Sam Wardrop (born 20 October 1997) is a Scottish

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 last played as a defender for

Ettan Fotboll Ettan Fotboll, or simply Ettan (), which also is its common name in everyday speech, is the third level in the Swedish football league system and consists of 32 Swedish football teams. It was formerly simply known as ''Division 1''. Division 1 ...

club

Ljungskile SK Ljungskile SK is a Swedish football club located in Ljungskile, a town within Uddevalla Municipality. They currently play in the Swedish third tier, Division 1. History Ljungskile SK, formed in 1926, is famous for their promotions between 199 ...

. His previous clubs include

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 ...

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish professional association football, football club based in the city of Dundee. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1923. United are nickname ...

and

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. ...

Career

Wardrop started his career at

, and captained the club's Under-20s to victory in the 2017

Scottish Youth Cup The Scottish Youth Cup (also known as the SFA Youth Cup) is an annual football in Scotland, Scottish football competition run by the Scottish Football Association for under-18 teams,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 ...

club

on loan, until May 2018. He scored his first senior goal, the winner, against

Inverness Caledonian Thistle Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, commonly known as Caley Thistle, Inverness CT or just Inverness, is a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland. The team competes in , the third tier of the Scottish Professional Footba ...

in September 2017. Wardrop signed a two-year contract with

on 31 May 2018. After suffering an injury that ruled out a potential loan return to Dumbarton in January 2019, he rejoined the club on loan in January 2020 playing seven times prior to the season being ended early by 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 ...

. Wardrop was then released by United in May 2020 and signed a permanent contract with Dumbarton. He left the club after one season in June 2021 and subsequently signed a one-year contract with

Airdrieonians Airdrieonians Football Club is a Scottish professional football team in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, who are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in the . They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United Football Club ...

but left just two months into the season for personal reasons. In 2024, after documenting his return to professional football on social media, he agreed a deal with Swedish

club

International career

Wardrop was selected for the Scotland U17 team in the UEFA under-17 Championship in

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, where the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

beat them in the semi-finals. He was 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 ...

. After a historic first ever win against

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, which was at any level. Scotland later won the bronze medal. It was the nations first ever medal at the competition.

Personal life

Wardrop attended

Bearsden Academy Bearsden Academy is a non-denominational, state secondary school in Bearsden, East Dunbartonshire, Scotland. History Bearsden Cross site (1911–1958) In 1911, the school was situated on the corner of Roman Road and Drymen Road north of Bea ...

. After leaving professional football in 2021, Sam set up his own business offering football and fitness coaching to young players alongside fellow Celtic academy graduate Aidan Nesbitt. In 2023, he began documenting his return to professional football through a series of vlogs on his social media accounts, including training sessions in the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

where he eventually signed a contract with

Career statistics

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wardrop, Sam 1997 births Living people Scottish men's footballers People educated at Bearsden Academy Men's association football defenders Dumbarton F.C. players Celtic F.C. players Dundee United F.C. players Airdrieonians F.C. players Ljungskile SK players Scottish Professional Football League players Scottish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Scotland men's youth international footballers 21st-century Scottish sportsmen