Steven Davis

Who is this?

Steven Davis (born 1 January 1985) is a Northern Irish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He made his full international debut in 2005 and made 140 appearances at senior level, scoring 13 goals, to become the most capped Northern Ireland player, also a record for any man from the British home nations. He captained his country at UEFA Euro 2016 where they reached the last 16. Davis began his club career with English Premier League club Aston Villa in 2004. He was named "Young Player of the Year", "The Fans Player of the Year" and "Player of the Year" for the 2005–06 season after making 42 appearances during the season. He was sold to Fulham for £4 million in the summer of 2007, but moved on loan to Scottish club Rangers in January 2008 for an initial six months. He was part of the team that reached the 2008 UEFA Cup final and won the 2007–08 Scottish League Cup and 2007–08 Scottish Cup. At the end of the season, he moved to Rangers permanently for £3 million. He won three consecutive Scottish Premier League titles with the Glasgow club in 2009, 2010 and 2011, as well as one further Scottish Cup in 2009 and two more League Cups (2010 and 2011). Following Rangers’ parent company liquidation in 2012, Davis exercised his rights under TUPE regulations to rescind his contract and become a free agent, returning to the Premier League with Southampton where he made over 200 appearances across six full seasons and captained the side for much of that time, which included twice qualifying for the Europa League from league position and reaching the 2017 EFL Cup final. Davis returned to Rangers under manager Steven Gerrard in 2019. He won another Scottish league title in 2021 and another Scottish Cup in 2022, as well as reaching the 2022 UEFA Europa League final. He announced his retirement from playing in January 2024, having been absent through injury for over a year (during which he was briefly the interim manager of Rangers, taking charge of two matches). He made 371 appearances, with 28 goals, across his two spells at Ibrox. In February 2026, Davis joined Blackburn Rovers as a first team coach.

Career

1. 1985
   Born
2. 2003
   Joined Northern Ireland national under-21 association football team
3. 2004
   Joined Aston Villa F.C.
4. 2004
   Joined Northern Ireland national under-23 association football team
5. 2005
   Joined Northern Ireland men's national association football team
6. 2007
   Joined Fulham F.C.
7. 2008
   Joined Rangers F.C.
8. 2008
   Joined Rangers F.C.
9. 2012
   Joined Southampton F.C.
10. 2019
    Joined Rangers F.C.
11. 2019
    Joined Rangers F.C.
12. Won Member of the Order of the British Empire

Trivia

• •Place of birth: Ballymena
• •Citizenship: United Kingdom
• •Known as: association football player, association football coach
• •Sport: association football