.jpg) Arfield withRangers in 2018 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Scott Harry Nathaniel Arfield[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1988-11-01)1 November 1988 (age 36)[2] | ||
| Place of birth | Dechmont, Scotland | ||
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[2] | ||
| Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Falkirk | ||
| Number | 37 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Falkirk | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2007–2010 | Falkirk | 108 | (13) |
| 2010–2013 | Huddersfield Town | 96 | (9) |
| 2013–2018 | Burnley | 177 | (21) |
| 2018–2023 | Rangers | 144 | (29) |
| 2023–2024 | Charlotte FC | 27 | (2) |
| 2024–2025 | Bolton Wanderers | 12 | (0) |
| 2025– | Falkirk | 7 | (6) |
| International career | |||
| 2007 | Scotland U19 | 2 | (0) |
| 2007–2010 | Scotland U21 | 17 | (3) |
| 2009 | Scotland B | 1 | (0) |
| 2016–2019 | Canada | 19 | (2) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 01:05 23 March 2025 (UTC) | |||
Scott Harry Nathaniel Arfield (born 1 November 1988) is a professionalassociation football player who plays as amidfielder forScottish Championship clubFalkirk. Born and raised in Scotland, Arfield represented his nation of birth at international youth levels before switching toCanada in 2016.
He began his career atFalkirk before moving to the English leagues for eight years withHuddersfield Town andBurnley. He returned to Scottish football in 2018, playing five seasons forRangers. In 2025, 18 years after making his debut for the club, he returned to Falkirk.
Arfield came up through theFalkirk Youth Academy and earned promotion to the first team squad. He made his Falkirk debut on 4 August 2007, in their 4–0 win away atGretna on the opening day of the 2007–08 season.[3] His first goal came in Falkirk's 4–2 defeat atInverness Caledonian Thistle.[4] He then scored twice in a 4–0 win overSt Mirren. He won theScottish Premier LeagueYoung Player of the Month award for December 2007.[5] Arfield signed a new five-year contract with Falkirk in February 2008.[6] He finished the season with three goals in 35SPL appearances.
During the2008–09 season Arfield won his second Young Player of the Month award, this time winning for September 2008.[7] He was in the Falkirk side that wereScottish Cup runners-up, losing 1–0 toRangers in thefinal atHampden Park. Arfield scored 10 goals in the 2008–09 season, seven of them coming in the league.
He was given the number 10 jersey, previously worn bySteven Pressley, for the2009–10 season.Hamilton Academical offered £100,000 for Arfield in August 2009, but this was rejected by Falkirk, who commented that they "thought they had missed out a zero in the figure they offered".[8]
Arfield's first appearance of the 2009–10 season came in a 1–0 home win overFC Vaduz in theUEFA Europa League, the club's first ever match in European competition.[9] He finished the season with three goals from 36 appearances as the club were relegated from the SPL.
Speculation began to grow that Arfield was to leave Falkirk following their relegation from theSPL. On 17 May 2010, it was confirmed that Arfield was having talks withHuddersfield Town and was to have a medical at the club. Falkirk had already turned down offers fromHamilton Academical,Hibernian,[10]Hearts andSouthampton.
Arfield left Falkirk after playing 108 games, scoring 13 times between 2007 and 2010. He made his last appearance for Falkirk in the 0–0 draw withKilmarnock that confirmed relegation on the last day of the season.[11]
On 21 May 2010, it was reported that Arfield had signed forHuddersfield Town for a reported fee initially in the region of £400,000 but potentially rising to over £600,000 after a certain number of appearances.[12] The move was confirmed three days later, after the club and the player had agreed personal terms. He made his Huddersfield debut in the 3–0 win overNotts County atMeadow Lane on 7 August 2010.[13] On 11 September 2010, he scored his first goal for theTerriers atBrisbane Road againstLeyton Orient, whereTown won 2–1. A week later, he scored his first goal at theGalpharm Stadium againstYeovil Town, in a 4–2 win for the home side.
