Jordan Paul Cousins (born 6 March 1994) 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

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 boundarie ...

for

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They compete in EFL League one , the 3rd tier of the English football league system. The club is based at the Abbey Stadium on N ...

. Born in England, he represents the Jamaica national team. Cousins began his career with

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 C ...

, breaking into the first team in 2013–14 after progressing thorough their

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 philosophy ...

. He became a regular with the Addicks until the side suffered relegation in 2015–16 and he left for

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

. He spent three seasons at

Loftus Road Loftus Road is a football stadium in White City, London, England, which is home to Queens Park Rangers. In 1981, it became the first stadium in British professional football to have an artificial pitch of Omniturf installed. This remained in ...

making 70 appearances before joining

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

in June 2019.

Club career

Charlton Athletic

Cousins began his career with the Charlton Athletic Academy joining the under-13s and he signed professional terms in March 2011. He won the League One Apprentice of the Year award in 2012. He made his

debut on 6 August 2013 in a 4–0 win against

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and th ...

in the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

. On 17 August 2013, he scored on his league debut in a 2–2 draw against

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

. Cousins described his first league goal as a "a dream come true". On 4 October 2013, Cousins signed a new three-year contract at the club, keeping him at The Valley until 2016. Cousins impressed manager

Chris Powell Christopher George Robin Powell (born 8 September 1969) is an English football coach and former player, who is currently head of coaching at Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur's Academy and a coach for the England national team. As a left b ...

enough to establish himself in the first team at The Valley and his bright start to life in Championship football saw him win the

Football League Young Player of the Month The EFL Young Player of the Month is an award for young players in all three divisions of the English Football League. To be eligible players must be under-21 or turn 21 during the current season. It was first awarded in December 2009. Victor Mose ...

award for October 2013. Cousins played 47 times in 2013–14 as Charlton finished in 18th position. He made the same amount of appearances in 2014–15 as the Addicks finished in 12th. On 31 July 2015, Cousins signed a new four-year contract. Cousins played 42 times in 2015–16 as Charlton had a poor campaign and were relegated to League One. Following Charlton's relegation they received a bid for Cousins from

Queens Park Rangers

On 13 July 2016, Cousins joined

on a three-year deal. His first season with QPR, in 2016–17 was disrupted by injuries with Cousins undergoing surgery on a quad muscle injury in April 2016. His missed the start of the 2017–18 season after picking up another hamstring injury. He returned to the first team in October 2017 and went on to make 16 appearances as QPR finished in 16th position. He was sent-off for the first time in his career in a 2–0

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 ...

defeat at

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 ...

on 25 September 2018. Cousins scored his only goal for QPR in a 4–3 defeat against

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

on 9 February 2019. His 2018–18 season was ended after he was stretchered off in a 2–1 home defeat to

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

on 19 April 2019. Cousins was released by QPR at the end of the season.

Stoke City

On 25 June 2019, Cousins joined

. He had previously worked with manager Nathan Jones at the Charlton Athletic Academy. He made his debut on the opening day of the 2019–20 season in a 2–1 defeat against his old club Queens Park Rangers. Cousins struggled for game time under Jones and spent two months out the squad before Michael O'Neill started him against

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

in December 2019. He kept his place in the side as Stoke's results began to improve and they edged away from the relegation zone. Cousins made 24 appearances in 2019–20 as Stoke finished in 15th position. Cousins was mainly used as back-up by O'Neill in the 2020–21 season, making 21 appearances before leaving the club after his contract expired in the summer.

Wigan Athletic

Cousins signed a two-year contract with

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

on 15 June 2021.

Cambridge United

Following his release from Wigan, Cousins signed a one-year contract with

International career

Born in England, Cousins is of Jamaican descent. Cousins has been capped by England at Under 16, Under-17 and Under-18 level, he appeared for the Under-17's at both the

2011 UEFA European Under-17 Championship The 2011 UEFA European Under-17 Championship was the tenth edition of UEFA's European Under-17 Football Championship. Serbia hosted the tournament between the 3 and 15 May. 6 Teams also qualified for the 2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup. Players born aft ...

and the

2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the fourteenth tournament of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, and the eleventh played since the change in age limits from under 16s to Under 17s in 1991. It was held in Mexico with games being played amongst various venues ...

. In May 2014 he was called up to the Under-20 squad for the first time. In July 2021, he started the process of getting a Jamaican passport to represent the Jamaica national team. He was called up to represent the Jamaica national team in May 2022. He made his debut in a 6–0 friendly defeat to

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

on 25 May.

Personal life

Cousins is the cousin of former

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

full back

Kerrea Gilbert Kerrea Kuche Gilbert (; born 28 February 1987) is an English footballer. Career Arsenal Gilbert was born in Willesden, London, and until the 2005–06 season he usually played in Arsenal's youth and reserve teams. However, after injuries to var ...

Career statistics

Honours

Wigan Athletic *

EFL 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 ...

: 2021–22

References

External links

*
England profile
at theFA {{DEFAULTSORT:Cousins, Jordan 1994 births Living people Footballers from Greenwich Jamaican men's footballers Jamaica men's international footballers English men's footballers English Football League players England men's youth international footballers England men's under-21 international footballers English people of Jamaican descent Men's association football forwards Charlton Athletic F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Wigan Athletic F.C. players Cambridge United F.C. players Black British sportsmen