Tranmere Rovers Hume progressed through the youth ranks at
Tranmere Rovers, making his professional debut on 15 April 2000 as a 76th-minute substitute for
Nick Henry in a 3–1
First Division loss at
Swindon Town. On 29 October 2002, he scored his first professional goal; two minutes after replacing
Stuart Barlow, he headed in
Gareth Roberts' free kick to open a 1–1 draw with
Peterborough United at
Prenton Park. He scored six goals from 23 games that
Second Division season, including both of Tranmere's goals in a 2–1 win over Blackpool on 22 February 2003, ending the visitors' 12-game unbeaten run. On 13 January 2004, Hume scored the winner in the first minute of extra time, as Tranmere defeated
Premier League club
Bolton Wanderers 2–1 in the third round replay of the
FA Cup. In the next round, he again scored the winner, from 20 yards for a 2–1 home victory against
Swansea City on 14 February. The team were eliminated in the quarter-finals by eventual finalists
Millwall. His best season for Tranmere was during the
2004–05 campaign where he finished as the club's top scorer with 16 goals, including braces in a 2–1 win at
Torquay United on 25 September 2004 and a 4–5 home defeat to
Bradford City on 16 October.
Leicester City in 2008 Signed on transfer deadline day at the end of August 2005, Hume was
Craig Levein's most expensive signing in his first year as manager. He was bought as a direct replacement for
David Connolly who moved to Wigan the same day. Hume put pen-to-paper on a three-year deal after leaving Tranmere where he made 176 appearances, scoring 37 goals. The fee for Hume was an initial £500,000 that could rise to £750,000, while Tranmere were entitled to a 10% sell-on clause. Hume made his debut for Leicester in the Championship on 10 September, replacing
Elvis Hammond for the final 13 minutes of a 2–0 win over
Sheffield Wednesday at the
Walkers Stadium. On 1 October, he scored his first goal for the team, an 86th-minute opener in a 1–1 draw at
Derby County, and on 26 November he added two more in a 4–2 home win over
Sheffield United. He finished his first season with the Foxes with 9 goals from 37 games, including one each in three consecutive matches in February 2006. Hume signed a new three-year deal on 5 June 2007 to stay at the club. He scored his first goal of the
2007–08 season against
Watford on 25 August, and was named in the Championship Team of the Week two days later. The goal was voted Goal of the Season on 28 April 2008. Despite scoring a goal in his 100th match for Leicester on 11 December, his team still lost 3–1 to
Ipswich. Hume scored his 30th goal for Leicester on 16 February 2008, beating
Norwich City 4–0. Despite finishing as the club's top goalscorer with 11 league goals, Hume could not prevent Leicester from being relegated at the end of the season.
Barnsley in August 2008 Despite announcing that he would stay at Leicester, on 25 June 2008,
Barnsley secured the signing of Hume for £1.2 million. On 9 August, the opening day of the Championship season, Hume scored just five minutes into his Barnsley debut away to
Queens Park Rangers, but the Tykes lost the game 2–1. He was sent off on his home debut eight days later, a loss by the same score to
Coventry City at
Oakwell. On his return on 30 August, he scored what
BBC Sport called a "spectacular volley" to open a 2–0 win over Derby, and in October he netted in victories against
Yorkshire rivals
Doncaster Rovers and Sheffield Wednesday, the former seeing his team come from a goal down to win 4–1 with ten men. On 8 November 2008, Hume sustained a fractured skull and internal bleeding following an elbow to the head, prior to challenging for the ball, from
Chris Morgan against Sheffield United. He was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries, and underwent surgery. The opposing club issued a statement that "Sheffield United are saddened and concerned to hear that Barnsley striker Iain Hume is being monitored in a high dependency unit following last Saturday's fixture, and we wish him a speedy and full recovery." Later in November, Hume was discharged, while the FA decided that they would not discipline Morgan. Barnsley manager
Simon Davey criticised this decision, opining that Morgan and referee
Andy D'Urso should have been suspended and claiming that different action would have been taken if
Cristiano Ronaldo were injured. Hume was left with an 18-inch horseshoe-shaped scar and cognitive difficulties. After missing the remainder of the season, Hume made his return to the team with a 50th-minute substitute appearance against
Gainsborough on 21 July 2009, nearly scoring from a header with his first touch of the game. He scored five goals in 35 games in his
second season, including two in a 2–2 home draw against
Peterborough United on 5 April 2010 which relegated the opponents to League One.