Arfield was a regular in the Huddersfield side, making 38 appearances and scoring twice in all competitions as they finished the season as Play-off champions and gained promotion to theChampionship after beatingSheffield United on penalties in theWembley final, Arfield scoring his penalty to make it 2–1 as Huddersfield won by 8–7.[14] Arfield made fewer appearances in Town's first season in the Championship, and at the end of the season was released along withTom Clarke andAlan Lee.[15]
After leaving Huddersfield, Arfield went on trial withBurnley and scored in the 3–0 win overCork City on 15 July 2013,[16] before signing a two-year deal 4 days later with theClarets.[17] Arfield selected the number 37 shirt in memory of fellow Falkirk youth player Craig Gowans, who wore the same squad number when he was tragically killed in a training ground accident in 2005.[18] He scored his first professional goal for Burnley on 6 August 2013, in a 4–0 win againstYork City in theLeague Cup.[19] Arfield scored 9 goals in 49 competitive appearances for Burnley during the 2013–14 season.[20] Burnley won promotion to thePremier League and Arfield signed a three-year contract with the club in July 2014.[20] Arfield scored on his Premier League debut for Burnley againstChelsea in the 14th minute of their opening game of the season.
Arfield returned to Scotland and signed a four-year deal with Rangers on 14 May 2018.[21] He made his debut for the club on 12 July 2018 in aEuropa League qualification tie againstFK Shkupi ofMacedonia, and made hisScottish Premiership debut a few weeks later on 5 August, againstAberdeen.[22] On 7 April 2019, Arfield scored his first professional hat-trick in a 3–0 victory againstMotherwell.[23][24]
In May 2023, Rangers announced Arfield would depart the club upon the expiration of his contract.[25][26]
In June 2023, Arfield joinedMajor League Soccer clubCharlotte FC on a contract through the end of 2024, with an option for 2025.[27] He made his debut for his new club on 5 July, as a substitute againstNew York City FC.[28] Arfield scored his first goal for Charlotte on 29 July, netting the third goal in an eventual 4-1 victory againstNecaxa in the2023 Leagues Cup.[29]
On 12 July 2024, Arfield signed a one-year contract withEFL League One clubBolton Wanderers[30] and made his debut on 10 August in a 2-1 victory atLeyton Orient.[31]
On 3 February 2025, 15 years after originally departing the club, Arfield returned to Falkirk on a six month deal with the option of a further year.[32] Five days later he scored 45 seconds into his return debut, aScottish Championship fixture againstPartick Thistle, and went on to complete a hat-trick as Falkirk won 5–2.[33]
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Arfield represented Scotland atunder-19,under-21 andB international levels.[34][35][36] He made his debut forScotland under-19 in a 3–1 away friendly victory over Austria.[34] His second and last outing for the under-19s came four days later in the 2–1 home win over Norway,[34] coming on as a substitute forAlex Pearce in the 65th minute of the game.
