Steven Davis

Aston Villa

Davis, who was born in Ballymena, County Antrim, started his career at St Andrews Boys Club in the DAWFL, before transferring to Aston Villa in 2002. He was a member of the 2002 FA Youth Cup winning team that beat Everton 4–2 in the final. His first professional appearance was on 18 September 2004, he was a 57th-minute replacement for Nolberto Solano in a goalless Premier League match against Norwich City at Carrow Road. Davis made 28 league appearances across the season, scoring the winner in a 3–2 comeback victory at Southampton on 16 April 2005. On 13 August 2005, in Villa's first game of the new campaign, Davis volleyed past Jussi Jääskeläinen to secure a 2–2 home draw against Bolton Wanderers, albeit after nine minutes. He scored twice on 20 September in the third round of the Football League Cup, as Villa won 8–3 at Wycombe Wanderers. By October 2005, he was a regular for the club and missed only one game for Villa in the 2005–06 season. Davis was named Villa's "Young Player of the Year", "The Fans Player of the Year" and "Player of the Year" for the 2005–06 season. His form prompted the Northern Ireland manager Lawrie Sanchez, to state that Davis could be "another Frank Lampard". Davis made 102 appearances for Villa and scored nine times. On 2 January 2006, he headed the first goal of a 2–1 win at rivals West Bromwich Albion.

Fulham

In the summer of 2007, Davis followed teammate Aaron Hughes to Fulham on 5 July 2007 to team up with…

Davis made his full international debut on 9 February 2005 in a 1–0 loss to Canada, and made the assist for David Healy in Northern Ireland's famous 1–0 victory over England in a 2006 World Cup qualification match on 7 September. Davis' first goal came against Wales in a 3–2 home defeat in another qualifier on 8 October. He was also part of the team who beat Spain 3–2 at Windsor Park in September 2006. On 21 May 2006, he became Northern Ireland's youngest modern day captain against Uruguay in the United States, a 1–0 loss. On 8 October 2015, Davis scored twice in a 3–1 victory over Greece to help Northern Ireland qualify for the final tournament of Euro 2016, their first European Championship. In November 2019, he won his 116th cap against the Netherlands and became the most capped British midfielder, passing David Beckham. On 7 September 2020, he equalled Pat Jennings's Northern Ireland record of 119 caps. On 8 October 2020, he played his 120th match for Northern Ireland against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying play-offs to become the most-capped player in their history. As of February 2023 he had 140 caps, making him the most capped British or Irish men's player of all time.

Following the dismissal of Michael Beale on 1 October 2023, Davis was announced as the manager of Rangers on an interim basis. He reported that this "came out of the blue" and that it "was too good an opportunity to turn down". He took charge of two games, a Europa League defeat by Aris Limassol and a league win against St Mirren, before Philippe Clement was appointed manager on 15 October. On 13 February 2026, Davis joined Blackburn Rovers as a first team coach.

Davis was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to football.