Dominic Joseph Foley (born 7 July 1976) is an Irish former 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 played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

. He played for nine clubs in England, finding stability in his late 20s and 30s in Belgium, where he represented two teams.

Playing career

England

Foley was 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 * ...

. In 1995, at the age of 19, he was signed by English First Division club

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

from

St. James's Gate St. James's Gate, located off the south quays of Dublin, on James's Street, Dublin, James's Street, was the western entrance to the city during the Middle Ages. During this time the gate was the traditional starting point for the Camino pilgrima ...

. He made his debut on 18 November as a substitute in a 3–1 home loss against

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional association football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. As of the 2025–26 EFL League Two, 2025–26 season, the team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the Eng ...

, but never managed to earn a regular place, and appeared in just 29 competitive matches in four seasons combined at

Molineux Stadium Molineux Stadium ( ) is a association football, football stadium situated in Wolverhampton, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It has been the home ground of Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C., Wolverhampton Wanderers ...

. To gain playing time, Foley was loaned several times in the following years, to

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 ...

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

and Greek club

Ethnikos Piraeus Ethnikos Piraeus (Greek: Εθνικός Πειραιώς) is a Greek multisport club based in Piraeus. It was founded in 1923. The full name of the club is Ethnikos Omilos Filathlon Pireos/Phalirou or Ethnikos OFPF (Greek: Εθνικός Όμι� ...

. He eventually moved to Watford, signed by

Graham Taylor Graham Taylor (15 September 1944 – 12 January 2017) was an English football player, manager, pundit and chairman of Watford Football Club. He was the manager of the England national football team from 1990 to 1993, and also managed Lincoln ...

– who had originally brought him to Wolverhampton – on a free transfer. Foley played 12 times in his first year with the ''Hornets'' (one goal), also making his

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 ...

debut. Even though the campaign ended in relegation, he received his first call-up to the Republic of Ireland national team; his debut came on 30 May 2000 in a 2-1 friendly defeat to

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 ...

; five days later, his second

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

, against

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 ...

, saw him score the first of his two international goals, with all six appearances coming during the year. Early into 2000–01, Foley netted a last-minute winner against

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 ...

, but overall found playing opportunities scarce, being successively loaned by the

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 ...

side to

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English f ...

(two spells),

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team, known as the "Robins", currently compete in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded as Swindon A ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

Braga

Foley left England in 2003 for Portuguese club

Braga Braga (; ) is a cities of Portugal, city and a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality, capital of the northwestern Portugal, Portuguese Braga (district), district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality ...

, being scarcely used during one sole season, after which he returned to his country after one decade by signing for

Bohemians Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, originally practised by 19th–20th century European and American artists and writers. * Bohemian style, a f ...

. He impressed in the team's

2005 UEFA Intertoto Cup The 2005 UEFA Intertoto Cup finals were won by Lens, Marseille, and Hamburg. All three teams advanced to the UEFA Cup. First round First leg ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- -- ...

game against Belgium's

Gent Gent is a shortened form of the word gentleman. It may also refer to: * Ghent ( Dutch: Gent), a Belgian city ** K.A.A. Gent, a football club from Ghent ** K.R.C. Gent, a football club from Ghent ** Gent RFC, a rugby club in Ghent ** .gent, ...

, who bought him soon afterwards.

Belgium and later years

Foley established at the

Jules Ottenstadion Jules Ottenstadion was a multi-purpose stadium in Gentbrugge, Ghent, Belgium. It was used mostly for football matches and used to be the home ground of K.A.A. Gent. The stadium held 12,919 seats and was built in 1920. It was replaced as the ...

, scoring six goals in 25

Belgian First Division A The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023– ...

appearances his first season and bettering his totals in the following two campaigns, netting in double digits (respectively ten and 11) as the

Flemish Flemish may refer to: * Flemish, adjective for Flanders, Belgium * Flemish region, one of the three regions of Belgium *Flemish Community, one of the three constitutionally defined language communities of Belgium * Flemish dialects, a Dutch dialec ...

club finished fourth and sixth in the table, respectively; additionally, he helped it reach the semi-finals of the

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (; ; ) is the main knockout football competition in Belgium, run by the Royal Belgian FA. The competition started in 1908 with provincial selections as the "Belgian Provinces Cup". Starting from 1912 only actual clubs were allowed ...

