James Regan Penrice (born 22 December 1998) 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

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

for

Greek Super League The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

club

AEK Athens A.E.K. (; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople'') is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadelfeia, Attica. The club is more commonly known in European competitions as A.E.K. Athens. Establishe ...

. 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 ...

Livingston Livingston or Livingstonemay refer to: Businesses * Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010) * Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline * Livingston International, a North Am ...

, East Fife and Heart of Midlothian.

Career

Partick Thistle

After progressing through the club's Thistle Weir Academy, Penrice made his senior debut in a 3–3 draw between

and

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish professional association football, football club based in the city of Dundee. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1923. United are nickname ...

in which he was credited with an assist. He then made his home debut in a 2–2 draw with

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, who currently compete in . They were established in 1874 from the school football team at Hamilto ...

on the last day of the 2015–16 season, winning the man of the match award. Penrice joined

Scottish League One The Scottish League One, known as William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill League One for sponsorship reasons, is the third tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association football, foot ...

side East Fife on loan in December 2016, until the end of the season. The following summer Penrice was then loaned to

in August 2017 until January. After returning, he signed a contract with Thistle until 2020. Penrice scored his first goal for Thistle in a 2–1 win over

Greenock Morton Greenock Morton Football Club is a Scottish professional football club, which plays in the . The club was founded as Morton Football Club in 1874, making it one of the oldest Scottish clubs. Morton was renamed Greenock Morton in 1994 to celebr ...

, in the League Cup. He scored his first league goal for Thistle in a 2–1 win over

Falkirk Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...

. Penrice played every minute of the 2018–19 season for Thistle, becoming the first player to achieve that feat since 2006. Penrice scored his first goal of the 2019–20 season in a 2–0 win over Welsh side

Connah's Quay Nomads Connah's Quay Nomads Football Club () is a Welsh professional association football, football club based in Connah's Quay, Flintshire. They play in the . The club was founded in 1946 as Connah's Quay Juniors and adopted the Connah's Quay Nomads ...

in the

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,Stuart Bannigan Stuart Bannigan (born 17 September 1992) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays for Ayr United. A product of the club's youth setup, Bannigan spent 15 years at Partick Thistle. He also played for the Scotland U21 team. Career Partic ...

, the only two players left at the club from their time in the Premiership. Following winning the Scottish League One title with Thistle, Penrice left the club at the expiry of his contract to move to Premiership side Livingston, in a 'technical' swap deal with Scott Tiffoney heading in the other direction also on a free transfer.

Livingston

Penrice returned to Livingston on a permanent basis in June 2021.

Heart of Midlothian

On 18 June 2024, Heart of Midlothian announced that Penrice had signed for the club with a three-year deal, taking the number 29 ahead of the 2024–25 Scottish Premiership season. Penrice's debut season for Hearts saw him win both the club's Player of the Year Awards. He was also named in the 2024-25

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 ...

AEK Athens

On 5 July 2025, Penrice signed for

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

side

for a £2 million transfer fee.

Career statistics

Honours

Partick Thistle *

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 ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Penrice, James Living people 1998 births Scottish men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Partick Thistle F.C. players East Fife F.C. players Scottish Professional Football League players Super League Greece players Livingston F.C. players Footballers from Livingston, West Lothian Heart of Midlothian F.C. players AEK Athens F.C. players Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Greece 21st-century Scottish sportsmen