Owen Andrew O'Loughlin Farrell (born 24 September 1991) is an English professional rugby union player who plays as a fly-half for Top 14 club Racing 92.

Farrell was born in Billinge Higher End,[citation needed] Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, on 24 September 1991.

[4] When his father Andy signed for Saracens in 2005, his family moved to Harpenden in Hertfordshire, where Owen at the age of 13 or 14 was introduced to rugby union for the first time.

He is also second cousin (via his fathers's side) to current Wigan captain and England international Liam Farrell and his younger brother Connor.

However, he returned to Saracens and was pivotal in the 2010–11 Aviva Premiership Final, kicking five penalties and converting James Short's try, ending with a personal haul of 17 points in the 22–18 victory over reigning champions Leicester Tigers.

Saracens' head coach, Mark McCall told the Press Association: "Owen controlled the game with maturity beyond his years.

[citation needed] In the 2014–15 season, Farrell won the man of the match award in the Premiership Final, scoring a try and kicking a further 13 points.

[17] In 2019, Farrell won the European Champions Cup for a third time, scoring 10 points in the final against Leinster at St James' Park in Newcastle.

[20] On 5 September 2020, in a Saracens loss to Wasps, Farrell was sent off by referee Christophe Ridley for a high tackle on Charlie Atkinson, for which he was banned 5 games.

The suspension ensured he would be available for England's entire autumn campaign, but the fly-half was ruled out Saracens' Champions Cup quarter-final match against Leinster.

Saracen's Director of Rugby Mark McCall told the Welwyn Hatfield Times: "He is thoughtful, insightful and modest but at his core he is a competitor who will never stop trying to improve.

They've learnt a lot but they've been themselves throughout and it's important to be authentic.”[22] Farrell suffered an ankle injury which kept him out for the majority of the 2021–22 Gallagher Premiership season, however he did feature in the final against Leicester, which Saracens lost 15–12.

In April 2022, after four months on the sidelines following two ankle operations, Farrell showed a return to form as he helped Saracens defeat Exeter and acquire the bonus points required to qualify for the playoffs.

[25] Stuart Lancaster picked Farrell to play for England in his first game as head coach, against Scotland[26] in the 2012 Six Nations Championship on 4 February 2012.

[citation needed] Farrell started in the Calcutta Cup match against Scotland, only missing one kick in a near-faultless display.

Ahead of the game against New Zealand, in which he was to line up against Dan Carter, Graham Rowntree, England's forwards coach said: "I love listening to him.

In January 2016, after his fine displays for Saracens, Farrell was selected in the first squad of new England head coach Eddie Jones.

With injuries to Henry Slade and Manu Tuilagi leaving few choices at inside centre, Farrell was selected at 12 in Jones' first two matches, away to Scotland and Italy respectively.

Farrell was initially picked to start at fly-half for the first test, however, he was soon reverted to inside centre with Ford assuming the No.10 shirt.

England would go on to win the series 3–0, with Farrell playing a pivotal role, being named man of the match in the third test and scoring 66 points on tour.

[36] Farrell was nominated for the six-man shortlist for the 2016 World Player of the Year Award for the second time in his career, alongside his Saracens teammates Billy Vunipola and Maro Itoje.

Farrell did not miss any kicks against France in the match and defended well, but England lost 22–16 due to giving away penalties to French scrum-half Maxime Machenaud who managed to convert them into points.

The high tackle from John Quill resulted in Farrell taking a shoulder charge to head which removed a chunk of skin from his nose.

Farrell finished Autumn Nations Cup as the Tournament's top points scorer as he claimed his first two pieces of silverware as England Captain.

Despite missing half of his kicks at goal in the Final, Farrell scored the match winning penalty deep into extra time.

Farrell and England made a poor start to their title defence in the 2021 Six Nations, with a first loss to Scotland at Twickenham in thirty-eight years in their opening game.

"[47] On 12 August 2023, in a World Cup warmup game against Wales, Farrell became the first England player to receive a red card under the new 'bunker review' system for a high tackle against Taine Basham, who was later taken off for a head injury assessment.

[54] In his second game against Western Force, Farrell started on the bench, came on in the 66th minute and scored a try with his first touch, helping the Lions towards a 69–17 win.

[58] With three minutes left of the second test of the series, the Lions were awarded a penalty due to a dangerous tackle by All Black prop Charlie Faumuina.

Farrell managed to convert the penalty kick, allowing the Lions to defeat the All Blacks in the second test 24–21, breaking a number of records.