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 lea ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023 ...

club

Mechelen Mechelen (; ; historically known as ''Mechlin'' in EnglishMechelen has been known in English as ''Mechlin'', from where the adjective ''Mechlinian'' is derived. This name may still be used, especially in a traditional or historical context. T ...

on loan from

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

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 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

Greenock Morton Greenock Morton Football Club is a Scottish professional football club, which plays in the . The club was founded as Morton Football Club in 1874, making it one of the oldest Scottish clubs. Morton was renamed Greenock Morton in 1994 to celebr ...

. 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 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 ...

. 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 (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...

. 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 as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

side

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It plays in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. It plays home ...

in a

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

match where Celtic won 3–2 at

Celtic Park Celtic Park is a Soccer-specific stadium, football stadium and the home of Scottish Premiership team Celtic F.C., Celtic, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest List of football stadiums in Sco ...

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 (company), cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the tenth season of the Scottish Premiership, the highest division of Football in Scotland, Scottish football, and the 126th edition ...

opener against

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 ...

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

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

side

Udinese Udinese Calcio (; "Udinese Football") is a professional football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. The team currently competes in the Serie A, the first tier of Italian football. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sport ...

had made a loan offer with an option to purchase attached for Welsh, which Celtic chose to reject.

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

side

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

made an approach for Welsh during the 2022 summer transfer window. However, Celtic remained uninterested in selling the player as manager

Ange Postecoglou Angelos "Ange" Postecoglou ( ; ; born 27 August 1965) is a soccer manager and former player who was most recently manager of club Tottenham Hotspur. Born in Greece, Postecoglou grew up in Melbourne from the age of five. As a player, he spen ...

saw him as being part of first-team plans. On 18 August 2023, Welsh signed a new four-year contract with Celtic, keeping him at the club until 2027. During the summer transfer window in 2024, Celtic knocked back a bid for Welsh from

side

. On 9 January 2025, after Mechelen inquired about Welsh for a second time, he moved on loan to the Belgian club for the remainder of the 2024–25 season.

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 Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

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 comp ...

qualifying draw where he faced Celtic teammate

Matt O'Riley Matthew Sean O'Riley (born 21 November 2000) is a professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albion. Born in England, he plays for the Denmark national team. Club career Fulham O'Riley joi ...

Career statistics

Honours

Celtic *

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 ...

(4): 2019–20, 2021–22,

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 ...

, 2023–24 *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association 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 ...

, 2023–24 *

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup, also known as the Premier Sports 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 ...

(3): 2021–22,

, 2024–25

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Welsh, Stephen 2000 births Living people Footballers from Coatbridge Scottish men's footballers Men's association football defenders Scotland men's youth international footballers Scotland men's under-21 international footballers Celtic F.C. players Greenock Morton F.C. players K.V. Mechelen players Scottish Professional Football League players Scottish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Belgium 21st-century Scottish sportsmen