Réda Johnson (born 21 March 1988) 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, rugb ...

who last played as a defender for

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 s ...

club

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 1983 ...

where he held the role of player-coach. He previously played for Sheffield Wednesday,

Gueugnon Gueugnon () is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. Population Economy The primary industry in the town is a stainless-steel factory run by Aperam. A huge part of Gueugnon ...

Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; pcd, Anmien, or ) is a city and commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in the region of Hauts-de-France. In 2021, the population of ...

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

and

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

. Born in France, he represented the Benin national team.

Club career

Born in Marseille, Johnson began his career as a professional footballer in 2005 with

."Argyle sign Johnson"
. Plymouth Argyle. Retrieved 14 September 2010. He spent two years with the club but didn't make an appearance in

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de ...

before joining

. He made his debut on 24 August 2007 and went on to make a further eleven appearances in all competitions during the 2007–08 season. He was restricted to eight league appearances the following season as Amiens were relegated to

Championnat National The Championnat de France National ( en, French National Championship), commonly referred to as simply National or Division 3, serves as the third division of the French football league system behind Ligue 1 and Ligue 2. Contested by 18 clubs, ...

. New manager

Serge Romano Serge Romano (born 25 May 1964 in Metz) is a French retired professional football defender and coach who was most recently assistant manager of Nottingham Forest Coaching career He became Amiens SC Amiens Sporting Club (; commonly referred ...

identified Johnson as one of the club's more saleable assets and agreed that he could leave if a suitable offer materialised. He joined Scottish club

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

on trial in July 2009, and looked set to join them permanently after impressing their manager Mark McGhee. He then played in a pre-season game for English club

, and joined permanently for an undisclosed fee on a three-year contract a few days later. He made his debut on 22 August 2009, and made a further 24 appearances in his first season with the club. He won earned many plaudits for his performances but couldn't prevent Argyle from being relegated. He scored his first senior goal in September 2010 against

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its ear ...

, while captaining the team in the absence of Carl Fletcher. Johnson was sold to Sheffield Wednesday in January 2011 for an undisclosed fee. He scored on his league debut to rescue a point for his new club against

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 ...

. It was announced on 5 July 2014 that Johnson had signed for

on a one-year contract, with a negotiation clause for a further year. He scored twice on his debut for Coventry, in a 3–2 defeat to

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. Th ...

. On 5 February 2020, Eastleigh Football Club released a statement that the contract with Reda had been terminated with immediate effect. On 24 June 2021, Johnson was announced to have joined

in the role of player-coach. Johnson was released by the club after one season following relegation.

International career

On 11 February 2009, Johnson made his debut for

Benin Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north ...

in a friendly against

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

Personal life

On 5 January 2011, Johnson appeared in court charged with false imprisonment of a woman whilst at the house of an unnamed

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. Th ...

player. Both Sheffield Wednesday and Plymouth Argyle, his club at the time of the incident, claimed to have no knowledge of the incident until the court appearance. The case was dropped due to lack of evidence at his return to court on 7 April 2011, with Johnson later talking of his innocence and relief that his name had been cleared. He went on to win the PFA Player in the Community award in 2014."Championship: Sheffield Wednesday's Reda Johnson crowned PFA Player in the Community "
Sky Sports. Retrieved 28 March 2014.

Career statistics

Honours

Sheffield Wednesday * Football League One runner-up: 2011–12

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Reda 1988 births Living people Footballers from Marseille Beninese footballers Benin men's international footballers French footballers Men's association football defenders FC Gueugnon players Amiens SC players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Eastleigh F.C. players Dover Athletic F.C. players Ligue 2 players English Football League players National League (English football) players 2010 Africa Cup of Nations players Beninese expatriate footballers French expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Beninese expatriate sportspeople in England French expatriate sportspeople in England French sportspeople of Beninese descent Association football coaches Black French sportspeople