Mark Travers (born 18 May 1999) is an Irish 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

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for club

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth ( ) is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. ...

. He has represented the Republic of Ireland at youth international level up until under-21 level as well as the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

senior team, earning his first cap in September 2019.

Club career

Early career

Travers' first youth club was Confey in

Leixlip Leixlip ( or ; , ) is a town in north-east County Kildare, Ireland. Its location on the confluence of the River Liffey and the Rye Water has marked it as a frontier town historically: on the border between the ancient kingdoms of Leinster and ...

, he then moved on to Lucan United, before spending a season at Cherry Orchard and 6 months at

Shamrock Rovers Shamrock Rovers Football Club is an Irish professional Association football, football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is List of football clubs by competit ...

AFC Bournemouth

Travers signed for English club

in July 2016, aged 17. He joined Weymouth on loan in August 2017, scoring on his debut. The loan ended in January 2018. In July 2018 he signed a new "long-term" contract with Bournemouth. He made his debut for Bournemouth on 4 May 2019 in a 1–0 win over

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

. Upon doing so, he became the first teenage goalkeeper since

Joe Hart Charles Joseph John Hart (born 19 April 1987) is an English football pundit and former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He began his career at his hometown club Shrewsbury Town in the Football Conference and League Two. In ...

in 2006 to start a Premier League match, and made a number of saves to help the club record its first ever victory over Tottenham, with Travers keeping a clean sheet and receiving Man of the Match for his performance. He was later selected by BBC pundit

Garth Crooks Garth Anthony Crooks, (born 10 March 1958) is an English football pundit and former professional player. He played from 1976 to 1990, for Stoke City, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United, West Bromwich Albion and Charlton Athletic. Club ca ...

in his 'Team of the Week'. On 15 July 2019, Travers signed a new long-term contract at Bournemouth. He moved on loan to

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 ...

in January 2021. He was recalled by Bournemouth on 11 February 2021, having made eight appearances. Following the departure of Asmir Begović, Travers began the 2021–22 season as Bournemouth's first choice goalkeeper, beginning with a 2–2 draw with West Brom on the opening day of the campaign. Travers started all but one of the Cherries' opening 14 games, an unbeaten run which included a club record-setting six away games in a row without conceding a goal. For his performances in September 2021, Travers was nominated for the club's player of the month award, losing out to

Gary Cahill Gary James Cahill (born 19 December 1985) is an English former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. Cahill began his career playing for the AFC Dronfield youth system in Derbyshire. In 2000, he joined the Aston Villa Academy an ...

. In June 2022 he signed a new five-year contract with Bournemouth. Travers joined

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

on loan for the 2023–24 season. He made 14 appearances for Stoke before he was recalled by Bournemouth on 27 October 2023 after an injury sustained by Neto. On 29 January 2025, Travers signed on loan for

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

until the end of the 2024-25 season.

International career

Travers has played for Ireland from under-15 to under-19 youth levels, and whilst a member of the under-21 team received his first call-up to the senior national team in March 2019. He was called up again to the

Republic of Ireland national football team The Republic of Ireland Men's national football team () represents the Republic of Ireland in men's international Association football, football. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland (FAI). The team made their debut at the Ir ...

senior squad in May 2019, for Ireland's 2020 European Qualifiers against Denmark and Gibraltar. Travers made his senior international debut on 10 September 2019, starting in a 3–1 win over

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

at the

Aviva Stadium Aviva Stadium, also known as Lansdowne Road (, ) or Dublin Arena (during UEFA competitions), is a List of stadiums in Ireland by capacity, sports stadium located in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, with a capacity for 51,711 spectators ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

AFC Bournemouth *

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 ...

runner-up: 2021–22 Individual * EFL Championship Golden Glove: 2021–22 *

Player of the Year: 2021–22

References

External links

Mark Travers
at

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Travers, Mark 1999 births Living people People from Maynooth Sportspeople from County Kildare Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Cherry Orchard F.C. players Shamrock Rovers F.C. players AFC Bournemouth players Weymouth F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players Southern Football League players Premier League players English Football League players Republic of Ireland men's youth international footballers Republic of Ireland men's under-21 international footballers Republic of Ireland men's international footballers 21st-century Irish sportsmen Association footballers from County Kildare