Mark Sykes (footballer)

Mark Sykes

Personal information
Full name	Mark Sykes [1]
Date of birth	(1997-08-04) 4 August 1997 (age 27)
Place of birth	Belfast, Northern Ireland
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.82 m) [2]
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Bristol City
Number	17
Youth career
	Glenavon
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2013–2019	Glenavon	117	(16)
2019–2022	Oxford United	104	(9)
2022–	Bristol City	92	(11)
International career‡
	Northern Ireland U18
	Northern Ireland U19
2016–2018	Northern Ireland U21	11	(2)
2022–	Republic of Ireland	5	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 08:47, 2 February 2025 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 01:20, 12 June 2024 (UTC)

Mark Sykes (born 4 August 1997) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for EFL Championship club Bristol City. Born in Northern Ireland, he plays for the Republic of Ireland national team, having previously represented Northern Ireland at underage level. ^[3]

Club career

Glenavon

Born in Belfast, ^[4] Sykes began his career with Glenavon. In December 2017 he was linked with a transfer away from the club. ^[5] In February 2018 he signed a new contract until the end of the 2018–19 season. ^[6] In March 2018 he was described by a journalist as "one of the most outstanding young prospects in the Irish League". ^[7]

Oxford United

In January 2019 he signed for English club Oxford United, ^[8] making his debut on 8 January 2019 in the EFL Trophy. ^[9] He scored his first goal for Oxford against Millwall in the EFL Cup on 27 August 2019, and his first league goal in a 2–1 victory over AFC Wimbledon on 29 December 2019. ^[10] In his three and a half seasons at the club he made 137 appearances and scored 12 times, ^[11] including Oxford's consolation goal in their 2–1 defeat to Wycombe Wanderers in the 2020 EFL League One play-off final at Wembley Stadium. ^[12]

Bristol City

In May 2022, Bristol City announced that they had signed Sykes, with the transfer becoming official on 1 July 2022, on a three-year deal with the option of a further year. ^{[13] [14]} On 3 October 2023, Sykes was voted Bristol City's September Player of the Month, receiving 46% of the total votes. ^[15] On 2 February 2025, Sykes signed a 12 month contract extension. ^[16]

International career

Northern Ireland

Sykes has also played for Northern Ireland at under-18, under-19 and under-21 youth levels. ^[17] He made his debut for the under-21 side in September 2016, in a 2–0 defeat to Macedonia and as of 28 January 2019 had 11 caps and 2 goals. ^[4]

He received his first call-up to the Northern Ireland senior team in May 2019. ^[18] He was called up again in September 2019. ^[19]

Republic of Ireland

In August 2020, Sykes informed the Irish Football Association (which governs football in Northern Ireland) that he no longer wished to be considered for their squad, instead opting for the Republic of Ireland. ^[20] In March 2022, he was named in Stephen Kenny's Republic of Ireland squad for forthcoming friendly matches. ^{[21] [22]}

Sykes was named as a late inclusion to the squad in November 2022 for the Republic of Ireland's November friendlies with Norway and Malta, following the withdrawals of two players through injury. ^{[23] [24]}

On 20 November 2022, Sykes made his debut in a 1–0 win over Malta, becoming the first Belfast–born player to represent the Republic of Ireland since 1946. ^{[25] [26]}

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 1 February 2025

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National Cup [a]		League Cup [b]		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Glenavon	2013–14 [27]	NIFL Premiership	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
	2014–15 [27]	NIFL Premiership	2	0	0	0	0	0	1 [c]	0	3	0
	2015–16 [27]	NIFL Premiership	25	1	4	0	0	0	0	0	29	1
	2016–17 [27]	NIFL Premiership	33	2	3	1	2	0	2 [c]	0	40	3
	2017–18 [27]	NIFL Premiership	30	9	2	0	0	0	0	0	32	9
	2018–19 [27]	NIFL Premiership	22	4	0	0	0	0	2 [c]	0	24	4
	Total		117	16	9	1	2	0	5	0	133	17
Oxford United	2018–19 [9]	League One	9	0	0	0	0	0	2 [d]	0	11	0
	2019–20 [10]	League One	23	1	4	0	4	1	7 [e]	1	39	3
	2020–21 [28]	League One	32	0	1	0	1	0	8 [f]	0	42	0
	2021–22 [29]	League One	40	8	2	0	1	0	1 [d]	0	44	8
	Total		104	9	7	0	6	1	18	1	135	11
Bristol City	2022–23 [30]	Championship	36	5	4	1	2	0	—		42	6
	2023–24 [31]	Championship	40	5	0	0	2	0	—		42	5
	2024–25 [32]	Championship	16	1	0	0	1	0	—		17	1
	Total		92	11	4	1	5	0	0	0	100	12
Career total			312	36	19	2	13	1	23	1	367	40

1. Includes Irish Cup and FA Cup
2. Includes Irish League Cup and EFL Cup
3. Appearance(s) in UEFA Europa League.
4. Appearance(s) in the EFL Trophy.
5. 4 appearances in the EFL Trophy; 3 appearances and 1 goal in the play-offs.
6. 6 appearances in the EFL Trophy, 2 appearances in the play-offs.

