, England. The club currently competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system, after achieving promotion from the Na ...

on 3 December saw him score twice as Luton overturned a 2–0 deficit to win 6–2. He was then recalled to the

starting lineup In sports, a starting lineup is an official list of the set of players who will participate in the event when the game begins. The players in the starting lineup are commonly referred to as ''starters'', whereas the others are substitutes or b ...

by manager Nathan Jones for the subsequent league match at home to

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team currently compete in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. They have played their ...

, which resulted in a 1–1 draw. O'Donnell was released when his contract expired at the end of 2016–17.

Kilmarnock

O'Donnell signed a three-year contract with Scottish Premiership club

on 4 July 2017. O'Donnell performed well following the appointment of Steve Clarke as Kilmarnock manager, and he was selected for the

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

squad in May 2018. Kilmarnock offered O'Donnell a new three-year contract in August 2019, but he opted to evaluate his contract situation at the end of the season. During January 2020

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club () is a professional association football, football club based in Oxford, England. The club compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football league system, English football. Founded as Headingto ...

made an offer for O'Donnell, but a deal was not completed before the closure of the transfer window. He rejected a new contract with Kilmarnock at the end of the 2019–20 season.

Motherwell

On 13 August 2020,

announced the signing of O'Donnell on a contract until the next transfer window. On 1 February 2021, he agreed a new contract with Motherwell until the end of the season. On 13 April 2021, O'Donnell signed a new two-year contract with Motherwell, keeping him at the club until the summer of 2023. On 3 June 2024, Motherwell announced that O'Donnell had signed a new two-year contract with the club. On 18 March 2025, Motherwell announced that they had triggered their one-year contract extension with O'Donnell.

International career

O'Donnell made one appearance for the Scotland under-21 team in February 2013. He received his first call-up to the Scotland national team in May 2018, for friendly matches against

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

and

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. O'Donnell made his full Scotland debut on 29 May 2018, in a 2–0 defeat to Peru. He retained his place in the squad for the matches in September 2018, and "excelled" in the 2–0 win against

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

on 10 September. O'Donnell was selected in the Scotland squad for

and played in all three of their matches at the tournament. His performance in the opening game against the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

was criticised, but was then praised after the goalless draw against

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 ...

in the second match. In September 2021 he gained his 23rd cap overall and 12th as a Motherwell player in a 1–0 away win over

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

during

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification was the FIFA World Cup qualification, qualifying process which decided the 31 teams that would join hosts Qatar national football team, Qatar, who received an automatic spot, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Par ...

; as well as being praised for aspects of his performance against the highly regarded

David Alaba David Alaba (; born 24 June 1992) is an Austrian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for La Liga club Real Madrid and captains the Austria national team. He was previously primarily a left-back, and was considered one of the best ...

, he also equalled a long-standing Motherwell club caps record set by George Stevenson in the 1930s.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Partick Thistle *

Scottish First Division The Scottish Football League First Division was the second tier in the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. It was replaced by the Scottish Championship. History The First Division was introduced in 1975–76 in Scottish footb ...

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

Individual *

PFA Scotland Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Scotland Team of the Year (often called the PFA Scotland Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 44 footballers in the four national tiers of the Scottish foo ...

2012–13 Scottish First Division The 2012–13 Scottish Football League First Division, also known as the 2012–13 Irn Bru Scottish Football League First Division for sponsorship reasons, was the 19th season of the Scottish Football League First Division and the 107th season of ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:ODonnell, Stephen 1992 births Living people Footballers from Bellshill Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's under-21 international footballers Scotland men's international footballers Men's association football fullbacks Aberdeen F.C. players Celtic F.C. players Partick Thistle F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Kilmarnock F.C. players Motherwell F.C. players Scottish Football League players Scottish Professional Football League players English Football League players UEFA Euro 2020 players 21st-century Scottish sportsmen