Ben William Nugent (born 29 November 1992) 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 le ...

who plays as a defender for

Cambodian Premier League The Cambodian Premier League ( km, លីគកំពូលកម្ពុជា, ) is the highest professional football division in Cambodia and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Cambodian League 2. Starting with the 2022 ...

club Angkor Tiger.

Career

Cardiff City

Born in

Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire Welwyn Garden City ( ) is a town in Hertfordshire, England, north of London. It was the second garden city in England (founded 1920) and one of the first new towns (designated 1948). It is unique in being both a garden city and a new town and ...

, Nugent attended

Millfield Millfield is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) located in Street, Somerset, England. It was founded in 1935. Millfield is a registered charity and is the largest co-educational boarding schoo ...

with his sports scholarships before he joined the academy at

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 ...

side

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

in 2007. However, Nugent was released in 2009 by manager Dave Jones. But his youth coach

Neal Ardley Neal Christopher Ardley (born 1 September 1972) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a right midfielder. He is currently the manager of Solihull Moors. Ardley was capped at Under-21 level by England. Ar ...

convinced Jones to keep Nugent while he played for Western Premier side

Street A street is a public thoroughfare in a built environment. It is a public parcel of land adjoining buildings in an urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about. A street can be as simple as a level patch of dirt, ...

Malky Mackay Malcolm George Mackay (born 19 February 1972) is a Scottish professional football coach and former player, who is currently the manager of Ross County. Mackay, who played as a defender, began his playing career in Scottish football with Quee ...

tipped Nugent to be a future captain at Cardiff City. His professional debut for Cardiff came on 14 August 2012, in a 2–1 defeat to

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

in the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

. His first league game came on 17 November, when he came on to replace Ben Turner against

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

and was awarded Man of the Match. On 24 November, Nugent made his first league start for the Bluebirds in a 2–1 win at

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

, and opened the scoring with his first senior goal. Nugent continued to captain the Development Squad, and on 4 January he signed a new deal until 2016. He then went on to start the next day against

Macclesfield Town Macclesfield Town Football Club was an English professional association football, football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, that was liquidation, wound-up after a High Court of Justice, High Court ruling on 16 September 2020. Initially kno ...

, which Cardiff lost 2–1, knocking them out of 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 ...

. Nugent continued to be a part of match-day squads throughout his debut season and was a substitute as Cardiff sealed promotion to the

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 ...

with a 0–0 draw at home against

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

on 16 April 2013. Nugent was named Cardiff City Young Player of Year 2012–13.

Loan spells

Nugent signed for

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 ...

side

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

on 1 August 2013 on loan until 5 January 2014. He had played for Cardiff in a

pre-season friendly An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

Griffin Park Griffin Park was a football ground in Brentford in the London Borough of Hounslow, England. It was the home ground of Brentford F.C. from its opening in September 1904 to August 2020. The ground is in a predominantly residential area and was ...

two days previously. He made his Brentford debut on 6 August, playing the full 90 minutes in a 3–2 victory over

Dagenham & Redbridge Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club is a professional association football club based in Dagenham, Greater London, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Often known simply as Dag ...

in the League Cup. He scored his first goal for the club on 3 September, in a 5–3 victory over

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

in the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Leag ...

, his third appearance. He scored again in the next round, against

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...

on 8 October. Nugent made an impact in a 5–0 FA Cup first-round win over

Staines Town Staines Town Football Club was a semi-professional Association football, football club based in Staines-upon-Thames, Middlesex. History Early days Staines Town FC was founded in 1892 and was known under various names including ''Staines F.C ...

on 9 November 2013. Having made five appearances for the club, it was announced that Nugent would return to his parent club. On 13 February 2014, Nugent joined

side

on loan. Nugent made his debut for the club on 14 February 2014, making his first start, in a 0–0 draw against

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

. Nugent made eleven appearances for the club and returned to his parent club. He was however cup-tied for Peterborough's victory in the

2014 Football League Trophy Final The 2014 Football League Trophy Final was the 31st final of the domestic cup involving League One and League Two teams. The final took place at Wembley Stadium in London on 30 March 2014 and saw Peterborough United beat Chesterfield 3–1, with ...

. On 11 July 2014, Nugent joined

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town L.F.C. Bridgwater United Women's Football Club are an English women's association football club based in Bridgwater, Somerset who wer ...

on loan until 4 January 2015. Nugent made his debut for the club on 16 August 2014, making his first start, in a 2–0 loss against Gillingham. Nugent scored his first Yeovil Town goal on 26 December 2014, in a 2–1 loss against

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 ...

. A week later, Nugent had his loan spell at Yeovil Town extended until the end of the season. Nugent was then sent off in the 26th minute after elbowing George Waring on 10 January 2015, in a 2–0 loss against

. After serving a four-match ban, Nugent made his first team return on 7 February 2015, making a start and playing 90 minutes, in a 2–1 win over

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The club was founded as Crawley Football Club in 1896, changed its name to Crawley Town Football Club in 1958. The team co ...

. However, his first team opportunities was soon limited, due to a rule limiting numbers of loanees and was told to fight for the first-team place. Nugent went on to make twenty-three appearances and scored once for the club before returning to his parent club.

Crewe Alexandra

On 3 August 2015, Nugent joined

side

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

on a free transfer, signing a two-year deal. Upon joining Crewe Alexandra, Nugent believed his move to the club could see his career "some much-needed stability". However, on 9 May 2017, Crewe announced that Nugent had been released by the club.

Gillingham

On 15 August 2017, Nugent signed for

club Gillingham on a one-year contract.

Stevenage

Nugent was offered a new contract by Gillingham at the end of the 2017–18 season, but turned it down and signed for

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a large town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevena ...

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

. He remained with the club until the end of the 2019–20 season until he was released at the end of the season.

Barnet

Nugent signed for

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

club

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) * Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; an ...

on 8 September 2020.

Gloucester City

On 7 October 2021, Nugent transferred to

National League North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Sy ...

club Gloucester City.

Angkor Tiger

In July 2023, Nugent signed for

side Angkor Tiger. He scored his first goal for the club on 16 September in a 5–2 defeat by

Preah Khan Reach Svay Rieng FC Preah Khan Reach Svay Rieng Football Club ( km, ក្លឹបបាល់ទាត់ព្រះខ័នរាជស្វាយរៀង), formerly named Preah Khan Reach FC until May 2013, is a professional football club based in the prov ...

Personal life

Nugent finished in the top three in the

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletic ...

national championship, but decided to focus on football instead. Nugent's father Richard was also a footballer and also played for

and

Career statistics

Honours

Cardiff City *

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

Individual *

Young Player of the Year:

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nugent, Ben 1992 births Living people Footballers from Welwyn Garden City English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Street F.C. players Crewe Alexandra F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Peterborough United F.C. players Yeovil Town F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players Stevenage F.C. players Barnet F.C. players Gloucester City A.F.C. players Angkor Tiger FC players English Football League players Cambodian Premier League players Expatriate men's footballers in Cambodia English expatriate men's footballers English expatriate sportspeople in Cambodia People educated at Millfield