Matthew Charles Lund (born 21 November 1990) is a 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

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 ...

for club Salford City where he holds the role of player-coach. He will become a free agent on 30 June 2025. A former

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, England. Its first team competes in League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' ...

youth trainee, Lund began his senior career with English club

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 ...

in the

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 ...

, where he failed to make his debut. He instead made his senior debut during a loan spell at

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'Th ...

in November 2010. Further loan spells took Lund to

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 ...

and

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers FC is a men's professional football club in Bristol. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club is affiliated to Bristol Rovers W.F.C., whose team play in the FA Women's National Leag ...

(twice) and he ended 2011–12 on loan at

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 ...

. In July 2013, Lund made a permanent transfer to then-League Two side Rochdale, after being released by Stoke City. He went on to enjoy an excellent season, scoring nine goals from midfield to help Rochdale to promotion. Born in England, Lund has played internationally for the Northern Ireland national team six times at the under-21 level and three times at senior level.

Club career

Stoke City

Lund started his career at

's Academy. He joined Stoke City in the summer of 2009 along with fellow Crewe teammate Ben Marshall. Unlike Marshall who went out on loan Lund stayed at Stoke and played in the reserve team. He had a number of impressive displays in the reserve squad most notably against

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

where Lund scored three times and created two. His first appearance on the Stoke bench came in a

game against

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

in February 2010. Lund joined

Jamie Pitman Jamie Pitman (born 6 January 1976) is an English football player and coach who was the manager of Hereford United until 5 March 2012. Playing career He progressed through the youth system at Swindon Town, eventually making three league appear ...

on a month's loan on 23 November 2010. He made his professional debut in a 2–2 draw with Lincoln City 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 ...

. He made his league debut in a 1–0 loss to

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The club competes in , the third tier of English football, and is managed by Graham Alexander. The club was founded in 1903 and ...

on 11 December 2010. In July 2011 Lund joined League One side

on loan until 21 November 2011. Lund made his debut for the club with an assist in a 1–0 pre season victory against

Fleetwood Town Fleetwood Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Fleetwood, Lancashire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Established in 1997, the current Flee ...

and his competitive club debut on the first day of the 2011–12 season, starting the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

match against

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

. He was recalled by Stoke from his loan at Oldham on 9 September as Lund was not getting played in the first team. On 30 January 2012 Lund joined

on a month's loan, scoring his first two senior goals in his final loan appearance for the club. In July 2012 he re-joined

on loan following a successful spell. He scored on his final appearance of his second loan spell in a 2–1 win over

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. The club has played ...

. He joined

on loan in February 2013. He played 13 games for the Shrimpers scoring once against

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the c ...

. He was released by Stoke at the end of the

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 ...

season.

Rochdale

Lund joined

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

on 21 June 2013 signing a two-year contract. On 31 October 2014, Lund signed a contract extension tying him to the club until summer 2016. On 17 December 2016, Lund scored his first career hat-trick, scoring all three of Rochdale's goals in a 3–2 win against

Burton Albion

On 19 May 2017, Lund joined

Burton Albion Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third level of the English football league system. The club moved its home g ...

signing a two-year contract after his four-year spell at Rochdale. He scored his first goal for Burton in a 3–2

EFL Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

win against

on 9 August 2017. On 26 January 2018, Matty joined

on loan for the rest of the season.

Scunthorpe United

On 3 August 2018, Matty joined

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The club was formed in ...

for an undisclosed fee, signing a two-year deal with the club.

Rochdale return

On 31 January 2020, Lund returned to

for an undisclosed fee, signing a 18-month contract.

Salford City

On 1 July 2021, Lund joined League Two side Salford City on a free transfer after turning down a new contract with Rochdale, signing a one-year deal with the option of a second. On 11 September, he scored his first goal for the club, scoring a last minute winner to beat

1–0. on 31 October he scored a hat-trick against boyhood club

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

under 23s in the

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Motors, Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English association football, football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and ...

in a 4-3 victory for Salford. On 4 October 2024, Lund was appointed in the role of player-coach. On 12 May 2025, the club announced he would be released in June when his contract expires.

International career

Lund was called up to the Northern Ireland Under 21 side for the first time in February 2011. He was called up to the senior

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

squad for a

UEFA Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's association football, football ch ...

qualifier against

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

in November 2014. He was called up again in August 2016 for a

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...

qualifier 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 ...

Style of play

Ian Henderson Ian Henderson may refer to: *Ian Henderson (footballer) (born 1985), English footballer for Rochdale * Ian Henderson (musician), New Zealand drummer * Ian Henderson (news presenter) (born 1952), Australian news presenter *Ian Henderson (police offic ...

has described him as a player that is a "real good passer of the ball, he moves with the ball over distance, he can then chip in with a fair few goals too, a wise head on himself as well", and has described him as "exceptional" both offensively and defensively.

Career statistics

Club

International

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lund, Matthew 1990 births Living people Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland Northern Ireland men's under-21 international footballers Northern Ireland men's international footballers English men's footballers English people of Northern Ireland descent Men's association football midfielders Crewe Alexandra F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Hereford United F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players Burton Albion F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players Scunthorpe United F.C. players Salford City F.C. players English Football League players Footballers from Manchester Salford City F.C. non-playing staff 21st-century English sportsmen