| Liam Boyce | |
| Fullname: | Liam Boyce[1] |
| Birth Date: | 8 April 1991 |
| Birth Place: | Belfast, Northern Ireland |
| Height: | 1.84 m |
| Position: | Forward |
| Currentclub: | Heart of Midlothian |
| Clubnumber: | 27 |
| Years1: | 2008–2010 |
| Clubs1: | Cliftonville |
| Caps1: | 52 |
| Goals1: | 18 |
| Years2: | 2010–2011 |
| Clubs2: | Werder Bremen II |
| Caps2: | 3 |
| Goals2: | 0 |
| Years3: | 2012–2014 |
| Clubs3: | Cliftonville |
| Caps3: | 85 |
| Goals3: | 51 |
| Years4: | 2014–2017 |
| Clubs4: | Ross County |
| Caps4: | 99 |
| Goals4: | 48 |
| Years5: | 2017–2020 |
| Clubs5: | Burton Albion |
| Caps5: | 78 |
| Goals5: | 22 |
| Years6: | 2020 - |
| Clubs6: | Heart of Midlothian |
| Caps6: | 84 |
| Goals6: | 28 |
| Nationalyears1: | 2008–2009 |
| Nationalteam1: | Northern Ireland U19 |
| Nationalcaps1: | 6 |
| Nationalgoals1: | 1 |
| Nationalyears2: | 2010–2012 |
| Nationalteam2: | Northern Ireland U21 |
| Nationalcaps2: | 9 |
| Nationalgoals2: | 0 |
| Nationalyears3: | 2011– |
| Nationalteam3: | Northern Ireland |
| Nationalcaps3: | 28 |
| Nationalgoals3: | 2 |
| Club-Update: | 11 August 2024 (UTC) |
| Nationalteam-Update: | 31 May 2021 (UTC) |
Liam Boyce (born 8 April 1991) is a Northern Irish professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Heart of Midlothian and the Northern Ireland national team.
Boyce began his career at Cliftonville and returned to the club following a short spell at Werder Bremen II. He has since played for Ross County, Burton Albion and joined Heart of Midlothian in January 2020. Boyce made his debut for the Northern Ireland national team in February 2011.
Boyce began his career at Cliftonville, scoring 19 goals in his debut season.[2] He won the IFA Premiership Player of the Month Award for April 2010,[3] and was named the Northern Ireland Football Writers' Player of the Year for the 2009–10 season.[2] Boyce is from the Lower Falls in Belfast. He played for Immaculata for most of his youth years, during this time he attended St Joseph's Primary School Slate Street and St Mary's Grammar School, located on the Glen Road in Belfast, he spent all his secondary school years there and went on to study A Levels.
He was spotted by Cliftonville, and they signed him. He spent his first year there playing in the reserves but in the 2009–10 season, Boyce became a first team regular.
Boyce went on trial with Scottish club Celtic in July 2010,[2] and then held discussions in mid-August 2010 about a move to German club Greuther Fürth,[4] but the move collapsed a few days later.[5]
Boyce scored his first European goal against PFC CSKA Sofia in the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League[6]
Boyce eventually signed for German club Werder Bremen on 31 August 2010.[7] He was released by the German club in October 2011, having only made three appearances for the club's reserves side.
Boyce rejoined Cliftonville in January 2012.[8] In the 2012–13 season, he helped Cliftonville win the league title for the first time since 1998, finishing as the league's top scorer with 29 league goals. He was also named as the 2012–13 Ulster Footballer of the Year[9] and Northern Ireland Football Writers' Player of the Year.[10] He won a second league title with the north Belfast club in 2013–14, scoring another 21 league goals before, in July 2014, the club announced that it had withdrawn its offer of a new contract to Boyce.[11] During this spell at the Reds Boyce made eight appearances in European football scoring once against Kalmar FF in the qualifiers of the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League https://cliftonvillefc.net/european-record/.
