Gareth McAuley

Early career

McAuley was born in Larne, County Antrim. He started out playing for Lisburn Youth being picked up by Linfield and spent some time in early 2000 on loan at Ballyclare Comrades. After four years at Linfield, he moved to Crusaders in the summer of 2000. After two successful seasons, he moved to Coleraine.

Lincoln City

In the summer of 2004, McAuley decided the time had come to look for a move into full-time football in the Football League. After attracting interest from Lincoln City and Stockport County he linked up with Edgeley Park based club for a two-week trial under the eye of the former Northern Ireland manager Sammy McIlroy who had given McAuley his first Northern Ireland B call-up. After impressing in his trial, McAuley seemed set to sign for Stockport but talks broke down and he instead joined Lincoln City on a two-year deal with Coleraine receiving £10,000 for his services. With Lincoln already boasting one of the strongest defences in League Two at the time of McAuley's arrival, he did not walk straight into the first team. His first few appearances for the club were all as a substitute, and often in the role of a target man striker. However, when Dean West was dropped from the squad and club captain Paul Morgan sidelined with an injury, McAuley moved into central defence to partner Ben Futcher. He immediately drew the plaudits for his excellent performances, which included a man of the match display against Derby County. He thereafter…

In May 2003, McAuley received his first senior international call when he was one of five Irish League players named in the squad for the Northern Ireland B team fixture with Scotland B on 20 May 2003. Selected in the starting eleven, the team fell to a 2–1 defeat in front of just 1,502 spectators at Firhill Stadium. He received his first cap against Germany as his team lost 4–1 in a friendly match on 4 June 2005. McAuley contemplated international retirement after being left out of the squad to face Sweden on 17 October 2007. But on 9 October, Nigel Worthington recalled him to the squad. McAuley made his comeback against Sweden on 17 October, drawing 1–1. He was also part of the squad that defeated Denmark 2–1 in a memorable victory on 17 November, keeping the national team's hopes of qualifying for the UEFA Euro 2008. Their hopes were dashed when they lost 1–0 to Spain in Las Palmas on 21 November, finishing third in Group F with twenty points. McAuley scored his first international goal against San Marino on 11 February 2009. McAuley was called up to the Northern Ireland squad for the European qualification games against Serbia and Slovenia in March 2011. He scored his second international goal against Serbia, but could not prevent his side losing 2–1. For the second game, against Slovenia, McAuley was named captain for the first time. He led his side to a 0–0 draw, putting in a man of the match display himself at the same time. On 4 September, McAuley scored twice for…

Club

International

Scores and results list Northern Ireland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each McAuley goal.

On 14 August 2023, McAuley was appointed manager of the Northern Ireland national under-19 football team.

McAuley was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2019 New Year Honours for services to football in Northern Ireland.