Nii Nortei Nortey (born 29 October 1994) 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 ...

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 Northern Colorado Hailstorm in the

USL League One USL League One (USL1) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that had its inaugural season in 2019. The Division III league is operated by United Soccer League, the same group that operates the Division II USL Championshi ...

. Nortey started his career at

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 ...

's academy but was released in 2013 and had a spell at Maidenhead United before joining

Welling United Welling United Football Club is a professional football club, based in Welling in the London Borough of Bexley, England. The club's first team play in the National League South, at the sixth tier of English football. History Welling United Foot ...

in August 2015, where he started his senior career. He joined

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

ahead of the following season, but made just 6 league appearances before joining Solihull Moors on loan in December 2016, before joining them permanently in January 2017. He signed for

Dover Athletic Dover Athletic Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in the town of Dover, Kent, England. The club currently competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. The club was formed in 198 ...

in summer 2017, before being released at the end of the 2018–19 season after 6 goals in 67 league matches. He joined Chorley in September 2019 but left the club after their relegation to the

National League North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Syst ...

. He signed for

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship, known as the cinch Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish Champio ...

side Queen of the South in October 2020.

Early and personal life

Nortey's parents are both from Ghana, but he was born in Hammersmith, London, and grew up in London. During the summer of 2017, his older brother Leon died through a

sudden unexpected death in epilepsy Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) is a fatal complication of epilepsy. It is defined as the sudden and unexpected, non-traumatic and non-drowning death of a person with epilepsy, without a toxicological or anatomical cause of death det ...

, whilst he also lost his sister.

Club career

Early career

Nortey joined

at under-15 level and spent five years at the club, winning the FA Youth Cup, before being released in 2013 at the end of his scholarship. Having subsequently had multiple trial spells across Europe, including at

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...

, he joined Maidenhead United on a free transfer in February 2014.

Welling United

On 11 August 2015, he joined

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

side

on a short-term deal. He made his senior debut as a half-time substitute in a 1–0 away defeat to

Forest Green Rovers Forest Green Rovers Football Club are a professional football club based in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, England. The team compete in , the third tier of the English football league system, and have played their home games at The New Lawn since ...

that same day. His full Welling debut came on 19 September in a 2–1 away victory over Gateshead. He scored his first senior goal on 28 March 2016 with a near-post flick – the winning goal of a 2–1 victory over Woking. Nortey made 32 league appearances for Welling – scoring once – as Welling were relegated to the National League South after finishing bottom of the National League on 35 points.

Wrexham and Solihull Moors

On 22 June 2016, he joined National League side

on a one-year deal. He made his debut as a 93rd minute substitute in a 3–2 victory away to

Guiseley Guiseley ( ) is a town in metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated south of Otley and Menston and is now a north-western suburb of Leeds. It sits in th ...

on 9 August 2016. His first start of the season came on 10 September in a 1–0 home victory over

Sutton United Sutton United Football Club is a professional football club in Sutton, South London, England, who play in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They play home games at Gander Green Lane in Sutton about 11 miles so ...

, but was substituted off at half-time. Having made 6 league appearances, he joined fellow National League club Solihull Moors on a one-month loan deal on 6 December 2016. After making three league appearances during his loan spell, he joined Solihull Moors on a permanent basis on 6 January 2017 following the termination of his contract at Wrexham. He scored his first goal for Solihull on 18 March 2017 in the 90th minute of a 4–1 victory over

North Ferriby United North Ferriby United Association Football Club was a semi-professional football club in North Ferriby, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. At the time of their demise they were members of the Northern Premier League and played at Grange Lane. F ...

after coming on as a substitute. He scored once in 15 league matches during his permanent spell at the club.

Dover Athletic

Nortey joined National League

on a one-year deal following a trial period in July 2017. He started their opening game of the season as Dover defeated

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded i ...

1–0 away from home on 5 August. He scored his first goal for Dover on 16 September 2017 as they won 4–0 at home to Chester, with Nortey scoring the third after 70 minutes. He scored five goals in 33 matches for Dover during the 2017–18 National League. The 2018–19 season saw him make 34 appearances in the National League, scoring once with the opening goal of a 4–3 victory over

Havant & Waterlooville Havant & Waterlooville Football Club is a professional football club based in Havant, Hampshire, England. The club participates in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football, after relegation from the National League in the ...

on 14 August 2018. However, he was released by Dover at the end of his contract in summer 2019.

Chorley

In September 2019, Nortey joined Chorley, having spent pre-season on trial with

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. ...

. He made his debut on 24 September as a substitute in a 3–1 defeat at home to Barrow. His full debut was a 0–0 draw with Dagenham & Redbridge on 28 September 2019. Following the early conclusion of the National League season in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in England with Chorley bottom after 38 games, they were relegated to the

after the table was decided on a points per game system, with Chorley finishing bottom. Nortey appeared in 24 league matches for Chorley, but was released by Chorley at the end of the season.

Queen of the South

Nortey signed for

club Queen of the South in October 2020 until the 31 May 2021.

Northern Colorado Hailstorm

On 27 January 2022, Nortey moved to the United States to sign with third-tier

club Northern Colorado Hailstorm ahead of their inaugural season.

International career

Nortey was born in England but is also eligible to represent Ghana at international level.

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nortey, Nortei 1994 births Living people English men's footballers Footballers from Hammersmith Men's association football midfielders Chelsea F.C. players Maidenhead United F.C. players Welling United F.C. players Wrexham A.F.C. players Solihull Moors F.C. players Dover Athletic F.C. players Chorley F.C. players Queen of the South F.C. players Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC players National League (English football) players Scottish Professional Football League players English sportspeople of Ghanaian descent English expatriate men's footballers English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States