Liam Boyce

Liam Boyce (born 8 April 1991) is a Northern Irish professional footballer who plays as a forward for Scottish Premiership club Heart of Midlothian and the Northern Ireland national team.

Liam Boyce

Boyce playing for the Northern Ireland national team in 2019
Personal information
Full name	Liam Boyce[1]
Date of birth	(1991-04-08) 8 April 1991 (age 33)
Place of birth	Belfast, Northern Ireland
Height	1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)[2]
Position(s)	Forward
Team information
Current team	Heart of Midlothian
Number	27
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2008–2010	Cliftonville	52	(18)
2010–2011	Werder Bremen II	3	(0)
2012–2014	Cliftonville	85	(51)
2014–2017	Ross County	99	(48)
2017–2020	Burton Albion	78	(22)
2020–	Heart of Midlothian	88	(28)
International career‡
2008–2009	Northern Ireland U19	6	(1)
2010–2012	Northern Ireland U21	9	(0)
2011–	Northern Ireland	28	(2)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 22 December 2024 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 31 May 2021 (UTC)

Boyce began his career at Cliftonville and returned to the club following a short spell at Werder Bremen II. He has since played for Ross County, Burton Albion and joined Heart of Midlothian in January 2020. Boyce made his debut for the Northern Ireland national team in February 2011.

Club career

Cliftonville

Boyce began his career at Cliftonville, scoring 19 goals in his debut season.^[3] He won the IFA Premiership Player of the Month Award for April 2010,^[4] and was named the Northern Ireland Football Writers' Player of the Year for the 2009–10 season.^[3] Boyce is from the Lower Falls in Belfast. He played for Immaculata for most of his youth years, during this time he attended St Joseph's Primary School Slate Street and St Mary's Grammar School, located on the Glen Road in Belfast, he spent all his secondary school years there and went on to study A Levels.

He was spotted by Cliftonville, and they signed him. He spent his first year there playing in the reserves but in the 2009–10 season, Boyce became a first team regular.

Boyce went on trial with Scottish club Celtic in July 2010,^[3] and then held discussions in mid-August 2010 about a move to German club Greuther Fürth,^[5] but the move collapsed a few days later.^[6]

Boyce scored his first European goal against PFC CSKA Sofia in the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League^[7]

Werder Bremen

Boyce eventually signed for German club Werder Bremen on 31 August 2010.^[8] He was released by the German club in October 2011, having only made three appearances for the club's reserves side.

Return to Cliftonville

Boyce rejoined Cliftonville in January 2012.^[9] In the 2012–13 season, he helped Cliftonville win the league title for the first time since 1998, finishing as the league's top scorer with 29 league goals. He was also named as the 2012–13 Ulster Footballer of the Year^[10] and Northern Ireland Football Writers' Player of the Year.^[11] He won a second league title with the north Belfast club in 2013–14, scoring another 21 league goals before, in July 2014, the club announced that it had withdrawn its offer of a new contract to Boyce.^[12] During this spell at the Reds Boyce made eight appearances in European football scoring once against Kalmar FF in the qualifiers of the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League .

Ross County

On 13 June 2014, it was announced Boyce had signed a pre-contract with Ross County.^[13] On 13 April 2015, Boyce scored County's first ever top-flight hat-trick in a 3–0 win at St Mirren.^[14] He then enjoyed a prolific season in 2015–16, scoring 17 goals in 24 games.^[15] Boyce signed a new contract with County in February 2016.^[15] He was the top goalscorer in the 2016–17 Scottish Premiership, with 23 goals.^[16][17]

Burton Albion

On 20 June 2017, Boyce became a club record signing for EFL Championship side Burton Albion, agreeing a three-year contract with the club.^[18] Just weeks later, in a pre-season friendly match against Shrewsbury Town, Boyce suffered a serious knee injury that would keep him out of action for most of the 2017–18 season.^[19] He returned to action on 3 February 2018, scoring as Burton lost 3–2 to Aston Villa. On 21 April, Boyce scored an injury-time winner that relegated Sunderland.^[20]

