Jack Harper (born 28 February 1996) 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for Spanish club Marbella. Born and raised in Spain, he represented his parents' birthplace Scotland at youth international levels.

Early life

Harper was born in

Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most pop ...

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...

, Spain, to Scottish parents. He speaks both

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

(with a Scottish accent) and Spanish. He grew up in

Fuengirola Fuengirola (), in ancient times known as Suel and then Suhayl, is a large town and municipality on the Costa del Sol in the province of Málaga in the autonomous community of Andalusia in southern Spain. It is located on the central coast of the pr ...

. His brothers

Ryan Ryan may refer to: People and fictional characters *Ryan (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) *Ryan (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) Places Australia * Division of Ryan, an elector ...

and Mac were also footballers. Ryan was born in

Barrhead Barrhead ( sco, Baurheid, gd, Ceann a' Bharra) is a town in East Renfrewshire, Scotland, southwest of Glasgow city centre on the edge of the Gleniffer Braes. At the 2011 census its population was 17,268. History Barrhead was formed when ...

in Scotland before the family moved to Spain in the mid-1990s.

Club career

Youth career

Harper played for Fuengirola Los Boliches between 2003 and 2009. After trialling with Sevilla and

Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of the same name. It lies on southeastern Iberia on the Mediterranean Sea. Caliph Abd al-Rahman III founded the city in 955. The city gr ...

, Harper signed an initial 12-month contract with

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

in 2009, at the age of 13. He moved to Madrid to live at the club's training ground, and attended private school. In December 2012, Harper signed a new five-year contract with Real Madrid. In June 2014 he signed a further contract extension with the club. At the age of 18, with two years left on his contract, he chose to leave Real Madrid after the club said they wanted to loan him out. He signed for English club Brighton & Hove Albion in July 2015. He was injured for the first six months of his time with Brighton.

Senior career

Málaga

Harper returned to Spain with

in January 2017. He spent the end of the 2016–17 season and all of 2017–18 with the Málaga B team, helping them to achieve promotion to the third tier via the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

in the latter campaign having lost out due to a last-minute goal in the final round the previous year. He made his first-team debut on 18 August 2018, starting in a 2–1 away win against

CD Lugo Club Deportivo Lugo is a Spanish football team based in Lugo, in the autonomous community of Galicia. Founded on 8 July 1953, it plays in Segunda División, holding home games at '' Estadio Anxo Carro''. History The new board of directors was o ...

in the

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

. He scored his first professional goal on 3 September, netting the winner in a 1–0 away success over UD Almería.

Getafe

Harper signed a pre-contract agreement with Getafe in February 2019 and completed the move in July. On 10 August, he was loaned to second division side

Alcorcón Alcorcón () is a city and municipality of Spain located in the Community of Madrid. as of 2020, it had a population of 172,384. Geography The municipality, largely flat, lies at an average altitude of 711 metres above sea level, with the h ...

for one year. On 5 October 2020, transfer deadline day, Harper joined FC Cartagena, newly-promoted to division two, on loan for one year. On 1 February 2021, he moved to

Villarreal CF B Villarreal Club de Fútbol "B" is a Spanish football team based in Villarreal, in the autonomous community of Valencia. Founded in 1999, it is the reserve team of Villarreal CF and plays in Segunda División, holding home games at ''Ciudad Deporti ...

in the third division, also on loan. On 6 July 2021, he was loaned out to the third-tier again, this time joining

Racing de Santander Real Racing Club de Santander, S.A.D. (), also known as Racing de Santander () or simply Racing, is a football club based in Santander, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system ...

. On 21 July 2022, Harper moved to

Hércules CF Hércules de Alicante Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. () is a Spanish football team in Alicante, in the autonomous community of Valencian Community. Founded on 25 October 1922, it currently plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 3 and plays its hom ...

also on a one-year loan deal. In July of the following year, he left Getafe.

Marbella

On 26 July 2023, Harper signed a one-year contract with

Marbella FC Marbella Fútbol Club, formerly known as Unión Deportiva Marbella, is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Marbella, the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1997 it currently plays in Tercera Federación, Te ...

in the

Segunda Federación Segunda Federación, previously called Segunda División RFEF, also officially known as Segunda B-Segunda Federación, is the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system containing 90 teams divided into five groups. It is administered by t ...

International career

Harper has elected to represent Scotland at international level, saying that "even though I live in Spain, I feel Scottish, so I want to make my family proud and play for my country." He has stated his ambition to play for Scotland at the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

. He was called up by the under-15 squad in April 2010, and by the under-16s in July 2011. He made his under-17 national debut in August 2012. He made a total of six appearances for the under-17s in 2012, scoring once. He made his debut for the under-19s in August 2014, making three appearances for them that year. He was dropped from the under-19s in March 2015. He was selected for the Scotland under-21 squad in March 2017, but did not play.

Playing style

Harper has been compared to

Robin van Persie Robin van Persie (; born 6 August 1983) is a Dutch football coach and former professional footballer who played as a striker. Regarded as one of the best strikers of his generation, Van Persie was known for his excellent technique and ball co ...

Honours

Atlético Malagueño * Tercera División Group 9: 2016–17, 2017–18

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harper, Jack 1996 births Living people Footballers from Málaga Scottish men's footballers Spanish men's footballers Spanish people of Scottish descent Scotland men's youth international footballers Real Madrid CF players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Atlético Malagueño players Málaga CF players Getafe CF footballers AD Alcorcón footballers FC Cartagena footballers Villarreal CF B players Racing de Santander players Hércules CF players Marbella FC players Segunda División players Primera Federación players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Men's association football forwards Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England UD Fuengirola Los Boliches players