Jai Emile Mau'u Ingham (born 14 August 1993) 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 ...

who plays a winger for

National Premier Leagues The National Premier Leagues (NPL) is a national association football competition in Australia which acts as the second tier of the sport in the country below the A-League. The NPL consists of the highest level state league in each state-based ...

club

South Melbourne South Melbourne is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km south of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Port Phillip local government area. South Melbourne recorded a population of 11,548 at ...

. Born in Australia and of New Zealand and Samoan descent, Ingham has represented the

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

internationally.

Career

Olympic FC

Ingham started his career with

Olympic FC Olympic Football Club is a semi-professional soccer club based in Brisbane, Queensland. The club was founded in 1967 and currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Queensland, with home matches played at Goodwin Park. The club has grow ...

seniors in the

National Premier League The National Premier League, also known for sponsorship purposes as the Red Stripe Premier League, is sanctioned by the Jamaican Football Federation as the top division for men's association football in Jamaica. Contested between 12 clubs, it ...

while training to be an electrician. In July 2013, he was picked as one of Australia's top eight players outside the A-League. Selected in the QLD NPL football team of the year 2013.

Brisbane Roar

At the beginning of the 2013–14 National Youth League, Ingham joined Brisbane Roar's youth side. Scoring 13 goals in 11 appearances. Including a second half hat-trick that secured victory over Adelaide. On 24 January 2014, Ingham debuted for the senior team, coming on as a substitute in the 72nd minute of a 2–1 victory over

Wellington Phoenix Wellington Phoenix Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wellington, New Zealand. It competes in the Australian A-League, under licence from Football Federation Australia. Phoenix entered the competition in the ...

Hume City

Ingham drew positive reactions while at

National Premier Leagues Victoria The National Premier Leagues Victoria, commonly known as NPL Victoria, is a semi-professional soccer league in Victoria, Australia. The league is a part of the National Premier Leagues, and is the highest level within the Victorian soccer lea ...

side Hume City during the

2015 FFA Cup The 2015 FFA Cup was the second season of the FFA Cup, the main national soccer knockout cup competition in Australia. 32 teams began competition in the competition proper (from the round of 32), including all 10 A-League teams, the reigning Nat ...

Melbourne Victory

Ingham trained with Melbourne Victory for a month ahead of the 2016 January transfer window and was signed as the club's first use of the Mature Age Rookie salary cap allowance. Ingham made his debut for Melbourne Victory against the

Central Coast Mariners Central Coast Mariners Football Club is an Australian professional association football, soccer club based in Gosford, on the Central Coast (New South Wales), Central Coast of New South Wales. It competes in the A-League, A-League Men, under ...

on 8 January 2016, coming on as a 77th-minute substitute for

Fahid Ben Khalfallah Fahid Ben Khalfallah ( ar, فهيد بن خلف الله; born 9 October 1982) is a retired professional footballer who last played for and was head coach of Australian side Nunawading City. Born in France, he represented the Tunisia national ...

in an eventual 3–3 draw. Ingham made his first start for Melbourne Victory in their opening

2016 AFC Champions League The 2016 AFC Champions League was the 35th edition of Asia's premier club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 14th under the current AFC Champions League title. Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors defeated Al-Ain ...

match against Shanghai SIPG F.C. on 24 February 2016, in what was only his third appearance for the club. During the match, he scored his first goal for the club, scoring in the 31st minute in an eventual 2–1 win. He then went on to make his first A-League starting appearance on 6 March against the

, setting up both

Besart Berisha Besart Berisha (born 29 July 1985) is a Kosovan retired professional footballer who played as a striker. Club career Youth and Hamburger SV Berisha began his youth career at German side Berliner VB 49 academies at age of 9. He then moved to var ...

and

for goals and was voted best on ground in a 2–0 win at

Central Coast Stadium Central Coast Stadium (known originally as Grahame Park), known commercially as Industree Group Stadium is a sports venue in Gosford, on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia. The stadium is home to the Central Coast Mariners asso ...

