Jan Kacper Bednarek (born 12 April 1996) is a Polish 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 centre-back for club

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 ...

and the Poland national team.

Club career

Lech Poznań

On 23 September 2013, at the age of 17 years old, Bednarek made his

Ekstraklasa Poland Ekstraklasa (), meaning "Extra Class" in Polish, named PKO Ekstraklasa since the 2019–20 season due to its sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is the top Polish professional league for men's association football teams. Contested by 18 ...

debut for Lech Poznań in a 0–2 away win against

Piast Gliwice Gliwicki Klub Sportowy Piast Gliwice () is a Polish association football, football club based in Gliwice. In the 2018–19 Ekstraklasa, 2018–19 season, Piast won its first Polish championship. As of 2022–23, it competes in the Ekstraklasa, ...

. The Polish under-21 international became an integral member of the squad, featuring 31 times and scoring once as Lech narrowly missed out on the

2016–17 Polish Cup The 2016–17 Polish Cup was the sixty-third season of the annual Polish football knockout tournament. It began on 16 July 2016 with the first matches of the Preliminary Round and ended on 2 May 2017 with the Final at PGE Narodowy. Winners of the ...

Arka Gdynia Morski Związkowy Klub Sportowy Arka Gdynia () is a Polish professional football club, based in Gdynia, Poland, that plays in the Polish I liga. The club was founded as Klub Sportowy Gdynia in 1929. History The history of Arka dates back to ...

2–1 after extra time.

Górnik Łęczna (loan)

He was loaned to

Górnik Łęczna Gornik may refer to one of the following. * Gornik, Pleven Province, a village in Chechen Republic * April Gornik, an American painter *Górnik (means " Miner" in Polish) is a common name of Polish sports teams: **Górnik Konin ** Górnik Łęczna ...

for the 2015–16 season, where he managed a total of 17 league appearances before returning to his parent club.

Southampton

2017–18 season

On 1 July 2017, Bednarek joined

on a five-year deal, for a reported fee of £5 million. On 23 August 2017, Bednarek made his debut for Southampton against

Wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

in the EFL Cup which ended in a 2–0 defeat. Bednarek did not feature again until 8 January 2018 in a

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 ...

match against Fulham which ended in a 1–0 victory before being substituted for

Maya Yoshida is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Bundesliga club Schalke 04 and captains the Japan national team. Club career Nagoya Grampus Born in Nagasaki, Japan, Yoshida began playing football at Nanling FC in his secon ...

in the second half. Bednarek played out of position at right-back during the game, but was able to help keep a clean sheet.

Virgil Van Dijk Virgil van Dijk (born 8 July 1991) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Liverpool and the Netherlands national team. Considered one of the best defenders in the world, Van Dijk is known for his strength, lea ...

left in January, and

Mauricio Pellegrino Mauricio Andrés Pellegrino Luna (; born 5 October 1971) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a centre-back, currently the manager of Chilean club Universidad de Chile. After nearly one decade with Vélez Sarsfield, ...

was replaced by

Mark Hughes Leslie Mark Hughes (born 1 November 1963) is a Welsh football coach and former player who is the manager of Bradford City. During his playing career he usually operated as a forward or midfielder. He had two spells at Manchester United, an ...

who switched to a back three in April. He made his Premier League debut on 14 April 2018 against

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

, and scored Southampton’s second goal in a 3–2 defeat. Bednarek ended the season with five league appearances and eight in all competitions.

2018–19 season

On 28 August 2018, Bednarek made his first appearance of the season in the EFL Cup against Brighton which ended in a 1–0 victory. On 22 September 2018, Bednarek made his first Premier League appearance of the season 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 ...

which ended in a 3–0 defeat after replacing

Oriol Romeu Oriol Romeu Vidal (; born 24 September 1991) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for La Liga side Girona. Romeu began his career at Barcelona, playing mainly in their reserves. In 2011, he joined Chelsea f ...

in the second half. On 3 December 2018, Mark Hughes was sacked by Southampton. Under Hughes, Bednarek only made two league appearances so far that season. The arrival of

Ralph Hasenhüttl Ralph Hasenhüttl (; born 9 August 1967) is an Austrian professional football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of Premier League club Southampton. During his playing career, he played as a centre forward. Playing care ...

saw a change in fortune for Bednarek, who ended the season with 25 league appearances.

2019–20 season

On 10 August 2019, Bednarek made his first appearance of the season in the league in a 3–0 defeat against

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 25 October 2019, Bednarek featured in Southampton’s

0–9 A numeral system (or system of numeration) is a writing system for expressing numbers; that is, a mathematical notation for representing numbers of a given set, using digits or other symbols in a consistent manner. The same sequence of symbo ...

defeat to Leicester. On 28 January 2020, Bednarek scored his first and only goal of the season in a 3–2 defeat to Wolves. Following Southampton’s 1–0 defeat against

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

on 7 March 2020, English football was suspended due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. Southampton and Bednarek would not play again until 19 June 2020 against

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

which ended in a 3–0 victory. Bednarek ended the season with 39 appearances in all competitions.

