James Clayton Hill (born 10 January 2002) 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 Blackburn Rovers, on loan from

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 ...

club

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...

Early and personal life

His father is

Matt Hill Matthew Hill (born January 19, 1968) is a Canadian voice actor working for Ocean Productions. Career His roles include List of Ed, Edd n Eddy characters#Ed, Ed in ''Ed, Edd n Eddy'', Kevin Keene, Kevin Keene/Captain N in ''Captain N: The Game Ma ...

, also a footballer.

Club career

Fleetwood Town

Hill made his senior debut for

Fleetwood Town Fleetwood Town Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Fleetwood, Lancashire. Established in 1997, the current Fleetwood Town F.C. is the fourth incarnation of the club; it was originally formed in ...

in the

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

, against Leicester City on 28 August 2018. Aged just 16 on his debut, Hill became the club's youngest ever first-team player. He turned professional in February 2019. He made his "impressive" league debut on 19 April 2019, against Peterborough United, with his long throw leading to

Hunter Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

's 95th minute equaliser for Fleetwood Town. Just three days later, on 22 April 2019, Hill made his first league start against his father's former club,

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

, which concluded in a 2–1 defeat for the side. At the end of the 2020–21 season, Hill was offered a new contract at Fleetwood Town.

AFC Bournemouth

On 5 January 2022, Hill joined Championship club

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest division of English club football. Formed in 1899 as B ...

for an undisclosed fee said to be a club record for Fleetwood and reported to be £1 million, signing a four-and-a-half year contract. He moved on loan to Heart of Midlothian in January 2023, and on loan to Blackburn Rovers in September 2023.

International career

On 6 September 2021, Hill made his debut for the England U20s during a 6–1 victory over Romania U20s at St. George's Park. On 10 June 2022, Hill made his

England U21 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 ...

debut during a

2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification The 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying competition was a men's under-21 football competition to determine the 14 teams that would be joining the automatically qualified co-hosts Romania and Georgia in the 2023 UEFA European Under- ...

5–0 victory away to

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

Career statistics

References

2002 births Living people English men's footballers Fleetwood Town F.C. players AFC Bournemouth players Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players English Football League players Men's association football central defenders England men's youth international footballers England men's under-21 international footballers Scottish Professional Football League players Footballers from Bristol Premier League players {{England-footy-defender-2000s-stub