Dael Jonathan Fry (born 30 August 1997) 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

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

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

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 ...

. Fry has represented England at under-17, under-18, under-19, under-20 and under-21 levels. He has won the 2014 UEFA European Under-17 Championship,

2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 21st edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its inception in 1977 as ...

and

2018 Toulon Tournament The 2018 Toulon Tournament (officially french: 46ème Festival International "Espoirs" – Tournoi Maurice Revello) was the 46th edition of the Toulon Tournament. It was held in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône from 26 May to 9 June 2018. Engl ...

with his country.

Early life

Born in

, North Yorkshire, Fry was scouted by

Middlesbrough F.C. Middlesbrough Football Club ( ) is a professional football club in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England, which competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Formed in 1876, they have played at the Riverside Stadium ...

after being spotted playing for his local side Cleveland Juniors at the age of 7. Throughout the ranks of the Middlesbrough youth team, Fry made an impression with his progress at the academy. In October 2014, Fry signed his first professional contract with the club.

Club career

Fry made his first-team debut for Middlesbrough on 9 August 2015 at the age of 17, on the opening day of the 2015–16 Championship season – playing from the start and was named

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

in a 0–0 draw against

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

. On 14 September, he signed a new five-year contract with Middlesbrough. Following an injury to

Daniel Ayala Daniel Sánchez Ayala (born 7 November 1990) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a defender for club Blackburn Rovers. His first club was Premier League club Liverpool, where he spent two seasons as a reserve. He joined Norwich ...

, manager

Aitor Karanka Aitor Karanka de la Hoz (Basque and ; born 18 September 1973) is a Spanish football manager and former player who was most recently the head coach of Segunda División club Granada. Save for a brief spell in the United States at age 32, Karanka ...

gave Fry a chance to cover in Ayala's absence and played his first Middlesbrough match in months on 15 February 2016 in a 0–0 draw against

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 S ...

. After the match, Karanka praised Fry's performance. Fry made a handful of appearances between 15 February and 13 March 2016. Although he returned to the bench later in the 2015–16 season, Fry went on to make eight appearances in all competitions. On 31 August 2016, Fry joined

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

until the end of the 2016–17 season. Fry made his debut on 10 September, playing the whole game in a 2–2 draw 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 ...

. Fry made 10 starts for the club before the loan was terminated early on 1 January 2017, having not featured for the club since November. After his loan spell at Rotherham came to an end, Fry only made two appearances for Middlesbrough in the 2016–17 season, which both came in the FA Cup against

Accrington Stanley Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England. The club competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They have spent their complete history ...

and

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

. Earlier in the 2016–17 season, Fry signed a long-term contract with the club, contracting him until June 2021. Fry scored his first goal for Middlesbrough on 23 February 2021 in a 3–1 loss to Bristol City.

International career

Fry made his debut for the England national under-17 team on 28 January 2014, coming on as a second-half substitute, in a 2–1 win over

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. He was a member of the England under-17 squad that won the 2014 UEFA European Under-17 Championship, beating 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 ...

4–1 in a penalty-shoot-out in the final. Fry was called up to the under-18 team and made his debut on 3 September 2014 in a 4–1 win over the

. After a year with the under-19 team, Fry was called up by the under-20 team in August 2016. He made his under-20 debut on 1 September in a 1–1 draw against

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. Fry was also a member of the England under-20 squad that won the

in South Korea. Fry was part of the under-21 team that won the

Career statistics

Honours

England U17 *

UEFA European Under-17 Championship The UEFA European Under-17 Championship or simply UEFA Under-17 Championship, is an annual football competition contested by the European men's under-17 national teams of the member associations of UEFA. Spain is the most successful team in this ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

England U20 *Tournoi Under-20 Four Nations: 2017 *

FIFA U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 whe ...

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 ser ...

England U21 *

Toulon Tournament The Toulon Tournament (officially the Festival International "Espoirs" – Tournoi Maurice Revello) is a football (training match) tournament, which traditionally features invited national teams composed of youth players from U-17 to U-23 level. ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Individual *Toulon Tournament Best XI:

References

External links

Profile
at the Middlesbrough F.C. website {{DEFAULTSORT:Fry, Dael 1997 births Living people Footballers from Middlesbrough English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Middlesbrough F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players English Football League players England men's youth international footballers England men's under-21 international footballers