On 13 June 2014, it was announced Boyce had signed a pre-contract with Ross County.[12] On 13 April 2015, Boyce scored County's first ever top-flight hat-trick in a 3–0 win at St Mirren.[13] He then enjoyed a prolific season in 2015–16, scoring 17 goals in 24 games. Boyce signed a new contract with County in February 2016.[14] He was the top goalscorer in the 2016–17 Scottish Premiership, with 23 goals.[15] [16]
On 20 June 2017, Boyce became a club record signing for EFL Championship side Burton Albion, agreeing a three-year contract with the club.[17] Just weeks later, in a pre-season friendly match against Shrewsbury Town, Boyce suffered a serious knee injury that would keep him out of action for most of the 2017–18 season.[18] He returned to action on 3 February 2018, scoring as Burton lost 3–2 to Aston Villa. On 21 April, Boyce scored an injury-time winner that relegated Sunderland.[19]
Boyce signed for Heart of Midlothian in January 2020 on a three-and-a-half-year deal.[20] He scored the winning goal in the 83rd minute of his debut against Rangers.[21]
On 31 January 2011, Boyce received his debut call-up to the Northern Ireland national team for the Nations Cup.[22] This call-up came after his move to German club Werder Bremen in September 2010. On 9 February 2011, Boyce made his debut against Scotland, when he came on as a 72nd-minute substitute for Niall McGinn. He received his second call-up for Northern Ireland's Group C match against Serbia in Belgrade on 25 March 2011.
On 2 June 2017, Boyce scored his first goal for Northern Ireland in a 1–0 friendly victory over New Zealand at Windsor Park.[23]
| Club | Season | League | National Cup | League Cup | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||
| Cliftonville | 2008–09 | NIFL Premiership | 15 | 1 | 15 | 1 | |||||||
| 2009–10 | 34 | 16 | 34 | 16 | |||||||||
| 2010–11 | 3 | 1 | — | — | 4[24] | 1 | 7 | 2 | |||||
| Total | 52 | 18 | 4 | 1 | 56 | 19 | |||||||
| 2010–11 | 3. Liga | 3 | 0 | — | — | — | 3 | 0 | |||||
| Cliftonville | 2011–12 | NIFL Premiership | 13 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4[25] | 1 | 18 | 2 | |
| 2012–13 | 36 | 29 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 4[26] | 2 | 48 | 34 | |||
| 2013–14 | 36 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 2[27] | 0 | 42 | 23 | |||
| Total | 85 | 51 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 5 | 10 | 3 | 108 | 59 | |||
| Ross County | 2014–15 | Scottish Premiership | 30 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | — | 33 | 11 | ||
| 2015–16 | 35 | 15 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 4 | — | 42 | 20 | ||||
| 2016–17 | 34 | 23 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 0 | — | 40 | 24 | ||||
| Total | 99 | 48 | 5 | 2 | 11 | 5 | — | 115 | 55 | ||||
| Burton Albion | 2017–18 | Championship | 16 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 16 | 3 | ||
| 2018–19 | League One | 37 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 1[28] | 0 | 45 | 14 | ||
| 2019–20 | 25 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 33 | 14 | |||
| Total | 78 | 22 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 94 | 31 | |||
| Heart of Midlothian | 2019–20 | Scottish Premiership | 7 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 9 | 2 | ||
| 2020–21 | Scottish Championship | 25 | 14 | 2[29] | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 16 | ||
| 2021–22 | Scottish Premiership | 31 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 4 | — | 41 | 16 | |||
| 2022–23 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 1 | |||
| 2023–24 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 21 | 1 | |||
| 2024–25 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |||
| Total | 84 | 28 | 9 | 4 | 9 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 108 | 36 | |||
| Career total | 401 | 167 | 22 | 8 | 38 | 20 | 22 | 4 | 483 | 200 | |||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northern Ireland | 2011 | 4 | 0 | |
| 2015 | 3 | 0 | ||
| 2016 | 1 | 0 | ||
| 2017 | 2 | 1 | ||
| 2018 | 7 | 0 | ||
| 2019 | 4 | 0 | ||
| 2020 | 6 | 1 | ||
| 2021 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Total | 28 | 2 | ||
Scores and results list Northern Ireland's goal tally first.
| No. | Date | Venue | Cap | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 June 2017 | Windsor Park, Belfast, Northern Ireland | 9 | 1–0 | 1–0 | Friendly | ||
| 2 | 18 November 2020 | Windsor Park, Belfast, Northern Ireland | 27 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2020–21 UEFA Nations League B |
Cliftonville
Ross County
Hearts
Individual
2012–13[9]
2012–13[10]