*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 26 November 2024 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 22:19, 14 June 2024 (UTC)
He made his first team debut for Hibernian in a 2017–18 Scottish League Cup group stage match against Montrose. He then scored two goals in his second appearance for Hibs, a 6–1 win against Arbroath in the same competition.[9] Although becoming a regular in the senior squad during that season (30 times an unused substitute in addition to six Scottish Premiership matches in which he did feature),[2] Porteous also continued to appear for the club's Under-20s, whose campaign ended with a 'double' of SPFL Development League[10] and Scottish Youth Cup.[11]
During October 2018, Porteous signed a new contract with Hibernian, due to run until the summer of 2023.[12] He suffered a knee injury in January 2019 that required surgery, which prevented him from playing for the rest of the 2018–19 season.[13][14]
On 20 December 2019, Porteous was shown a straight red card for a dangerous tackle on Rangers player Borna Barišić, with the incident provoking an angry confrontation between both coaching teams.[15] Porteous suffered a serious knee injury during a Scottish Cup match at Dundee United in January 2020.[16]
He returned from the injury ahead of the 2020–21 season, in which Hibs finished in third place and reached the 2021 Scottish Cup Final. Hibs turned down a bid of around £1 million from Millwall for Porteous in January 2021.[17]
His 2021–22 season was disrupted by suspensions, as he was sent off twice and also banned retrospectively once.[18][19][20][21] In the same week as his widely praised debut for the Scotland national team, Porteous scored his first goal of the 2022–23 season with the opener in a 2–0 victory at Ross County on 1 October 2022.[22] Hibs announced in November that Porteous had turned down their offer of a new contract.[23]
On 27 January 2023, Porteous signed a contract with Watford that is due to run until the end of the 2026–27 season.[27] He scored a goal during his first appearance for Watford, a 2–2 draw at Reading on 4 February.[28]
Selected for the Scotland under-21 squad in the 2018 Toulon Tournament,[30] the team lost to Turkey in a penalty-out and finished fourth.[31] After he made his debut at the tournament, he made 14 appearances in total over the following two years.
He earned a first senior Scotland call-up for Euro 2020 qualifiers against Cyprus and Kazakhstan in November 2019, but did not play in either fixture.[32] He was added to squads in October 2020[33] and November 2021.[34]
Porteous was recalled to the squad in September 2022 and, following injuries to Kieran Tierney and Scott McKenna, made his full international debut in a Nations League match with Ukraine.[35] The team produced a solid defensive performance to record a goalless draw that secured first place in the group, thereby sealing promotion to the top level of the Nations League and a guaranteed play-off appearance in qualifying for UEFA Euro 2024.[35] Porteous was singled out for praise by his teammates, manager and members of the media, with boss Steve Clarke describing his performance as "outstanding" and pundit Michael Stewart hailing a "debut to remember". Captain John McGinn, a former teammate at Hibernian, said "(Porteous) was first class. A 10-out-of-10 performance. If he keeps on performing like that there's no doubt he can be a Scotland regular for years to come."[36]
He scored his first international goal on 8 September 2023, during a 3–0 win in a Euro 2024 qualifier against Cyprus.[37]
On 7 June 2024, Porteous was named in Scotland's squad for the UEFA Euro 2024 finals in Germany.[38] A week later, he started the opening match of the competition against Germany and was shown a red card in the 45th minute for a foul on İlkay Gündoğan.[39] The foul also resulted in a penalty kick, which was scored by Kai Havertz to make the score 3–0 in an eventual 5–1 loss for the Scots.[40]UEFA later announced that Porteous would be suspended for Scotland's remaining two group stage games for "serious rough play".[41] Scotland were eliminated and Porteous was accordingly denied a second Euro appearance.
Personal life
His older sister Emma is also a footballer who played for Hibernian[42] and was selected for Scotland at youth level before taking a university scholarship in Pennsylvania to combine her sporting and academic studies.[43][44] Ryan missed her graduation to play for Scotland Under-21s.[5]
As of 2018, Porteous was signed to an agency operated by tennis player Andy Murray.[6]
In October 2020, Porteous declared his support for the Common Goal charity.[45]
Porteous was fined by both a court and Hibernian in June 2022, after he pleaded guilty to a charge of culpable and reckless conduct for hitting a woman with a plastic tumbler.[46]
^Soccerbase did not record appearances made by Porteous against NSI Runavik on 19 July, Asteras Tripolis on 26 July and 2 August, and Molde on 9 August and 16 August 2018.
^ abOne appearance in the 2019–20 Scottish Cup was in a match delayed until October 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
^Appearances for the Hibs development squad in the Scottish Challenge Cup against senior clubs.