Paul Hanlon

Hibernian

Hanlon played for the well known Edinburgh youth football club Hutchison Vale, along with future Hibs teammate Danny Galbraith. Hanlon was an attacking midfielder who scored plenty of goals in youth football, but was converted to a defensive position after he signed for boyhood club Hibs. He played his first senior game for Hibs on 12 January 2008, against Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the Scottish Cup, due to injuries sustained by David Murphy and Lewis Stevenson. Hanlon played for Hibs on a regular basis over the next seven months, and he agreed a five-year contract with the club. During the 2008–09 season, however, Hanlon was replaced by Ian Murray as Hibs' regular left back. Hanlon was loaned out to St Johnstone in December 2008, initially for one month. St Johnstone wanted to extend the loan arrangement, but Hibs refused to allow this. Hanlon went straight back into the Hibs team after returning from St Johnstone, but he was dropped soon afterwards by Mixu Paatelainen due to a defensive error he made in a match against Kilmarnock. Hanlon played infrequently during the 2009–10 season, only featuring when one of the regular defenders was unavailable. One such period was when Sol Bamba was with the Ivory Coast national team at the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations; manager John Hughes said it was a tough decision to reinstate Bamba to the team at Hanlon's expense. At the end of the season, Hughes commented that Hanlon was a "great" footballer, but needed to…

Hanlon captained Scotland under-19, and made his debut for Scotland under-21 in a 1–0 win against Albania in March 2009. Hanlon was a regular in central defence during the 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification campaign, which ended in a play-off defeat by Iceland. Hanlon then captained an inexperienced side in November 2010 as head coach Billy Stark made initial preparations for the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification campaign. He scored the second goal in a 3–1 win for Scotland in a friendly match against Northern Ireland. Hanlon received his first call-up to the senior Scotland squad in November 2017, for a friendly match with the Netherlands. He was recalled to the squad in October 2020, and made his full international debut in a 1–0 win against the Czech Republic.

As of match played on 15 May 2024

Hibernian

Scottish Cup: 2015–16 Scottish Championship: 2016–17 Raith Rovers

Scottish Challenge Cup: 2025–26 Individual

Hibernian F.C. Hall of Fame inductee: 2024