Troy Parrott, the Republic of Ireland’s hat-trick hero in Budapest, is bound for the Champions League this season following his signing a five-year contract with Real Betis in Spain.
The fee is said to be in the region of €20 million.
The Dubliner scored 31 goals for Dutch top-flight club AZ last season, but became a legend in his native country by scoring the two goals in the 2-0 win over Portugal in a World Cup qualification group game in Dublin last fall and followed up days later with the dramatic three against Hungary that pulled Irish elimination from the brink for a famous 3-2 win. The Irish went on to a knock-out playoff game against Czech Republic in Prague in March, in which they led 2-0, thanks in part to a Parrott goal, but which the home side leveled up before the end. After it stayed deadlocked in two periods of extra time, the Czechs won the penalty shootout.
Parrott, who turned 24 in February, is from Dublin’s north inner city, where he attended O’Connell School and played soccer for Belvedere. At age 15, he signed youth papers at Tottenham in London. His adult career at Spurs was mostly in the form of long-term loans, and he joined AK in 2024, and hit his scoring strike there.
Parrott will be following in the tradition of fellow Dubliner Patrick O’Connell, the former Manchester United captain who became manager of Betis in 1932-35 and again from 1940-42. It was during O’Connell’s first stint at the club that Betis won their only La Liga title.
Real Betis played Arsenal in a pre-season friendly at the Aviva Stadium this month and RTE reported that, “During their time in Dublin, a [Betis] delegation paid a visit to O’Connell’s boyhood home at 87 Fitzroy Avenue in Drumcondra where a plaque erected by Dublin City Council has been in place since 2015.”
Betis' fifth-place finish last season gave them automatic qualification for the Champions League, their first in 21 years.
