Ryan McGowan

Heart of Midlothian

McGowan began his career at Para Hills Knights and was part of the South Australian Sports Institute, before moving to Scottish Premier League club Hearts in 2006 and was promoted to the first-team in 2008. He was the captain of Hearts' under 19 squad before making his SPL debut as substitute on 13 May that year in the final league match of the 2007–08 season against Gretna. Shortly after he signed a five-year contract with the club. After just the one first team appearance he was sent out on loan to Ayr United in October 2009. His debut for Ayr came on 14 October, when he scored one of the goals in a 2–2 draw at home to Dundee. In January 2010, the loan was extended until the end of the season. In total, he made 30 appearances in all competitions, scoring one goal for Ayr. On his return under new manager Jim Jefferies he played as a substitute against Hamilton on 21 August 2010, and against Celtic in September. On 15 February 2011, he joined First Division team Partick Thistle on a three-month loan deal and made his debut the same night. In all he made eight appearances before returning to Hearts at the start of April. After returning from his loan at Partick, McGowan made six more appearances for Hearts that season, with his first start for Hearts coming on 7 May 2011 against Rangers On 23 July 2011, he started the 2011–12 season with a Sky Sports 'Man of the Match' performance against Rangers at Ibrox. He began to establish himself as a member…

McGowan was part of the Australia team that qualified for the AFC Youth Championship 2008 in November 2007. McGowan was selected for the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Egypt; his brother and teammate Dylan McGowan, was not selected. McGowan started in the first match for the Young Socceroos in the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup, and received a yellow and a straight red against the Czech Republic for a studs up challenge which resulted in a penalty. He received his first call-up to the Australia senior squad in August 2012, when he was selected for the friendly match against Scotland, making his debut as a late substitute replacing Sasa Ognenovski. McGowan was booed by some sections of the home support due to his Hearts connections, with the game being played at Easter Road. He was named in Australia's 2014 FIFA World Cup squad and provided the assist to Tim Cahill's goal in Australia's 3–2 loss to the Netherlands.

Club

As of 4 September 2026

International

As of match played 3 June 2021

His parents emigrated to Australia in 1980, and McGowan was born in Adelaide into a Scottish family from Glasgow. His brother Dylan currently plays for Hamilton Academical.