Ryan William Stirk (born 25 September 2000) 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

EFL League Two The English Football League Two, simply known as League Two and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Betting & Gaming, Sky Bet League Two, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League Two is the fourth division of the English ...

club Chesterfield. Stirk began his career with

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

, for whom he made his EFL debut in 2021. He spent the 2021–22 season

on loan In sports, a loan involves a particular player being able to temporarily play for a club other than the one to which they are currently contracted. Loan deals may last from a few weeks to a full season, sometimes persisting for multiple seasons ...

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third level of the English football league system. The club was formed in 1897 as Mans ...

of League Two and the second half of the following season on loan to

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

club

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is southeast of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 88,000 as of 2023. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, charte ...

. Birmingham released him in 2023, and he signed for

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

. He was born in England, and has represented Wales at levels up to under-21.

Club career

Early life and career

Stirk was born in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, and raised in

Tamworth, Staffordshire Tamworth (, ) is a market town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Staffordshire, England, north-east of Birmingham. The town borders North Warwickshire to the east and south, Lichfield District, Lichfield to the north, south- ...

, where he attended Landau Forte Academy. His parents were both keen on football and he has two older brothers. He joined Birmingham City F.C.'s Academy in 2010, went on a pre-season tour with the under-18s while still a 14-year-old schoolboy, took up a scholarship in July 2017, and signed his first professional contract, of three years with the option for a fourth, on his 17th birthday. He was a member of the club's under-18 team that reached the semifinal of the

2017–18 FA Youth Cup The 2017–18 FA Youth Cup was the 66th edition of the FA Youth Cup. The defending champions were Chelsea and they retained the trophy for the fifth year in a row after a 7–1 aggregate victory over Arsenal in the final. Calendar Qualifying ...

, performing well against a strong Chelsea side, and became a regular in Birmingham's under-23 team in 2018–19.

Birmingham City

When head coach

Pep Clotet Josep "Pep" Clotet Ruiz (born 28 April 1977) is a Spanish Association football, football coach. As well as working as assistant at several clubs, he managed UE Cornellà, Cornellà, UE Figueres, Figueres, RCD Espanyol B, Espanyol B, Halmstads B ...

fielded an inexperienced team for the visit to

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 ...

in the 2019–20 EFL Cup first round, in which several youngsters made their senior debuts, Stirk was an unused substitute. The club took up their one-year option on his contract, and when the Championship season resumed after its suspension because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, he was named on the nine-man bench for six of Birmingham's remaining nine matches under the temporary rules, but remained unused. Once

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was safely avoided at the end of the 2020–21 season, Birmingham manager

Lee Bowyer Lee David Bowyer (; born 3 January 1977) is an English football manager and former professional player. As a player, he was a midfielder who featured for Charlton Athletic, Leeds United, West Ham United (two spells), Newcastle United, Birmingha ...

stated that he intended to use the two remaining matches to assess fringe members of the squad. Described by the ''

Birmingham Mail The ''Birmingham Mail'' (branded the ''Black Country Mail'' in the Black Country and ''Birmingham Live'' online) is a tabloid newspaper based in Birmingham, England, but distributed around Birmingham, the Black Country, and Solihull and parts ...

'' as a "diminutive but neat defensive midfielder who reads the game well and breaks up play before inviting team-mates into the play", Stirk made his first-team debut in a much-changed starting eleven for the Championship match at home to

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It currently competes in , the third tier of the English football league system in the 2025–26 season following relegation. Founded in 1899 a ...

on 1 May 2021, played the whole of the 4–0 defeat, and kept his place for the last fixture of the season. In June, Stirk extended his contract for a further year with an option for a second.

Loans

Stirk signed for League Two club

on 27 July 2021,

for the 2021–22 season. He joined up with former Birmingham U23 team-mate

Ryan Burke Ryan Darren Burke (born 23 November 2000) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a left back for League of Ireland First Division club Waterford. He joined English club Birmingham City from St Patrick's Athletic as a 16-year-old and mad ...

, who joined Mansfield earlier in the month after being released by Birmingham. He made his debut on the opening day of the season, as a stoppage-time replacement for

George Maris George Thomas Maris (born 6 March 1996) is an English professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for club Mansfield Town. Career Maris began his career at Barnsley at under-15 level, signing his first professional contract on 29 ...

in a 2–1 win at home to

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 ...

, and came close to opening the scoring with a "low first-time shot ... through a crowd of players" in the

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 ...

first-round tie at home to Championship opponents

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

before the visitors went on to win 3–0. In mid-September he damaged ankle ligaments and was out for six weeks, but returned to score his first senior goal and secure a 2–1 win away to

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevenage w ...

on 13 November. He finished the season with 36 appearances in all competitions, helping Mansfield reach the

play-off final The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

but was an unused substitute as they failed to gain promotion. He made a couple of appearances for Birmingham in August 2022, before joining

club

on 16 February 2023 on loan until the end of the season. He was a regular in the starting eleven, scoring once from 14 appearances in the regular season, and won the club's Player of the Month award for two of the three months he was with Bromley as he helped the team reach the

play-offs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

. He "was behind most of Bromley's good moves" as they beat

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in north-west Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'', and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settleme ...

in the play-off eliminator, but was substituted in the semi-final as they lost out to Chesterfield 3–2

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 (draw), tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is ...

Walsall

Out of contract at the end of the 2022–23 season, Stirk was one of 13 professionals included on Birmingham's list of players released. On 16 June 2023, League Two club

confirmed that Stirk would join them on 1 July on a two-year contract. On 18 June 2025, Stirk joined Chesterfield after leaving Walsall.

International career

Stirk was born in England, and qualifies for Wales via his maternal grandmother. He was an unused substitute for Wales U16 while still a 13-year-old, made his under-17 debut at 15, and went on to play at under-19 and under-21 levels.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stirk, Ryan 2000 births Living people Footballers from Birmingham, West Midlands Footballers from Tamworth, Staffordshire Welsh men's footballers Wales men's youth international footballers Wales men's under-21 international footballers English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Birmingham City F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players Bromley F.C. players Walsall F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players English people of Welsh descent 21st-century English sportsmen Chesterfield F.C. players