Hamza Dewan Choudhury (born 1 October 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 ...

who plays as a

defensive 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 boundari ...

for EFL Championship side

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...

, on loan from

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

. He has made over 80 appearances for Leicester since 2017, and won 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 ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

. He has represented England at under-21 level.

Early life

Choudhury was born in

Loughborough Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England, the seat of Charnwood Borough Council and Loughborough University. At the 2011 census the town's built-up area had a population of 59,932 , the second large ...

, Leicestershire.

Club career

Leicester City

Choudhury began his career at the

Academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...

, and at the age of 16 was reportedly monitored by a number of top European clubs. He joined

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 ...

leaders

Burton Albion Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club moved its home grou ...

on a one-month loan deal on 27 February 2016. He made his debut in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

later that same day, coming on as a 77th-minute substitute for Tom Naylor in a 0–0 draw with

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

at the

Pirelli Stadium Pirelli Stadium is an association football stadium on Princess Way in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. It was built in 2005 and is the current home of Burton Albion FC Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association foo ...

. On 6 August 2016, Choudhury signed another loan deal with

for the 2016–17 season. On the same day, Choudhury featured in Burton Albion's first ever

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 ...

game, claiming an assist in a 4–3 defeat against

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 ...

. On 19 September 2017, Choudhury debuted for Leicester City coming on as substitute in the 82nd minute of an EFL Cup 3rd round home win against

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

. On 28 November 2017, Choudhury made his

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 ...

debut for Leicester coming on as substitute in the 83rd minute of a home win against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

. His first Premier League start came on 14 April 2018, in a 2–1 away defeat to

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

. On 30 August 2019, Choudhury signed a new four-year contract with Leicester. On 1 January 2020, Choudhury scored his first senior goal for Leicester, an outside the box strike in the 86th minute, in a 3–0 away win at Newcastle United. On 22 October 2020, Choudhury made his first appearance in a European competition, coming off the bench in the 71st minute against

Zorya Luhansk FC Zorya Luhansk ( uk, ФК «Зоря» Луганськ ) is a Ukrainian football team. Zorya Luhansk is based in the city of Luhansk, Ukraine. However, because of the Russo-Ukrainian War, the team play their games at Slavutych-Arena in Zapor ...

. He became the first footballer of Bangladeshi descent to make an appearance in a European competition by doing so. On 29 October, Choudhury scored a 39th-minute volley against

AEK Athens A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadel ...

, winning the match 2–1. He became the first footballer of Bangladeshi descent to score in one of the two major

UEFA club competitions UEFA competitions (french: competitions de l'UEFA), referred improperly by the mass media as European football, are the set of tournaments organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), generally in professional and amateur assoc ...

, the first British Asian to score in European competitions since

Michael Chopra Rocky Michael Chopra (born 23 December 1983) is an English former professional footballer who plays as a striker for West Allotment Celtic. A product of the Newcastle United youth system, he spent six years at the club without managing to se ...

in the defunct UEFA Intertoto Cup, and the first British Asian to score in the current

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

competitions. On 11 April 2021, Choudhury was one of three players dropped from Leicester's squad for the game against

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

after breaching

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

protocols. On 15 May 2021, he came on as an 82nd-minute substitute in the

2021 FA Cup Final The 2021 FA Cup Final was an association football match played between Chelsea and Leicester City at Wembley Stadium, London, England on 15 May 2021. Organised by the Football Association (FA), it was the 140th final of the Football Associa ...

, which Leicester won 1–0 for his first career honour. He and teammate Wesley Fofana both celebrated draped in the flag of Palestine, during the

2021 Israel–Palestine crisis A major outbreak of violence in the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict commenced on 10 May 2021, though disturbances took place earlier, and continued until a ceasefire came into effect on 21 May. It was marked by protests and police riot ...

Watford

On 10 August 2022, Choudhury joined Championship club

on loan for the season, with the option to make the move permanent the following summer. He made his debut two days later in a 1–0 home win over

, and was praised by manager Rob Edwards.

International career

On 26 May 2018, Choudhury made his debut for the

England national under-21 football team The England national under-21 football team, also known as England under-21s or England U21(s), is considered to be the feeder team for the England national football team. This team is for England players aged under 21 at the start of the calen ...

, coming on as a substitute during the 2–1 win against China under-21 in the

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 ...

. Choudhury started for England in the next match of the tournament, a 0–0 draw against Mexico. On 27 May 2019, Choudhury was included in England's 23-man squad for the 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship but was shown a straight red card for a reckless tackle during the second half of the opening 2–1 defeat to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

Cesena Cesena (; rgn, Cisêna) is a city and ''comune'' in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, served by Autostrada A14 (Italy), Autostrada A14, and located near the Apennine Mountains, about from the Adriatic Sea. The total population is 97,137. ...

. Although eligible to play for

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

and Grenada, Choudhury said in October 2019 that he intended to pursue an international career with England, stating: "To play for England is my biggest dream, to represent the senior team".

Personal life

Choudhury is of Bangladeshi-Grenadian ancestry. He was raised in a traditional

Bengali Muslim Bengali Muslims ( bn, বাঙালি মুসলমান; ) are adherents of Islam who ethnically, linguistically and genealogically identify as Bengalis. Comprising about two-thirds of the global Bengali population, they are the sec ...

household by his mother and stepfather and has visited Bangladesh since he was a child. His maternal ancestral home is in

Bahubal Bahubal ( bn, বাহুবল) is an upazila of Habiganj District in the Sylhet Division of Bangladesh. History Bahubal was a part of the Tungachhal and Rajpur kingdoms. The last Raja of Tungachhal, Achak Narayan, was defeated in 1303 during th ...

Habiganj District Habiganj ( bn, হবিগঞ্জ, Hobigonj), formerly known as Habibganj ( bn, হবিবগঞ্জ, Hobibgonj), is a district in north-eastern Bangladesh, located in the Sylhet Division. It was established as a district in 1984 as a succ ...

in Bangladesh. His stepfather is also

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

. Choudhury can speak

with a good degree of fluency. He is eligible to play for the Grenada national team through his biological father. In April 2019 he apologised for historical offensive tweets. He was later charged with misconduct by the FA, and fined £5,000 and put on an educational course. He and his partner have two children born in 2018 and 2020.

Career statistics

Honours

Leicester City *

: 2020–21 * FA Community Shield:

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 Unit ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Choudhury, Hamza 1997 births Living people Sportspeople from Loughborough Footballers from Leicestershire English footballers Association football midfielders Leicester City F.C. players Burton Albion F.C. players Watford F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players FA Cup Final players England under-21 international footballers Black British sportspeople English Muslims British Asian footballers English people of Bangladeshi descent English sportspeople of Grenadian descent 21st-century Bengalis 21st-century Muslims