Preston North End Hume joined
Preston North End on 17 September 2010, on a three-month loan. He made his debut the next day in a 0–1 home loss against
Norwich City and scored his first goal for the Lilywhites the following Saturday at Coventry, a right-footed shot from 20 yards, following this with the final goal in the 6–4 comeback win at
Leeds United on the 28th. On 23 October it was announced that Hume would return to Barnsley following a poor run of results for his parent club. However, five days later, his loan was extended, with
Paul Hayes going the other way to Barnsley with view to a permanent deal for Hume in January. Hume moved to Preston in the January 2011 transfer window for an undisclosed fee. At the end of the season, Preston were relegated to League One, following a dismal season with only 42 points. He led the team with 12 goals in the Championship and became the first player from Preston following relegation to come out publicly committing himself to the team for the following season. In his
second season at Preston, Hume scored 9 goals in 28 league games, including braces in a 4–3 win at
Wycombe Wanderers on 27 September 2011 and a 2–1 triumph at
Exeter City the following 17 March; his goals in the latter were the 100th and 101st of his career. On 31 August 2012, Hume signed for
Doncaster Rovers on loan until January 2013, a deal that was extended till the end of the season. He made his debut for the club the following day as a second-half substitute for
Kyle Bennett against
Yeovil Town, the game ended in a 2–1 defeat at
Huish Park. Hume then went on to score in a 2–0 victory over
Leyton Orient and a crucial added-time winner against leaders Tranmere. His 7 goals from 33 league games helped Rovers to the
2012–13 Football League One title, his first honour. On 20 March 2014, Hume joined
League Two side
Fleetwood Town until the end of the season. The move reunited him with
Graham Alexander, his captain at Preston North End. Hume was assigned the number 36 shirt. He made his debut two days later, as a half-time replacement for
Stewart Murdoch in a 2–0 loss at Exeter. Hume made eight appearances for the Cod Army, scoring once, an 85th-minute strike to secure a 2–2 home draw with
Lancashire rivals
Morecambe on 12 April. The team qualified for the
play-offs, where they beat
York City in the semi-finals and then
Burton Albion 1–0 in the
final at
Wembley Stadium, which Hume started.
Later career On 21 August 2014, Hume was drafted by the
Kerala Blasters of the newly founded
Indian Super League, joining Player-Manager
David James and
Michael Chopra at the club. In their first game on 21 October, away to
Chennaiyin FC, he scored their first goal to equalise in an eventual 2–1 loss. Five days later, he equalised again at
Atlético de Kolkata for a 1–1 draw which gave the team their first point, and on 21 November his fourth-minute goal opened a 2–1 win over the same team at the
Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in
Kochi. Hume's fourth goal was the game's only against
FC Pune City on 9 December in the last game of
the regular season, qualifying Kerala to the
playoffs. Four days later, in the semi-final first leg, he scored in a 3–0 win over regular season winners Chennaiyin, and played the full 90 minutes of
the inaugural final, a 1–0 loss to Kolkata at the
DY Patil Stadium in
Mumbai. Hume earned the nickname "
ഹ്യൂമേട്ടൻ (Humettan)", meaning "elder brother Hume" in
Malayalam, and was voted the best player of the league's first season. On 29 January 2015, Hume signed a six-month contract with his first club Tranmere Rovers, now in League Two. After 12 scoreless games in a season which saw the club relegated to the
Conference, Hume was one of seven players released by the club on 6 May. Hume returned for the
second season of the Indian Super League on 5 June 2015, when he signed for Atlético de Kolkata. He made his debut on 3 October as they began the season with a 3–2 win at Chennaiyin, and scored his first goals in the form of a
hat-trick on 1 November in a 4–1 win at
Mumbai City FC, and added another treble 26 days later in a win by the same score over Pune at the
Salt Lake Stadium. The latter result caused the team to be the first to qualify for
the season's play-offs. On 4 December, in the last game of regular play at home to Mumbai, Hume scored a penalty for his tenth goal of the season in a 2–3 loss. In the play-off semi-final second leg, he scored again in a 2–1 home win over Chennaiyin, a 2–4 aggregate elimination. With 11 goals, he was second place in the
Indian Super League Golden Boot, two goals behind winner
Stiven Mendoza; however, he won the season's Fittest Player award. On 8 February 2016, Hume signed with
SD Ponferradina of Spain's
Segunda División until the end of
the season. He played seven times for the team from
Castile and León, who ended up relegated. On 13 June 2016 it was announced that Hume was retained by
Atlético de Kolkata and would be returning to the side for the
2016 season. He was the league's second top scorer with 7 goals as the team won the title, behind
Delhi Dynamos'
Marcelinho; this haul included a brace in a 3–2 win over Mumbai in the semi-finals first leg. On 1 February 2017, Hume returned to Spain, joining
Segunda División B club
Extremadura UD for the remainder of the season. He scored his only goal in Spanish football on 7 May, opening a 2–0 win over
Atlético Sanluqueño CF at the
Estadio Francisco de la Hera to save his team from relegation. On 24 July 2017, Hume re-signed for Kerala Blasters ahead of the
2017–18 Indian Super League. He opened his account for the campaign on 10 January, scoring a hat-trick in a 3–1 win at Delhi Dynamos. After not playing professionally since 2019, in November 2022 Hume confirmed he was retired. ==International career==