Matthew Shiels (born 13 September 2000) 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 side

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; , or ; or , meaning 'fort of the Britons (historical), Britons') is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. ...

Early and personal life

Shiels was born in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

. His paternal grandparents were from Donegal in Ireland, and he grew supporting

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 ...

Club career

After playing youth football for

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 ...

, and spending loan spells at Edinburgh City,

and Clyde, as well as in the United States with

Orange County SC Orange County Soccer Club is an American soccer team based in the Orange County, California city of Irvine. Founded in 2010 as the Los Angeles Blues, the team currently plays in the Western Conference of the USL Championship, the second tier ...

, Shiels signed for

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 ...

in summer 2021. Shiels left Hamilton in June 2023 and re-joined

in August 2023 scoring his first goal for the club in a 4–0 victory against

Bonnyrigg Rose Bonnyrigg Rose Football Club is a Scottish football club from the town of Bonnyrigg. Formed in 1881 and nicknamed ''the Rose'', the team plays in the , having been relegated in 2024–25. Their home ground is New Dundas Park, and they have ...

in November 2023, in a game where he also won a penalty and provided an assist. After impressing for the Sons, he left for

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 Cove Rangers in January 2024 – scoring on his final appearance for the Sons in a 4–1 defeat to

. He left Cove after just eight appearances, and returned to Dumbarton on a season long deal in the summer of 2024.

International career

Having previously been called up for Scotland at under-17 level, in November 2017 he was called up to the Republic of Ireland under-18 squad, making his debut on 9 November. He also played with the Republic of Ireland under-19s, before later reverting his international allegiance back to Scotland, playing ten games for the Scotland under-19 team.

Playing style

Shiels plays primarily as a

, but also played as a

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. ...

and striker for Rangers. On signing for

in August 2023 he said he preferred playing in a more attacking role.

Honours

Hamilton Academical *

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,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 ...

Raith Rovers 0–1 Hamilton Academical
Andrew Petrie,

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC BBC Television, television, BBC Radio, radio and BBC Online, online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadc ...

, 26 March 2023

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shiels, Matthew 2000 births Living people Scottish men's footballers Rangers F.C. players Edinburgh City F.C. players Dumbarton F.C. players Clyde F.C. players Orange County SC players Hamilton Academical F.C. players Scottish Professional Football League players Men's association football fullbacks Scottish expatriate men's footballers Scottish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Scotland men's youth international footballers Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's youth international footballers Scottish people of Irish descent Footballers from Glasgow Cove Rangers F.C. players 21st-century Scottish sportsmen 21st-century Irish sportsmen