Ross McCrorie (born 18 March 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 right-back, right wing-back, or

defensive midfielder 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 Bristol City and the Scotland national team. McCrorie has previously played for Rangers, Ayr United,

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. ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

. He captained the Scotland under-21 team, and made his full international debut for

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

in 2024.

Club career

Early careers and loans out

McCrorie, alongside his twin brother Robby (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 ...

), worked his way through the Rangers

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team if they show en ...

, becoming captain of their U20s side. McCrorie 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 Ayr United on loan in February 2016, playing fifteen times and scoring twice as Ayr won promotion. After signing a new contract in December 2016, at the same time as his brother, he joined his former coach at Rangers, Ian Durrant, at

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 ...

side

on a loan deal until the end of the season.

Rangers first breakthrough

McCrorie made his debut for the Rangers senior team in September 2017, when he replaced Bruno Alves in a League Cup quarter-final against Partick Thistle at Firhill Stadium, won 3–1 after

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

. Following the match, manager Pedro Caixinha praised McCrorie, stating that he was "going to be the future of this country, not only this club, as a centre-half. We are very glad to have him with us". Later in the same week he made his first start – also his

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 ...

debut and maiden experience of the

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 ...

derby – against

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 ...

at Ibrox. Rangers lost the match 2–0, but McCrorie's performance was reported favourably by the press and both Rangers and Celtic fans. McCrorie scored his first senior goal for Rangers with a header in the first half against Partick Thistle on 4 November 2017 at Ibrox; Rangers won the match 3–0. On 3 December he was deployed as a

in a fixture away to

, which his team won to overtake their opponents into second place in the table. On 28 December he signed a new four-year contract. After he scored an important goal in the second visit to Aberdeen in May 2018, McCrorie received praise from both the Pittodrie boss

Derek McInnes Derek John McInnes (born 5 July 1971) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of Scottish Premiership club Heart of Midlothian. He featured prominently for Greenock Morton, Rangers, West Bromwich A ...

and the Rangers caretaker manager Jimmy Nicholl for his overall performance and influence in bringing his team back into the match; the player himself dedicated the strike to his dying grandmother.

Loan to Portsmouth

In July 2019, McCrorie agreed a deal to move to English club

on loan for the 2019–20 season; it was reported that ''Pompey'' had an option to buy him outright, but this was refuted by Rangers manager

Steven Gerrard Steven George Gerrard MBE (born 30 May 1980) is an English professional football manager and a former player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of all time and one of Liverpool's greatest ever players,Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1886, the club were inaugur ...

, during which he was sent off in the 81st minute for a late challenge on Shrewsbury's Donald Love.

Aberdeen

On 17 August 2020, McCrorie joined

, initially on a one-year loan, with an obligation to buy for a reported fee of around £350,000. A clause in the deal meant he would not be eligible to play against his 'parent club' during the

2020–21 Scottish Premiership The 2020–21 Scottish Premiership was the eighth season of the Scottish Premiership, the 124th edition of the highest division of Scottish football. The fixtures were published on 6 July 2020, with the season beginning on 1 August, following ...

campaign, although he would not return to Rangers before becoming a permanent Aberdeen signing. The deal was made permanent on 1 February 2021, ahead of schedule, as Scott Wright moved in the opposite direction.

Bristol City

On 6 June 2023, McCrorie joined Bristol City on a three-year deal with the option of a further year, for an undisclosed fee. After an injury lay off Ross McCrorrie made his debut for City in a 2–0 loss away at Preston on 13 January 2024.

International career

With his brother Robby, Scotland U16 won the

Victory Shield The Victory Shield is an annual football (soccer), football tournament competed for by the under-16 teams of Scotland national under-16 football team, Scotland, Republic of Ireland national under-16 football team, Republic of Ireland, Northern Irel ...

in 2013–14, and were selected for Scotland U17 in the 2015 UEFA European U-17 Championship McCrorie was named in the Scotland U19 squad for the elite round of the European Championships in March 2017 alongside

teammate Daniel Harvie. He had captained the side in the qualifying phase of the tournament. He also captained the Scotland U21 team on several occasions. Selected for the under-20 squad in the

2017 Toulon Tournament The 2017 Toulon Tournament (officially ) was the 45th edition of the Toulon Tournament. The tournament was named after Maurice Revello, who started the tournament in 1967 and died in 2016. It was held in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône from 29 ...

. The team went on to claim the bronze medal. It was the nations first ever medal at the competition. McCrorie received his first call-up to the senior

squad in October 2020. He was called up again in June 2023 for games against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

and

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. McCrorie made his debut on 3 June 2024 in a friendly against

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Ayr United *

Play-offs: 2015–16 Scotland U16 *

: 2013–14

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:McCrorie, Ross 1998 births Living people Scottish men's footballers Scottish twins Footballers from South Ayrshire Men's association football defenders Men's association football midfielders Scotland men's youth international footballers Scotland men's international footballers Dumbarton F.C. players Rangers F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Scottish Professional Football League players Ayr United F.C. players Scotland men's under-21 international footballers Aberdeen F.C. players People from Dailly English Football League players UEFA Euro 2024 players 21st-century Scottish sportsmen