Luke McCowan (born 9 December 1997) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

left winger 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. ...

for club

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 ...

Early life

McCowan was born in

Greenock Greenock (; ; , ) is a town in Inverclyde, Scotland, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The town is the administrative centre of Inverclyde Council. It is a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, and forms ...

, Scotland and attended St. Laurence's Primary School & Notre Dame High School.

Career

Youth career

In 2015, McCowan won the West of Scotland Title with East End United F.C. While at the

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 ...

's youth teams, he had a busy day as he had to be up at 5am to work as a lifeguard at Waterfront Leisure Complex before attending gym sessions in the afternoon, then driving for over an hour to train with Ayr.

Ayr United

On 1 July 2017, McCowan signed his first professional contract for

lasting one year. In his first season, he made five appearances, scoring one goal in all competitions, with one appearance coming in the

League League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football * ''League of Legends'', a 2009 multiplayer online battle a ...

. On 6 June 2019, it was announced that McCowan had been given a two-year contract after getting rave reviews from the game against

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 ...

in late April.

Dundee

On 1 June 2021, McCowan signed a two-year deal with

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 ...

side

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

. He made his debut for the club in the

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup, also known as the Premier Sports Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League cup in ...

against

Brora Rangers Brora Rangers Football Club are a Scottish football club from the village of Brora, Sutherland, in the Highland council area of Scotland. They play in the , of which they have been champions five times, having won their first title in 2013–1 ...

. McCowan would get his first competitive goal for the Dee the following week against Montrose. He would later score his first Premiership goal which clinched a win over

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 ...

. In December 2022, McCowan would score a brace away against his former club Ayr United to help Dundee win and put them top of the

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

for Christmas. McCowan would conclude a strong season with an excellent performance and goal against Queen's Park to help Dundee clinch the

title. On 4 June 2023, Dundee announced that McCowan had signed a new two-year deal, keeping him at the club until the summer of 2025. McCowan would mark his 100th appearance for the ''Dark Blues'' with an eventful performance, scoring a goal and receiving a red card in a comfortable away win over

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 ...

. Near the end of a successful season which saw Dundee reach top six and McCowan switch from the wing to centre midfielder with ease and captaining the squad following an injury to

Joe Shaughnessy Joseph Thomas Gordon Shaughnessy (born 6 July 1992) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back. Shaughnessy has previously played for Aberdeen, Forfar Athletic, Falkirk, St Johnstone, Southend United, St Mirren and Dundee. ...

, McCowan was awarded as the Scottish Premiership Player of the Month for April 2024. At the end of the season, McCowan was named Dundee's

Player of the Year Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year. In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is held on b ...

and Players' Player of the Year.

Celtic

On 30 August 2024, McCowan signed for Scottish champions

on a three-year deal, for a reported fee of around £1 million. McCowan made his Celtic debut on 1 September, coming on as a substitute in an

Old Firm The Old Firm is a collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply embedded i ...

win over

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

. McCowan opened his scoring account for his boyhood club in his next game, netting at home in a win against Hearts. On 23 October, McCowan made his

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

debut off the bench in a draw in Italy away to

Atalanta Atalanta (; ) is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology), Clymene and who is primarily known from the tales of the Caly ...

. McCowan won the

title with Celtic at

Tannadice Park Tannadice Park, officially known as The CalForth Construction Arena for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Dundee, Scotland. It is the home ground of Dundee United F.C., who have played at Tannadice since the club was founded as Du ...

in April 2025.

Style of play

McCowan is left footed and right handed. A versatile player, he often plays across all sides of the midfield and even sometimes plays as a winger.

Career statistics

Honours

Dundee *

2022–23 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 ...

Celtic *

: 2024–25 Individual * Scottish Premiership Player of the Month: April 2024 * Andrew De Vries Player of the Year: 2023–24 * Dundee Players' Player of the Year: 2023–24

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:McCowan, Luke 1997 births Living people Footballers from Greenock Scottish men's footballers Ayr United F.C. players Scottish Professional Football League players Men's association football midfielders Dundee F.C. players Celtic F.C. players 21st-century Scottish sportsmen