Arfield was then a member of theScotland under-21 squad, being called up for the first time in October 2007. His debut came in a 4–0 defeat againstNetherlands on 16 October 2007.[35] He was a regular inBilly Stark's squad throughout the 2009 and 2011 European qualifying campaigns.[35] Arfield's first goal for the under-21s came in a 2–2 draw withUkraine on 6 February 2008.[35]
Arfield received his first cap forScotland B againstNorthern Ireland at theExcelsior Stadium inAirdrie on 6 May 2009.[36] Scotland won the game 3–0.[36]
Arfield also qualified to play forCanada, because his father was born inToronto.[37] In February 2016, it was widely reported that Arfield was prepared to file his one-time switch paperwork withFIFA, which was needed for him to join the Canada squad.[38][39] In March 2016, Arfield was included in Canada's 23-man squad for theirWorld Cup Qualification match againstMexico.[40][41][42] He made his debut on 25 March as a second-half substitute forTosaint Ricketts in a 3–0 home defeat to Mexico atBC Place.[43] Arfield was named to Canada's squad for the2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup on 27 June 2017.[44] His first goal for Canada came in the tournament opener againstFrench Guiana on 7 July.[45]In 2018, at the opening of Canada'sNations League campaign, Arfield was named captain of the squad in their match againstU.S. Virgin Islands.[46] In May 2019, Arfield was named to the squad for the2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup.[47] During an unofficial training match prior to the 2019 Gold Cup on 10 June, he scored both goals in a 2–0 win againstTrinidad and Tobago.[48]
In October 2020Rangers coachSteven Gerrard suggested that Arfield had retired from international duty.[49] Arfield later refuted the claim in an interview withRangers TV, stating that his continued involvement with Canada would be up to coachJohn Herdman.[50] After missing Canada's2022 World Cup qualifiers in March and June 2021, Arfield was named to the provisional 60-man squad for the2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup,[51] but did not make the final 23-man team.[52]
In January 2022 Arfield announced his international retirement.[53]
| Club | Season | League | National cup | League cup | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Falkirk | 2007–08[55] | Scottish Premier League | 35 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 39 | 3 | |
| 2008–09[56] | Scottish Premier League | 37 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 0 | — | 45 | 10 | ||
| 2009–10[57] | Scottish Premier League | 36 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2[a] | 0 | 40 | 3 | |
| Total | 108 | 13 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 124 | 16 | ||
| Huddersfield Town | 2010–11[58] | League One | 40 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 6[b] | 1 | 53 | 6 |
| 2011–12[59] | League One | 35 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3[c] | 0 | 40 | 2 | |
| 2012–13[60] | Championship | 21 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 26 | 1 | ||
| Total | 96 | 7 | 10 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 9 | 1 | 119 | 9 | ||
| Burnley | 2013–14[61] | Championship | 45 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | — | 49 | 9 | |
| 2014–15[62] | Premier League | 37 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 40 | 2 | ||
| 2015–16[63] | Championship | 46 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 49 | 8 | ||
| 2016–17[64] | Premier League | 31 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 35 | 1 | ||
| 2017–18[65] | Premier League | 18 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 20 | 2 | ||
| Total | 177 | 21 | 8 | 0 | 8 | 1 | — | 193 | 22 | |||
| Rangers | 2018–19[66] | Scottish Premiership | 29 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 11[a] | 1 | 46 | 12 |
| 2019–20[67] | Scottish Premiership | 26 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 17[a] | 1 | 49 | 9 | |
| 2020–21[68] | Scottish Premiership | 28 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 13[a] | 3 | 45 | 7 | |
| 2021–22[69] | Scottish Premiership | 29 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 16[d] | 0 | 50 | 6 | |
| 2022–23[70] | Scottish Premiership | 31 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6[e] | 1 | 43 | 9 | |
| Total | 144 | 29 | 14 | 5 | 13 | 3 | 63 | 6 | 233 | 43 | ||
| Charlotte FC | 2023[71] | Major League Soccer | 13 | 2 | — | — | 6[f] | 1 | 19 | 3 | ||
| 2024[72] | Major League Soccer | 14 | 0 | — | — | 0 | 0 | 14 | 0 | |||
| Total | 27 | 2 | — | — | 6 | 1 | 33 | 3 | ||||
| Bolton Wanderers | 2024–25[72] | League One | 12 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 0 |
| Falkirk | 2024–25[72] | Scottish Championship | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 4 | 5 | |
| Career total | 568 | 77 | 40 | 9 | 35 | 4 | 80 | 8 | 724 | 98 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canada | 2016 | 6 | 0 |
| 2017 | 6 | 1 | |
| 2018 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2019 | 6 | 1 | |
| Total | 19 | 2 | |
| No. | Date | Venue | Cap | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 July 2017 | Red Bull Arena,Harrison, United States | 8 |  French Guiana | 2–0 | 4–2 | 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup |
| 2 | 15 June 2019 | Rose Bowl,Pasadena, United States | 14 |  Martinique | 4–0 | 4–0 | 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup |
Falkirk
Huddersfield Town
Burnley
Rangers
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