Alfie Lewis (born 28 September 1999) is an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for League of Ireland Premier Division club

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is h ...

, having previously played for Plymouth Argyle, St Patrick's Athletic &

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

, where he started his career.

Career

West Ham United

Raised in

Leigh-on-Sea Leigh-on-Sea (), commonly referred to simply as Leigh, is a town and civil parish in the City of Southend-on-Sea, in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. In 2011, it had a population of 22,509. Geography Leigh-on-Sea is on the northern ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

, Lewis attended local school

Belfairs Academy Belfairs Academy (formerly Belfairs High School) is a non-selective secondary school with academy status in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex. Inspection judgements As Belfairs High School, the school was inspected by Ofsted in 2010 and judged Good. Fol ...

. He grew up supporting Arsenal and joined the West Ham United Academy aged 8. In May 2017, Lewis began his first professional deal, signing a 3-year contract with the club until June 2020. He signed a 1-year contract extension in June 2020. On 1 July 2020, Lewis' first involvement in the first team matchday squad came, as he was an unused substitute in his side's 3–2 win over rivals

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

at the

London Stadium London Stadium (formerly and also known as Olympic Stadium and the Stadium at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park) is a multi-purpose outdoor stadium at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in the Stratford, London, Stratford district of London. It is located ...

. In February 2021, he was loaned to Irish side St Patrick's Athletic until the end of June. He was then released by West Ham after 13 years at the club following the expiration of his contract. He made a total of 12 appearances in the EFL Trophy for West Ham United U21 during his time at the club.

St Patrick's Athletic

On 23 February 2021, Lewis signed for League of Ireland Premier Division club St Patrick's Athletic on loan until 26 June 2021. He made his debut in senior football on 9 April 2021, coming on as a substitute for

Chris Forrester Christopher Stephen Forrester (born 17 December 1992) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for St Patrick's Athletic in the League of Ireland Premier Division. He has also previously played for Bohemians, Peterborough U ...

in a 2–0 win over Derry City at

Richmond Park Richmond Park, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, is the largest of London's Royal Parks, and is of national and international importance for wildlife conservation. It was created by Charles I in the 17th century as a deer park ...

. Lewis scored his first goal in senior football on 21 June 2021, scoring the final goal in a 4–1 win over

Finn Harps Finn Harps Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Chláirsigh na Finne) are an Irish football club that play in the First Division of the League of Ireland, as of 2023. The club was founded in 1954 and elected to the league in 1969. However, it was te ...

to help his side to the top of the table. Following his release by

after the end of his contract, Lewis returned to Pat's on a permanent basis on 1 July 2021 on a deal until the end of the season. On 1 October 2021, he scored an injury time winner against

Drogheda United Drogheda United Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Dhroichead Átha Aontaithe) is a semi-professional Irish association football club based in Drogheda, County Louth playing in the League of Ireland Premier Division. They play their home matches ...

, finding the top corner from the edge of the box to secure a 1–0 win at United Park. He scored his 3rd goal of the season on 29 October 2021 in a 4–1 win away to

Longford Town Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It has a population of 10,008 according to the 2016 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meet ...

, a result that confirmed

UEFA Europa Conference League The UEFA Europa Conference League (abbreviated as UECL) is an annual football club competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. Clubs qualify for the competition based on thei ...

football for the following season, a goal that Lewis had set out to achieve upon returning to the club. On 28 November 2021 Lewis was in the starting XI in the

2021 FAI Cup Final The 2021 FAI Cup Final, known as the 2021 Extra.ie FAI Cup Final for sponsorship reasons, was the final match of the 2021 FAI Cup, the national association football cup of the Republic of Ireland. The match took place on Sunday 28 November at th ...

, as his side defeated rivals Bohemians 4–3 on penalties following a 1–1 draw after extra time in front of a record FAI Cup Final crowd of 37,126 at the

Aviva Stadium Aviva Stadium (also known as Lansdowne Road) is a sports stadium located in Dublin, Ireland, with a capacity for 51,700 spectators (all seated). It is built on the site of the former Lansdowne Road Stadium, which was demolished in 2007, and ...

. During his time at the club, he received the nickname 'The Cockney Pirlo' from the Pat's fans, in reference to the legendary Italian midfielder

Andrea Pirlo Andrea Pirlo (; born 19 May 1979) is an Italian professional football coach and former player who is head coach of Süper Lig club Fatih Karagümrük. Considered one of the best deep-lying playmakers ever, Pirlo was renowned for his visio ...

Plymouth Argyle

Lewis signed for EFL League One side Plymouth Argyle on 5 January 2022. He made his debut for the club 3 days later, coming on as a late substitute in extra time in a 1–0 win away to EFL Championship side

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Sin ...

at St Andrew's in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

Third Round. Lewis made his league debut for the club on 25 January 2022, coming off the bench in a 3–3 draw away to Fleetwood Town.

Dundalk

On 27 July 2022, it was announced that Lewis had returned to the League of Ireland Premier Division after just 2 appearances with Plymouth Argyle, linking up with his former St Patrick's Athletic manager Stephen O'Donnell at

for an undisclosed fee.

Career statistics

Honours

;St Patrick's Athletic * FAI Cup (1):

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Alfie Living people 1999 births Association football midfielders West Ham United F.C. players St Patrick's Athletic F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Dundalk F.C. players English expatriate footballers Expatriate association footballers in the Republic of Ireland League of Ireland players English Football League players People from Leigh-on-Sea English footballers