Darren Ward (born 11 May 1974) is a former 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 played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. He is goalkeeping coach of the England women's national team. Born in England, he made five appearances for the Wales national team.

Club career

Born in

Worksop Worksop ( ) is a market town in the Bassetlaw District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is located east-south-east of Sheffield, close to Nottinghamshire's borders with South Yorkshire and Derbyshire, on the River Ryton and not far from th ...

, Ward started his professional career with Mansfield Town, where he made 97 appearances, helping them reach the play-offs. He moved to Notts County for £150,000 in July 1995, where he would go on to make his most appearances. During a six-season stay, he played over 300 games for the

Meadow Lane Meadow Lane Stadium is a football stadium in Nottingham, England. It is the home ground of Notts County, who have played there since it opened in 1910. The stadium was also home to Notts County Ladies F.C. from 2014 until 2017. It currently h ...

club. He moved across the

River Trent The Trent is the third-longest river in the United Kingdom. Its source is in Staffordshire, on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through and drains the North Midlands. The river is known for dramatic flooding after storms and ...

in 2001 to join local rivals Nottingham Forest. He spent three seasons in the First Division with Forest as they strove for promotion back 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 Fo ...

, but a play-off spot in 2003 was as near as they managed. He finally got his opportunity to play in the top flight when he joined newly promoted Norwich City in a two-year deal in August 2004. However, the form of

Robert Green Robert Paul Green (born 18 January 1980) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played in the Premier League and Football League and for the England national team. Green made his first-team debut for Norw ...

meant he only managed one appearance in the Premier League, coming on as a substitute in a defeat at

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 ...

. The club was relegated after a solitary season at the highest level, but Ward made no further appearances for the Canaries in the lower tier either. He was released at the end of the 2005–06 season after not signing a new contract at the club, and on 4 August 2006, he signed a contract at Sunderland. He had to wait until October for his debut, replacing teenager

Ben Alnwick Benjamin Robert Alnwick (born 1 January 1987) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper. Currently unattached, he last played for EFL League 1 team Bolton Wanderers. Alnwick started his career at Sunderland in 2004, having ...

after the appointment of Roy Keane as manager, but made the number 1 spot his own for the rest of the season as the side went on to top the

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 ...

. One particularly outstanding save against

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 ...

which was later described as being in the style of

Gordon Banks Gordon Banks (30 December 1937 – 12 February 2019) was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he made 679 appearances during a 20-year professional caree ...

by opposition manager

George Burley George Elder Burley (born 3 June 1956) is a Scottish former football player and manager. He had a professional career spanning 21 years as a player, making 628 league appearances and earning 11 Scotland caps. His most successful spell came whi ...

. Ward found himself replaced by £9million new signing

Craig Gordon Craig Sinclair Gordon (born 31 December 1982) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Scottish Premiership club Heart of Midlothian, where he is club captain, and the Scottish national team. Gordon started his c ...

upon Sunderland's return to the Premier League, but did manage three appearances, keeping a clean sheet in his first, a 1–0 win over

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 188 ...

. During the January 2008 winter transfer window, he rejected a move to Scottish giants Rangers, preferring to stay and fight to be the first-choice keeper at the Stadium of Light. He failed to break back into the first team at Sunderland the following season and joined

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

of the

in March 2009 on loan for the remainder of the campaign. However, injury meant he returned to his parent club early. He was released by Sunderland on 28 May 2009 and subsequently announced his playing retirement. On 12 October 2009 it was announced that Ward was the new goalkeeping coach for

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 ...

, replacing

Andy Dibble Andrew Gerald Dibble (born 8 May 1965) is a Welsh football coach and former professional player. As a player, he was as a goalkeeper from 1982 to 2006. During his career he played in the Premier League for Manchester City and in the Scottish ...

, who departed from the role for personal reasons.

International career

Ward won five

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

for the

Welsh national team ) , Association = Football Association of Wales (FAW) , Confederation = UEFA (Europe) , Coach = Rob Page , Captain = Gareth Bale , Most caps = Gareth Bale (111) , Top scorer = Gareth ...

before announcing his international retirement in May 2007. He made his international debut on 2 June 2000 in a 3–0 friendly defeat to

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 ...

. He had to wait until 2002 for his next cap, and won further caps during 2003–04, all during friendly internationals.

Family

Ward married Nicola in 1997 and later became a father to Rhys Harry (2000) and Evie Mae (2003).

Honours

Sunderland *

: 2006–07 Individual * PFA Team of the Year: 1995–96 Second Division, 1997–98 Third Division

References

External links

Official WWFC club profile
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, Darren 1974 births Living people Footballers from Worksop Welsh footballers Wales international footballers Association football goalkeepers Mansfield Town F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Premier League players Wales under-21 international footballers English Football League players Peterborough United F.C. non-playing staff Preston North End F.C. non-playing staff Sheffield United F.C. non-playing staff English footballers English people of Welsh descent Sunderland A.F.C. players Association football goalkeeping coaches