Benjamin Anthony Brereton (born 18 April 1999), commonly known as Ben Brereton Díaz, is a 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 striker for club

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

and the Chile national team. Brereton Díaz began his club career with

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

, making his senior debut in 2017. He moved to Blackburn in 2018, initially on loan before joining them on a permanent transfer in 2019. Born in England, Brereton Díaz represented his birth country at the under-19 and under-20 levels, before being named in the Chile squad for the 2021 Copa América in Brazil, having qualified for the latter through his mother.

Early life

Brereton Díaz was born in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire and attended

Blythe Bridge Blythe Bridge is a village in Staffordshire, England, south-east of Stoke-on-Trent. Etymology Blythe Bridge is so called as it is built around the site of a bridge over the River Blithe (spelt differently from the name of the village itself), a ...

High School. He was born to Martin Brereton, an English

policeman A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

and former amateur football player in Stoke-on-Trent area and District Sunday League, and Andrea Brereton (), born in Concepción,

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

, who worked at Churchill China.

Club career

Early career

From the ages of seven to 14 Brereton Díaz was in the youth set-up at Manchester United. In 2013, he moved to his hometown club, Stoke City.

Nottingham Forest

Brereton Díaz signed with

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

club

in the summer of 2015 after his release from Stoke City. Following his impressive form in the club's academy teams, with 15 goals in 20 appearances, he signed a new contract with the club on 31 December 2016. Brereton Díaz made his first-team debut for Forest on 25 January 2017 as a 76th-minute substitute during a 2–0 loss to

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

. He scored his first goal on 4 February, netting in injury-time against Aston Villa to give Forest a 2–1 victory. On 27 March 2017, having made ten appearances and scoring against Fulham and Brentford, Brereton Díaz was nominated for the Championship Apprentice of the Year award. He was one of three players nominated, the others named as Lloyd Kelly of

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

and

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...

George Hirst George Herbert Hirst (7 September 1871 – 10 May 1954) was a professional English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Yorkshire County Cricket Club between 1891 and 1921, with a further appearance in 1929. One of the best all-r ...

. Brereton Díaz was announced as the winner at the EFL Awards at the Hilton Hotel, Park Lane, on 9 April. He signed a long-term contract with Forest on 22 June 2017, keeping him under contract at the club until June 2021.

Blackburn Rovers

On 28 August 2018, Brereton Díaz signed for

on loan, with a view to making the transfer permanent in the January 2019 transfer window. On 4 January 2019, the move was made permanent for an undisclosed fee, believed to be £7m.

hold the option of an extra one year on his contract, which if triggered, would keep him at the club until 2023. After scoring six goals in just five matches, including a hat-trick against Cardiff City, Brereton Díaz was awarded the

Championship Player of the Month The EFL Championship Player of the Month is an association football award that recognises the player adjudged the best for each month of the season in the EFL Championship, the English football league system, second tier of English football. ...

award for September 2021. After the best season of his career, scoring twenty-two goals as Blackburn finished 8th, six points outside the play-off positions, Blackburn triggered a contract extension for Brereton Díaz.

International career

Born in England to a Chilean mother, Brereton Díaz was eligible to play for both nations. He played age-group games for England but switched allegiances to Chile, making his senior debut in 2021.

England

In March 2017, Brereton Díaz received his first call-up to an England side after being named in the under-19s squad for games against their

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

and Belarusian counterparts. Having started his side's 3–0 defeat of Spain and coming off the bench for the 5–1 beating of Belarus, manager

Keith Downing Keith Gordon Downing (born 23 July 1965) is an English former footballer and football manager. He made the vast majority of his appearances for Wolverhampton Wanderers. A former Chelsea youth team player, he moved from Mile Oak Rovers into the ...

praised his performances and ease at settling into the squad. Brereton Díaz was subsequently called up to represent England at the

2017 UEFA European Under-19 Championship The 2017 UEFA European Under-19 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-19 Euro 2017) was the 16th edition of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship (66th edition if the Under-18 and Junior eras are included), the annual international youth footbal ...

. In the group stage, he scored the winner against the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and twice against

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Brereton Díaz was a second-half substitute during the victory against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

in the final. His total of three goals meant Brereton Díaz was joint top goalscorer at the tournament. Brereton Díaz also played at the

2018 UEFA European Under-19 Championship The 2018 UEFA European Under-19 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-19 Euro 2018) was the 17th edition of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship (67th edition if the Under-18 and Junior eras are included), the annual international youth footb ...

, scoring his only goal of the tournament in the opening group stage match against

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

Chile

After noticing he was half Chilean whilst playing

Football Manager ''Football Manager'' (also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008) is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game bega ...

, a group of fans began a social media campaign to get Brereton Díaz picked for

. This was subsequently picked up by the national media and on 24 May 2021, Brereton Díaz was called up to the Chile squad for the first time by manager Martín Lasarte for the

2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualificationAlso the "FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Qualifiers". was the qualifying process which decided the 31 teams that would join hosts Qatar, who received an automatic spot, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Parallel tour ...

against

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and Bolivia. He was subsequently included in Chile's squad for 2021 Copa América and on 14 June made his debut for Chile when he came off the bench against Argentina in a 1–1 draw. On 18 June, he was handed his first start as he scored his first international goal for ''La Roja'', against Bolivia in a 1–0 win.

Personal life

Brereton Díaz first started using the name Ben Brereton Díaz when he debuted for Chile, as

Spanish names Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

use both the father's surname and mother's surname. He then announced in July 2021 he would use the name at club level as well. Since playing for the national side, Brereton Díaz said he has been taking Spanish lessons three times a week and learning about the national anthem.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''As of match played 27 January 2022. Chile score listed first, score column indicates score after each Brereton goal.''

Honours

England U19 *

UEFA European Under-19 Championship The UEFA European Under-19 Championship, or simply UEFA Under-19 Championship or the UEFA Euro U-19, is an annual football competition contested by the European men's under-19 national teams of the member associations of UEFA. Spain and England ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

Individual *UEFA European Under-19 Championship Golden Boot:

* EFL Championship Apprentice of the Year: 2016–17 *

EFL Championship Player of the Month The EFL Championship Player of the Month is an association football award that recognises the player adjudged the best for each month of the season in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Originally named the Football ...

: September 2021 * Blackburn Rovers Players' Player of the Year: 2021–22 * Junior Rovers Player of the Year: 2021–22 *

Chilean Footballer of the Year Chilean Footballer of the Year is an award that the Circulo de Periodistas de Chile annually grants, to those Chilean soccer players who during the season of Primera División de Chile have obtained the greater number of points, in agreement with th ...

: 2022 * PFA Team of the Year: 2021–22 Championship

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brereton Díaz, Ben 1999 births Living people English people of Chilean descent Sportspeople of Chilean descent Chilean people of English descent Footballers from Stoke-on-Trent Chilean footballers English footballers Association football forwards Nottingham Forest F.C. players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players English Football League players England youth international footballers Chile international footballers 2021 Copa América players Citizens of Chile through descent Naturalized citizens of Chile