Benjamin Njongoue Elliott (born 5 November 2002) 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 le ...

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

EFL League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

club

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

. Born in England, he represents Cameroon at international level.

Club career

Chelsea

Born in

Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames (hyphenated until 1965, colloquially known as Kingston) is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, England. It is situated on the River Thames and southwest of Charing Cross. It is notable as ...

, Elliott joined the academy of

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 age of eight. He suffered a serious knee injury at the age of fifteen, keeping him out for two years. Following his return to action, he signed his first professional contract in November 2019. He was linked with a move away from ''The Blues'' in November 2021, with fellow

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

side

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

being strongly linked. He was included in Chelsea's under-23 side for 2022–23 pre-season, scoring a goal against American side

Real Monarchs Real Monarchs is a professional soccer club playing in the MLS Next Pro, a third division league of American soccer. The team is owned by, and operates as the reserve team of, the Major League Soccer club Real Salt Lake. While the senior club is ...

in a 2–2 friendly game. Later in the same season, he travelled with the senior squad to Abu Dhabi for a warm weather training camp during the Premier League's mid-season break for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international association football, football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022 ...

Reading

On 15 August 2023, Elliott joined

club

on a three-year contract.

International career

Elliott was born in England to a Cameroonian father and English mother, and is eligible to represent both

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

at international level. He had represented England at under-15 and under-16 level, captaining the under-15 side. In March 2023, Elliott was called up to the Cameroon senior squad for the first time but did not have play time due to FIFA administration formalities that needed to be fulfilled so nationality could be changed. On 10 June 2023, Elliott made his senior Cameroon debut in a friendly match against

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

coming on as substitute for

Bryan Mbeumo Bryan Tetsadong Marceau Mbeumo (born 7 August 1999) is a professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Winger (association football), right winger or Forward (association football), forward for club Brentford F.C., Brentford and t ...

at the

Snapdragon Stadium Snapdragon Stadium, known during its planning and early construction phases as Aztec Stadium, is an outdoor college football stadium on the West Coast of the United States, west coast of the United States, in San Diego, California. It is loc ...

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

Career statistics

Club

International

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elliott, Ben 2002 births Living people Footballers from Kingston upon Thames English men's footballers England men's youth international footballers Cameroonian men's footballers Cameroonian people of English descent English people of Cameroonian descent Men's association football midfielders Chelsea F.C. players Reading F.C. players Black British sportsmen Cameroon men's international footballers