Martin Hugh Michael O'Neill, OBE (born 1 March 1952) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder.

As Celtic manager between 2000 and 2005, he led that club to seven trophies including three Scottish Premier League titles, and also reached the 2003 UEFA Cup Final.

He became Republic of Ireland manager in 2013 and led them to qualification for the 2016 UEFA European Championship for the third time in the nation's history, beating the reigning world champions, Germany, in the process.

[8] While at St Malachy's, he first came to public attention as a football player with local side Rosario and then eventually with Distillery.

When St Malachy's reached the 1970 MacRory Cup final, the Antrim GAA County Board refused to allow the game to go ahead at Belfast's Casement Park.

He signed for the English club in October 1971, leaving Distillery and quitting his law degree studies at the University of Belfast.

[16] That same year, he was dropped to the substitutes' bench for Forest's first European Cup victory over Malmö after failing to fully recover from an injury,[17][18] but he played in their 1980 win over Hamburg.

[20] Despite a good start, he soon became out of favour with manager John Bond and returned to Norwich in February 1982, where he scored six goals to help them finish third and secure promotion.

[20] Hoping to get fit for Northern Ireland's 1986 World Cup squad, O'Neill attempted to make a comeback in 1984 with Chesterfield, but only played part of a reserve game before being forced off with a knee injury after 20 minutes.

After leaving Chesterfield, then-Fulham manager Ray Harford invited O'Neill to join the club in a bid to regain his fitness.

O'Neill only managed to take part in two reserve games for Fulham (neither of which he completed), before retiring as a result of his cruciate ligament injury in February 1985.

Then he made his senior debut in a UEFA Euro 1972 qualifying game against Soviet Union national football team on 13 October 1971.

[23] He was then a regular for Northern Ireland, captaining the side at the 1982 World Cup in Spain which reached the second group stage and defeated the host nation in Valencia.

[27] In the 1994–95 season, Wycombe narrowly missed out on the Division 2 play-offs and he left the club on 13 June 1995 to become manager at Norwich City.

[citation needed] O'Neill left Leicester on 1 June 2000,[39] taking over from the team of John Barnes and Kenny Dalglish to become manager of Celtic, who had finished runners-up to Old Firm rivals Rangers in both of their previous seasons.

His last competitive game in charge of Celtic was the Scottish Cup final 1–0 victory over Dundee United on 28 May 2005, decided by an eleventh-minute goal by Alan Thompson.

O'Neill decided to prioritise Champions League qualification above all else, fielding a virtual reserve side for a UEFA Cup game against CSKA Moscow which was subsequently lost.

"[58] O'Neill was reportedly unhappy about the funds available for transfers,[59] but his departure just five days before the start of the new season still came as a shock to the club and its players.

[59] Lerner issued a statement two days later saying he and O'Neill "no longer shared a common view as to how to move forward, but the two remain good friends.

"[60] On 3 December 2011, O'Neill signed a three-year contract with the Premier League club Sunderland, the team he had supported as a boy.

Under O'Neill, Sunderland began to improve dramatically with four wins from his first six games, including one over league leaders Manchester City.

The following season, O'Neill had bought Steven Fletcher and Adam Johnson in an attempt to build on his previous 13th place and push on for the top 10.

They then claimed a 1–1 draw in O'Neill's first Tyne-Wear derby at the Stadium of Light after a late Demba Ba own goal.

Sunderland had failed to secure victory in the eight matches leading up to O'Neill's departure, winning only three points out of a possible 24 during that spell.

Orla O'Connor of the National Women's Council of Ireland said: "There is no place for sexist comments of this nature in Irish football, particularly at this level" [73] On 7 June 2016, O'Neill signed a contract extension until the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

[74] On 22 June 2016, Ireland defeated Italy 1–0 in their final group game of Euro 2016 to qualify for the knock-out stages and round of 16 match against France.

During a public appearance in Cork that month, O'Neill informed a gathering of Ireland football fans that he had two others accompany assistant Roy Keane and him on a recent visit to San Francisco as he was worried people might think they were "queers".

[89] He has worked in television as an analyst for BBC and ITV at the World Cup, the European Championship and on UEFA Champions League matches.

[94] In June 2024, O'Neill began co-hosting The Football Authorities podcast alongside his friend Clive Tyldesley.

Distillery Nottingham Forest Northern Ireland Wycombe Wanderers Leicester City Celtic Aston Villa Individual