Stephen Welsh (born 19 January 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 le ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish ...

club

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 Fo ...

Club career

Welsh began his career in the youth sides at

, stepping up to their development side in 2017, and in March 2018, signed a contract with the club until 2020. Alongside fixtures in the

SPFL Development League The SPFL Development League was the top level of youth football in Scotland, which was contested in various formats between 1998 and 2018. History A youth league was founded as the Scottish Premier under-18 League in 1998. Clubs fielded under-1 ...

, he featured for the team in the

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship, known as the cinch Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland Scotland (, ...

club

Greenock Morton Greenock Morton Football Club is a Scottish professional football club, which plays in the Scottish Championship. The club was founded as Morton Football Club in 1874, making it one of the oldest senior Scottish clubs. Morton was renamed Greeno ...

. He was recalled by Celtic during January 2020. He made his first team debut for Celtic on 2 February 2020, in a 4–1 win away to Hamilton Academical. On 6 February 2021, Welsh scored the first senior goal of his career with a header from a David Turnbull corner in the opening minutes of a 2–1 league win against

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

. On 13 April 2021, he signed a new contract with Celtic that is due to run until 2025. On 9 December 2021, Welsh scored an early header against

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

side

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1907, it plays in La Liga. It holds home games at the Estadio Benito Vill ...

in a

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

match where Celtic won 3–2 at Celtic Park in their last group-stage game in the competition that season. On 31 July 2022, Welsh scored the first goal in Celtic's

2022–23 Scottish Premiership The 2022–23 Scottish Premiership (known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is the tenth season of the Scottish Premiership, the highest division of Scottish football, and the 126th edition overall of the top national league com ...

opener against

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

in a 2–0 home win. On 10 January 2022, it was reported that

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

side Udinese had made a loan offer with an option to purchase attached for Welsh, which Celtic chose to reject. In the summer transfer window,

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

side

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

made an approach for Welsh. However, Celtic remained uninterested in selling the player as manager

Ange Postecoglou Angelos Postecoglou ( el, Άγγελος Ποστέκογλου, ; born 27 August 1965) is an Australian association football manager and former player, who is the current manager of Scottish Premiership club Celtic. Born in Greece, he moved ...

seen him as being part of first-team plans.

International career

Welsh has represented Scotland at under-17, under-19 and under-21 levels. He captained the under-21 side on numerous occasions. On 10 June 2022, he played his final game for the under-21s against

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

in a 1–1

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the compe ...

qualifying draw where he faced Celtic teammate

Matt O'Riley Matthew Sean O'Riley (born 21 November 2000) is a Danish-English professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Scottish Premiership club Celtic. Born in England, he is an under-21 international for Denmark. Club career Fulham O ...

Career statistics

Honours

Celtic *

: 2021–22 *

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

: 2021–22

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Welsh, Stephen 2000 births Living people Footballers from Coatbridge Scottish footballers Association football defenders Scotland youth international footballers Celtic F.C. players Greenock Morton F.C. players Scottish Professional Football League players Scotland under-21 international footballers