Omari Elijah Giraud-Hutchinson (born 30 October 2003) 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 winger or

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, 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 #Cent ...

for

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

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

. Born in England, he plays for the Jamaica national team.

Early life

Hutchinson was born in Redhill, England. He grew up in

South London South London is the southern part of London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, London Borou ...

along with his older brother O'Shaye, who has played for

Non-League Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

Burgess Hill Town,

East Grinstead Town East Grinstead Town Football Club is a association football, football club based in East Grinstead, West Sussex, England. They are currently members of the and play at East Court. History The club was established on 8 May 1890 as East Grinstea ...

and

Ramsgate Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2001 it had a population of about 40,000. In 2011, according to t ...

Club career

Early career

Hutchinson began his career with

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 ...

, joining in 2008. In a video posted on Chelsea's official website in late July 2023, Hutchinson's father stated that he had been released twice by Chelsea as a child. In 2012, he was scouted and signed by

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 ...

while playing football in ''the Addicks'' car park as his brother, Oshaye, was training with the youth team. While at Charlton, he caught the eye of North-London rivals

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 ...

, having impressed in a game against them. After two years with Charlton, Hutchinson left the club and trials with Arsenal,

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

and

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

followed, but ultimately led to nothing. Hutchinson took a year-long break from academy football to play

futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hardcourt, hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and Indoor soccer, indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players ...

with his friends, before joining Arsenal at under-12 level. Hutchinson also stated that he spent time with

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 ...

prior to joining Arsenal. At the age of twelve, Hutchinson took part in a South-London tournament hosted by Brazilian football legend

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; born 23 October 1940), known as Pelé (), is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and labelled "the greatest" by FIFA, ...

, who praised Hutchinson for his skills. At the tournament, he also met football content creators

F2Freestylers The F2Freestylers, also known as The F2, are a British freestyle football duo comprising former amateur footballers Billy Wingrove and Jeremy Lynch. They are best known for their YouTube channel which has over 13 million subscribers. Early c ...

, who invited him to star in a video on their

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

channel. The video, showcasing Hutchinson's skills, has amassed over four million views. In November 2020, Hutchinson signed his first professional contract with Arsenal. He was handed a place on the bench for the Arsenal senior team for the first time in their 1–0

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 ...

defeat to

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

on 9 January 2022.

Return to Chelsea

On 16 July 2022, Hutchinson rejoined Chelsea for an undisclosed fee. He made his professional debut on 5 January 2023 in a 1–0 home defeat against

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

, coming on as a second-half substitute.

Loan to Ipswich Town

On 20 July 2023, Hutchinson agreed to join newly-promoted

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

side

on a season-long loan. Despite being unable to fully cement himself in the starting eleven, he was awarded the

EFL Championship Player of the Month The EFL Championship Player of the Month is an association football award that recognises the player adjudged the best for each month of the season in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Originally named the Football ...

award for February 2024 having scored three injury-time goals, also contributing two assists.

Ipswich Town

After helping the club gain promotion to the

after 22 years away, Hutchinson rejoined Ipswich Town on 30 June 2024 and signed a five-year contract for a club-record fee.

International career

Born in England, Hutchinson is of Jamaican descent. He is a youth international for England, having represented the England U17s and U19s. He was called up to the Jamaica national team in May 2022, and made his unofficial debut in a 6–0 loss 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 ...

in the same month. In November 2022, Hutchinson was told by Chelsea not to report for international duty with Jamaica, so that he could be involved in first team matches with ''The Blues''. He made his first official start for Jamaica in a 1–0 loss to

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

on 11 March 2023.

Media

Hutchinson was involved in the

Amazon Original In 2013, Amazon.com began distributing original television shows through its Amazon Prime Video service, some of which are developed in-house by Amazon Studios. Original programming Drama Comedy Animation Adult animation Anime Kids & fa ...

sports

docuseries Television documentaries are televised media productions that screen documentaries. Television documentaries exist either as a television documentary series or as a television documentary film. *Television documentary series, sometimes called d ...

'' All or Nothing: Arsenal'', which documented the club by spending time with the coaching staff and players behind the scenes both on and off the field throughout their 2021–22 season.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Ipswich Town *

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

runner-up: 2023–24 Individual *

: February 2024 *

Young Player of the Year: 2023–24

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hutchinson, Omari 2003 births Living people Sportspeople from Redhill, Surrey Jamaican men's footballers Jamaica men's international footballers English men's footballers England men's youth international footballers English people of Jamaican descent Sportspeople of Jamaican descent Men's association football midfielders Chelsea F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players Ipswich Town F.C. players Premier League players Black British sportsmen Footballers from Surrey English Football League players