. Ingham scored the equaliser against

Juventus F.C. )''I Bianconeri'' (The White and Blacks)''Le Zebre'' (The Zebras)''La Signora Omicidi'' (The Killer Lady)''La Gheuba'' (: The Hunchback) , founded = as Sport-Club Juventus , ground = Juventus Stadium , capacity = 41,507 , owner = Agnell ...

in a pre-

2016–17 A-League The 2016–17 A-League was the 40th season of top-flight soccer in Australia, and the 12th since the establishment of the A-League in 2004. The season began on 7 October 2016. Adelaide United were both the defending A-League Premiers and Champ ...

season friendly match at the

MCG The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as "The 'G", is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadium in the Southern Hem ...

. Ingham scored his first A-League goal for Melbourne Victory on 12 November 2016, against the

Western Sydney Wanderers Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club (colloquially known as Western Sydney, or simply as Wanderers) is an Australian professional soccer club based in the Western Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier ...

, in an eventual 3–0 win. Ingham has an impressive AFC Champions League record for Melbourne Victory with 9 appearances 3 goals and 1 assist. Due to this Fox Sports commentator Andy Harper gave him the nickname "The Asian Specialist," after his third goal in Asian Champions League against Chinese giants Guangzhou Evergrande, April 22nd 2019. Ingham was released by Melbourne Victory at the conclusion of the 2018–19 A-League season.

Central Coast Mariners

In June 2019, Ingham joined

on a two-year contract among a host of signings under new coach

Alen Stajcic Alen Stajcic (born 2 November 1973) is a former Australian soccer player and is the head coach of the Philippines women's national football team. While as a footballer he was a NSW Premier League player and an Australian Youth Representative. ...

Return to Brisbane Roar

In August 2019, less than 2 months after signing with

, Ingham negotiated a mutual contract release with the club and joined

Brisbane Roar Brisbane Roar Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Brisbane, Queensland and has won the domestic title on three occasions, as well as holding the longest unbeaten record of 36 league matches without defeat. Brisba ...

. In March 2021, Ingham departed Brisbane Roar.

United City

Ingham signed a contract with

Philippines Football League The Philippines Football League, commonly known as PFL, is a Filipino professional football league sanctioned by the Philippine Football Federation (PFF). It is the Philippines' highest level of men's club football, supplanting the United Foo ...

side

United City United City is a group of businesses based within Greater Manchester, England, who supported proposals for congestion charging in Greater Manchester via the Greater Manchester Transport Innovation Fund bid for £3 billion. The bid was rejecte ...

as one of their foreign players and the final player in a slew of new signings. This came a few hours after it was announced that

and Ingham had mutually agreed to terminate the player's contract.

International career

In May 2016, Ingham was named to the Samoan national squad for the

2016 OFC Nations Cup The 2016 OFC Nations Cup was the tenth edition of the OFC Nations Cup, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Oceania organised by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC). The tournament was played between 28 May and 11 Jun ...

however he did not travel to Papua New Guinea for the tournament and was listed as an absentee. In March 2017, Ingham was called up to the New Zealand national squad for World Cup qualifiers, along with his brother Dane. He made his debut on 28 March 2017 against Fiji.

Personal life

Jai is the cousin of Samoan international Johnny Hall and brother of

Newcastle Jets Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from The Australian ...

player

Dane Ingham Dane Ingham (born 8 June 1999) is a professional footballer who plays as a right wing-back for A-League club Newcastle Jets. Born and raised in Australia, he plays for the New Zealand national team. Mainly a right wing-back or right-back, Ingh ...

. In addition to holding an Australian passport, Ingham also holds Samoan and New Zealand passports, as he has a Samoan-New Zealand mother and an Australian father.

Honours

Melbourne Victory *

A-League Championship A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professionalism in association football, professional men's association football, soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Austral ...

: 2017–18

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ingham, Jai 1993 births Living people Samoan footballers New Zealand association footballers New Zealand international footballers Australian soccer players Association football midfielders Brisbane Roar FC players Melbourne Victory FC players Central Coast Mariners FC players A-League Men players National Premier Leagues players 2016 OFC Nations Cup players New Zealand people of Samoan descent New Zealand people of Australian descent Australian people of Samoan descent Australian people of New Zealand descent People from Lismore, New South Wales Sportsmen from New South Wales Soccer players from New South Wales