Heart of Midlothian

Boyce signed for Heart of Midlothian in January 2020 on a three-and-a-half-year deal.^[21] He scored the winning goal in the 83rd minute of his debut against Rangers.^[22]

International career

On 31 January 2011, Boyce received his debut call-up to the Northern Ireland national team for the Nations Cup.^[23] This call-up came after his move to German club Werder Bremen in September 2010. On 9 February 2011, Boyce made his debut against Scotland, when he came on as a 72nd-minute substitute for Niall McGinn. He received his second call-up for Northern Ireland's Group C match against Serbia in Belgrade on 25 March 2011.

On 2 June 2017, Boyce scored his first goal for Northern Ireland in a 1–0 friendly victory over New Zealand at Windsor Park.^[24]

Career statistics

Club

As of 22 December 2024

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Cliftonville	2008–09	NIFL Premiership	15	1							15	1
	2009–10[2]		34	16							34	16
	2010–11[2]		3	1	—		—		4[a]	1	7	2
	Total		52	18					4	1	56	19
Werder Bremen II	2010–11	3. Liga	3	0	—		—		—		3	0
Cliftonville	2011–12[2]	NIFL Premiership	13	1	1	0	0	0	4[b]	1	18	2
	2012–13[2]		36	29	4	0	4	3	4[c]	2	48	34
	2013–14[2]		36	21	0	0	4	2	2[d]	0	42	23
	Total		85	51	5	0	8	5	10	3	108	59
Ross County	2014–15[2]	Scottish Premiership	30	10	1	0	2	1	—		33	11
	2015–16[2]		35	15	2	1	5	4	—		42	20
	2016–17[2]		34	23	2	1	4	0	—		40	24
	Total		99	48	5	2	11	5	—		115	55
Burton Albion	2017–18[2]	Championship	16	3	0	0	0	0	—		16	3
	2018–19[2]	League One	37	11	1	1	6	2	1[e]	0	45	14
	2019–20[2]		25	8	2	1	4	5	1[e]	0	33	14
	Total		78	22	3	2	10	7	2	0	94	31
Heart of Midlothian	2019–20[2]	Scottish Premiership	7	2	2	0	0	0	—		9	2
	2020–21[2]	Scottish Championship	25	14	2[f]	2	1	0	0	0	28	16
	2021–22[2]	Scottish Premiership	31	10	5	2	5	4	—		41	16
	2022–23[2]		5	1	0	0	0	0	2[a]	0	7	1
	2023–24[2]		15	1	0	0	2	0	4	0	21	1
	2024–25[2]		5	0	0	0	1	0	4	0	10	0
	Total		88	28	9	4	9	4	10	0	116	36
Career total			405	167	22	8	38	20	26	4	491	200

1. Appearances in the UEFA Europa League
2. Appearances in Setanta Sports Cup
3. Two appearances and one goal in UEFA Europa League, two appearances and one goal in Setanta Sports Cup
4. Appearances in UEFA Champions League
5. Appearances in EFL Trophy
6. The later stages of the 2019–20 Scottish Cup were played in October and December 2020.

International

As of match played 18 November 2020^[25]

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Northern Ireland	2011	4	0
	2015	3	0
	2016	1	0
	2017	2	1
	2018	7	0
	2019	4	0
	2020	6	1
	2021	1	0
Total		28	2

Scores and results list Northern Ireland's goal tally first.^[2]

International goals by date, venue, cap, opponent, score, result and competition

No.	Date	Venue	Cap	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	2 June 2017	Windsor Park, Belfast, Northern Ireland	9	New Zealand	1–0	1–0	Friendly
2	18 November 2020	Windsor Park, Belfast, Northern Ireland	27	Romania	1–0	1–1	2020–21 UEFA Nations League B