International

As of match played 11 June 2024 ^[27]

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Republic of Ireland	2022	1	0
	2023	2	0
	2024	2	0
Total		5	0

Honours

Glenavon

• Irish Cup: 2015–16 ^[33]

Individual

• Ulster Young Footballer of the Year 2017–18 ^[17]

References

1. "Club list of registered players: As at 19th May 2019" (PDF). English Football League. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
2. "Mark Sykes - Biography". oufc.co.uk. Oxford United F.C. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
3. Fullerton, Gareth (8 April 2021). "Mark Sykes opens up on Republic of Ireland switch". BelfastLive.
4. "Northern Ireland under-21 Men". Irish FA. Archived from the original on 10 January 2019. Retrieved 19 January 2020. Place of Birth Belfast
5. "Glenavon expect star player Mark Sykes to move in transfer window". BBC Sport. 4 December 2017. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
6. "Glenavon: Manager Gary Hamilton and midfielder Mark Sykes extend Glenavon deals". BBC Sport. 20 February 2018. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
7. Swain, Maxie (7 March 2018). "The Big Interview: Glenavon star Mark Sykes determined to fulfil his potential". Belfast Live. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
8. "Mark Sykes: Oxford sign midfielder from Glenavon". BBC Sport. 2 January 2019. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
9. "Games played by Mark Sykes in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 16 September 2019.
10. "Games played by Mark Sykes in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 16 September 2019.
11. "Mark Sykes Moves On". Oxford United F.C. 16 May 2020. Retrieved 19 May 2022.
12. Williams, Adam (13 July 2020). "Oxford United 1–2 Wycombe Wanderers". BBC Sport. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
13. "City sign Sykes". Bristol City F.C. 16 May 2022. Retrieved 19 May 2022.
14. "Bristol City complete midfielder Sykes signing". BBC Sport. 16 May 2022. Retrieved 19 May 2022.
15. Barton, Dave (3 October 2023). "Mark Sykes voted September Player of the Month". Bristol City FC. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
16. BBC Sport (2 February 2025). "Sykes extends contract at Bristol City until 2026". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 2 February 2025. Retrieved 2 February 2025.
17. "Profile". NIFG. Retrieved 9 January 2019.
18. "Northern Ireland: Mark Sykes gets first call-up for Euro 2020 qualifiers in Estonia & Belarus". BBC Sport. 30 May 2019. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
19. Sterling, Mark (4 September 2019). "Northern Ireland: Sykes and Lafferty called into squad for Luxembourg and Germany games". BBC Sport. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
20. "Mark Sykes set to switch allegiance from Northern Ireland to Republic of Ireland". BBC Sport. 23 August 2020. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
21. "Mark Sykes Called up for Republic of Ireland". Oxford United F.C. 18 March 2022. Retrieved 19 May 2022.
22. Fullerton, Gareth (18 March 2022). "Mark Sykes named in Republic of Ireland squad for upcoming friendlies". BelfastLive.
23. O'Donoghue, Conor. "Mark Sykes called up for Norway & Malta". The Irish Post.
24. Fenton, James (14 November 2022). "Mark Sykes called up to Ireland squad as forward duo withdraw".
25. Fennessy, Paul. "History as Republic of Ireland cap first Belfast-born player since 1946". The42.
26. "Mark Sykes: Republic of Ireland debut 'meant everything' to Bristol City midfielder". BBC Sport. 28 November 2022. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
27. Mark Sykes at Soccerway. Retrieved 16 September 2019.
28. "Games played by Mark Sykes in 2020/2021". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
29. "Games played by Mark Sykes in 2021/2022". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
30. "Games played by Mark Sykes in 2022/2023". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
31. "Games played by Mark Sykes in 2023/2024". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
32. "Games played by Mark Sykes in 2024/2025". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 10 August 2024.
33. Millar, Colin (7 May 2016). "Irish Cup: Glenavon lift trophy after stunning win over Linfield". Belfast Live. Retrieved 28 July 2020.