in 2007, scored three goals in that year's

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...

to help his team reach the third round, notably netting against

Cliftonville Cliftonville is a coastal area of Margate in the Thanet District, Thanet district of Kent, England. It includes the Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay estate, built in the 1930s with wide avenues and detached and semi-detached houses with driveways, gar ...

in a 2–0 home win (6–0 on aggregate), and was named

club captain The captain of a football/soccer team, sometimes known as the skipper, is a team member chosen to be the on-pitch leader of the team; they are often one of the older or more experienced members of the squad, or a player that can heavily influ ...

at the start of 2007–08. Foley helped Gent reach the final of the domestic cup in 2007–08, opening the score against

Anderlecht Anderlecht (; ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, B ...

after just six minutes but eventually losing the match 3–2. The next season, however, new coach

Michel Preud'homme Michel Georges Jean Ghislain Preud'homme (born 24 January 1959) is a Belgian retired association football, footballer and Manager (association football), manager who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Currently, he is vic ...

rarely used him in his starting eleven and, with the player's contract due to expire, he was sold during the winter break to fellow league side

Cercle Brugge KSV Cercle Brugge Koninklijke Sportvereniging () is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges. They compete in the Belgian Pro League, the top flight of Belgian football. Their matricule number is 12. The club plays home games at the 29, ...

. On 22 February 2012, aged nearly 36, Foley returned to his homeland and joined

Limerick FC Limerick Football Club was an association football club based in Limerick, Ireland who played in the League of Ireland and currently have teams competing in the underage National League of Ireland. The first Limerick Football Club was founded ...

, having been released by Cercle the previous day.

Transfer controversies

Foley caused controversy in 2005 when he successfully had his contract with Bohemians terminated over the failure of payment by the club of "bonuses". He then signed for Gent which had played against the Irish side only a few weeks before, sparking rumours of secret meetings between player and management after the match. In 2009, Gent accused Cercle Brugge of secret reunions with Foley before he was allowed to engage in conversations in order to discuss his future. With his contract due to expire at the end of the season, the former's

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

, Michel Louwagie, claimed the player had discussed a contract before the allowed date of 1 January, saying: ''"I don't at all appreciate the way Cercle have behaved in relation to Foley. It is against the rules."'' On 21 January, Cercle announced that Foley had signed a three-year contract with the club, starting in June 2009. On the 27th, however, both clubs agreed on an immediate transfer during the winter transfer window.

Managerial career

Treaty United W.F.C.

On 30 November 2023, Foley was appointed as Manager of

League of Ireland Women's Premier Division The League of Ireland Women's Premier Division (; sponsor name SSE Airtricity League Women's Premier Division) is a professional women's association football league in Ireland, organised by the League of Ireland, which began play in the 2023 ...

side Treaty United, his first role in management. Foley's first game as manager in March 2024 saw his Treaty United side pick up a 2–0 win over

DLR Waves Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown Waves, also referred to as DLR Waves, is a women-only Irish association football club based in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown. It was originally founded in 2012. DLR Waves field several teams; the senior League of Ireland t ...

, the club's first home win in almost three years. Foley's side started the season with a five-game unbeaten streak before succumbing to defeat for the first time that season away to Bohemian F.C. Women in April. He left his role at the end of the season having led Treaty United to their best ever finish in the Women's Premier Division.

Managerial statistics

:''Note: Club games included are competitive games only.''

Honours

Limerick *

League of Ireland First Division The League of Ireland First Division, also known as the SSE Airtricity League First Division for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland football league system. The division w ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

* Munster Senior Cup: 2011–12

Sources

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Foley, Dominic 1976 births Living people Association footballers from Cork (city) Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Men's association football forwards St James's Gate F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Watford F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players League of Ireland players Bohemian F.C. players Limerick F.C. players Super League Greece players Ethnikos Piraeus F.C. players Primeira Liga players S.C. Braga players Belgian Pro League players KAA Gent players Cercle Brugge K.S.V. players Republic of Ireland men's international footballers Republic of Ireland men's under-21 international footballers Republic of Ireland men's B international footballers Republic of Ireland expatriate men's association footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Irish expatriate sportspeople in England Irish expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Irish expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Irish expatriate sportspeople in Greece