Honours

Cliftonville

• Irish Premiership: 2012–13, 2013–14
• Irish League Cup: 2012–13, 2013–14
• County Antrim Shield: 2008–09, 2011–12

Ross County

• Scottish League Cup: 2015–16^[26]

Hearts

• Scottish Championship: 2020–21
• Scottish Cup runner-up: 2019–20, 2021–22

Individual

• Ulster Footballer of the Year: 2012–13^[10]
• NIFWA Player of the Year: 2012–13^[11]
• Scottish Premiership Top Scorer: 2016–17
• Scottish Championship Top Scorer: 2020–21
• PFA Scotland Players' Player of the Year: 2020–21 Scottish Championship^[27]

References

1. "Club list of registered players: As at 19th May 2018: Burton Albion" (PDF). English Football League. p. 11. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
2. Liam Boyce at Soccerway. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
3. "Cliftonville striker Liam Boyce on trial at Celtic". BBC Sport. 8 July 2010. Retrieved 31 August 2010.
4. "Cliftonville striker Liam Boyce named player of month". BBC Sport. 7 May 2010. Retrieved 31 August 2010.
5. "Liam Boyce could be bound for German Bundesliga". BBC Sport. 16 August 2010. Retrieved 31 August 2010.
6. "Liam Boyce's proposed transfer appears to be doomed". BBC Sport. 26 August 2010. Retrieved 31 August 2010.
7. "Cliftonville Football Club » European Record".
8. "Liam Boyce agrees transfer to Werder Bremen". BBC Sport. 31 August 2010. Retrieved 31 August 2010.
9. "Cliftonville set to beat Glentoran in battle to sign Liam Boyce". BBC Sport. 12 January 2012. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
10. "Cliftonville Football Club". cliftonvillefc.net. Archived from the original on 6 May 2013.
11. "BBC Sport – Liam Boyce wins Football Writers Player of the Year award". BBC Sport.
12. "BBC Sport – Cliftonville withdraw Liam Boyce contract offer". BBC Sport.
13. "Cliftonville striker Liam Boyce agrees move to Ross County". BBC Sport. 13 June 2014. Retrieved 13 June 2014.
14. "Boyce hat-trick in Ross County win at St Mirren". BBC Sport. BBC. 13 April 2015. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
15. "Liam Boyce extends contract with Ross County until 2018". BBC Sport. BBC. 10 February 2016. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
16. "Ladbrokes Scottish Premiership: Inverness relegated". Sporting Life. 20 May 2017. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
17. "Ross County have no interest in selling Liam Boyce – Jim McIntyre". BBC Sport. BBC. 21 May 2017. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
18. "BREWERS SIGN STRIKER IN RECORD-BREAKING DEAL". Burton Albion Official Site. 20 June 2017. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
19. Fullteron, Gareth (1 August 2017). "Belfast Live". Liam Boyce ruled out for majority of season after rupturing anterior cruciate ligament. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
20. "Sunderland 1-2 Burton Albion". BBC Sport. 21 April 2018. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
21. "Hearts close to Liam Boyce deal as Toby Sibbick joins on loan". BBC Sport. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
22. Lindsay, Clive (26 January 2020). "Heart of Midlothian 2-1 Rangers: Debutant Liam Boyce inspires defeat of title chasers". BBC Sport. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
23. "NI SQUAD NAMED FOR SCOTLAND GAME". The Irish Football Association. 31 January 2011. Archived from the original on 13 July 2011. Retrieved 9 February 2011.
24. "International friendly: Northern Ireland 1–0 New Zealand – BBC Sport". BBC Sport. 2 June 2017. Retrieved 4 June 2017.
25. "Liam Boyce". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
26. Wilson, Richard (13 March 2016). "Scottish League Cup Final: Hibernian 1 Ross County 2". BBC Sport. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
27. "Boyce wins PFA Scotland Championship Player of the Year". Irish FA. 17 May 2021. Retrieved 17 May 2021.

External links

• Liam Boyce at Soccerbase
• Profile at Irish FA