2020–21 season

On 12 September 2020, Bednarek made his first appearance of the season in the league in a 1–0 defeat to

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

. On 6 November 2020, Bednarek featured in Southampton’s 2–0 win over Newcastle which saw ''‘the Saints’'' go top of the English top flight for the first time since 1988. His only goal of the season came during a 3–2 defeat to Manchester United on 29 November 2020. On 3 December 2020, Bednarek signed a new four-and-a-half year contract. On 2 February 2021, Bednarek scored an

own goal An own goal, also called a self goal, is where a player performs actions that result in them or their team scoring a goal on themselves, often resulting in a point for the opposing team, such as when a football player kicks a ball into their own ...

, conceded a

penalty Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) A p ...

and was given a

red card A red card is a type of penalty card that is shown in many sports after a rules infraction. Red card may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''Red Card'' (album), 1976 release by Streetwalkers * Red card, suit (cards) of hearts or d ...

after a foul on

Anthony Martial Anthony Jordan Martial (; born 5 December 1995) is a French professional footballer who plays as a forward for Premier League club Manchester United and the France national team. After playing youth football for Les Ulis, Martial began his ...

in his team's record-equalling 9–0 defeat to Manchester United after Mike Dean checked the pitchside monitor. Despite this, the red card was controversial and Manchester United manager

Ole Gunnar Solskjær Ole Gunnar Solskjær (; born 26 February 1973) is a Norwegian professional football manager and former player who played as a forward who last managed Premier League club Manchester United. As a player, Solskjær spent the majority of his car ...

believed that Bednarek should not have been sent off. The red card issued was subsequently rescinded following an appeal by the club. Bednarek ended the season with 41 appearances in all competitions.

2021–22 season

On 22 August 2021, Bednarek made his first appearance of the season in a 1–1 draw against Manchester United after replacing

Theo Walcott Theo James Walcott (born 16 March 1989) is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for Southampton and previously for the English national team. Walcott is a product of the Southampton Academy and started his career with ...

at half time. Three days later, Bednarek made his first start of the season in an 8–0 victory in the EFL Cup against Newport County, which is Southampton’s biggest away win in their history. On 18 September 2021, after not starting the opening four games, Bednarek made his first league start of the season in a 0–0 draw with Manchester City. In that game, Southampton defender Jack Stephens had played every minute in all competitions up until he suffered a knee injury. Following the injury to Stephens, Bednarek returned to being a regular starter. On 1 December 2021, Bednarek scored his first league goal of the season in a 2–2 draw against Leicester City. On 26 December 2021, Bednarek scored his second goal in three games after he netted the winner in Southampton’s 2–3 victory against

West Ham West Ham is an area in East London, located east of Charing Cross in the west of the modern London Borough of Newham. The area, which lies immediately to the north of the River Thames and east of the River Lea, was originally an ancient ...

. On 11 January 2022, Bednarek scored again in Southampton’s 4–1 victory against Brentford. On 16 April 2022, Bednarek’s final goal of the season came in a 1–0 victory against Arsenal, which took his total goals for the season to four and he ended the season with 34 appearances in all competitions.

2022–23 season: Loan to Aston Villa

On 6 August 2022, Bednarek made his first appearance of the season for Southampton in a 4–1 defeat to

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 ...

. On 1 September 2022, Bednarek joined Aston Villa on a season-long loan. Bednarek made his debut for Aston Villa on 2 October 2022 in a 0–0 draw with

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 ...

, replacing

Ludwig Augustinsson Hans Carl Ludwig Augustinsson (born 21 April 1994) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a left-back for La Liga club Mallorca, on loan from La Liga club Sevilla, and the Sweden national team. A product of Brommapojkarna's academy ...

in the 49th minute. The loan was ended early on 23 January 2023 as Bednarek was recalled to Southampton.

International career

On 4 September 2017, Bednarek made his international debut for

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

in a 3–0 victory over

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

. In May 2018, he was named in Poland’s preliminary 35-man squad for the

2018 World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

in Russia. On 28 June 2018, he scored his first goal for Poland, the only goal in a 1–0 victory over Japan at the World Cup.

Personal life

His brother

Filip Filip () is a masculine given name and a surname, cognate to Philip. In Croatia, the name Filip was among the most common masculine given names in the 2000s. Notable people with the name include: ; Given name * Filip Barović (born 1990), Monten ...

is also a footballer, who currently plays as a goalkeeper for the Polish club Lech Poznań.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Poland score listed first, score column indicates score after each Bednarek goal.''

Honours

Lech Poznań *

: 2014–15

References

External links

Profile
at Southampton F.C. website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bednarek, Jan 1996 births Living people People from Słupca County Footballers from Greater Poland Voivodeship Polish men's footballers Poland men's international footballers Men's association football defenders Lech Poznań II players Lech Poznań players GKS Górnik Łęczna players Southampton F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players III liga players Ekstraklasa players Premier League players 2018 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2020 players 2022 FIFA World Cup players Polish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Polish expatriate sportspeople in England