Ronnie Whelan

By the age of 20 Whelan had represented the Republic of Ireland national team at schoolboy, youth, amateur, U21 and senior level. Whelan first represented his country at schoolboy level. Whelan was a regular for the Republic of Ireland, making his debut on 29 April 1981 when he came off the bench in the 63rd minute of the 3–1 victory over Czechoslovakia at Lansdowne Road. Whelan was part of the Irish side which qualified for the UEFA European Championship of 1988 in West Germany. He was in the team which memorably beat England 1–0, and in the next game scored a spectacular goal in a draw with the USSR. Defeat in the final group game, against eventual champions Netherlands, eliminated Ireland from the competition. In general, Ireland's style under manager Jack Charlton did not involve precision midfield play, which limited Whelan's international impact. He came on as a substitute against Holland in his only appearance in the 1990 World Cup, and played for less than a half against Norway in his sole 1994 World Cup game. In all he played 53 times for his country, scoring three goals.

On his departure from Anfield in 1994 after 15 years, Whelan signed for Southend United and became their player-manager a year later, before being sacked at the end of the 1996–97 season following their relegation from Division One. He later worked with clubs in Greece such as Panionios and in Cyprus such as Apollon Limassol and Olympiakos Nicosia. His greatest success as a manager, was with Panionios in 1999, when his team reached for first time the quarter finals of a European competition, the Cup Winners Cup, when they were eliminated by eventual champions S.S. Lazio by 0–4 and 0–3 scores over the two legs.

Whelan now works on the after-dinner circuit and does some punditry. Whelan features regularly on RTÉ Sport's soccer programming, including its Premier League and UEFA Champions League coverage. He is notable for his pronunciation of Germany midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger's name. He contributed to RTÉ Sport's coverage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. He was also part of RTÉ Sport's studio coverage of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. He was signed to be part of RTÉ Sport's coverage of UEFA Euro 2016, UEFA Euro 2020 and UEFA Euro 2024.

Whelan was born into a family of footballers from Finglas, Dublin, Ireland; his father, Ronnie Sr., was an Irish international and a key member of the successful St Patrick's Athletic side of the late 1950s and early 1960s. His brother Paul Whelan played for Bohemian FC and Shamrock Rovers. Whelan was a skilful and industrious midfield player, who began playing with Home Farm at the age of six. After an unsuccessful trial period for Manchester United (for whom he made one appearance for their 'B' team, scoring in a 7–4 win over Liverpool 'B', on 20 August 1977), made his League of Ireland debut for Home Farm on his 16th birthday at Tolka Park. Whelan scored for a League of Ireland XI against the Basque Country at the San Mamés in August 1979