Seth Burkett (born 14 March 1991) is an English writer and

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 ...

player and former 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 ...

. A defender, Burkett formerly played in Brazil for

Sorriso EC Sorriso Esporte Clube, commonly known as Sorriso, is a Brazilian association football, football club based in Sorriso, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso state. They competed in the Copa do Brasil twice. History The club was founded on July 20, 1985. Sorri ...

, a team in the state league of Mato Grosso. While there, he attracted some attention as the only British footballer playing professionally in Brazil.

Early and personal life

Burkett was born in

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

, Cambridgeshire, and grew up in nearby

Barnack Barnack is a village and civil parish, now in the Peterborough unitary authority of the ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England and the historic county of Northamptonshire. Barnack is in the north-west of the unitary authority, south-east ...

, also in Cambridgeshire. Burkett is related to the former professional footballer Charlie Williams, who was also active in Brazil, as a manager with

Fluminense Fluminense Football Club (), known as Fluminense, is a Brazilian sports club best known for its professional football team that competes in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the first tier of Brazilian football and the Campeonato Carioca, ...

and

Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians ( grc, Α΄ ᾽Επιστολὴ πρὸς Κορινθίους) is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-aut ...

. Williams has been described in the media as Burkett's great-granduncle.

Football career

Burkett began his football career with the youth team of hometown club

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...

, before later rejecting a contract offer from non-league team

Kettering Town Kettering Town Football Club is a football club based in Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of and play at Latimer Park in Burton Latimer. Kettering were the first club to wear sponsorship on their shirts in ...

to continue his school studies at

A-Level The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...

. After leaving the Peterborough youth system, Burkett joined non-league club Stamford, where he was Captain of the youth team. He later made 12 appearances for Stamford's senior team after making his debut in September 2008. Burkett also spent time on loan at March Town United during the first few games of the 2009–10 season. In June 2009, while on a tournament with the Stamford youth team in

Salvador da Bahia Salvador (English: ''Savior'') is a Brazilian municipality and capital city of the state of Bahia. Situated in the Zona da Mata in the Northeast Region of Brazil, Salvador is recognized throughout the country and internationally for its cuisine ...

in the northeast of Brazil, Burkett was spotted by a football agent who helped him sign a six-month contract with

, a club from the

state league The Hallyburton Johnstone Shield is the premier domestic women's one-day cricket competition in New Zealand. The tournament began in 1935–36, as a first-class competition, but is now played as a 50-over competition, with six provincial teams ...

Mato Grosso Mato Grosso ( – lit. "Thick Bush") is one of the states of Brazil, the third largest by area, located in the Central-West region. The state has 1.66% of the Brazilian population and is responsible for 1.9% of the Brazilian GDP. Neighboring ...

. He made his debut with the club in a friendly match in November 2009. Burkett attracted some media attention in Brazil in January 2010 when Sorriso took him to the

Copa São Paulo de Futebol Júnior The Copa São Paulo de Futebol Júnior (or ''São Paulo Youth Football Cup'', in English), also known as Copa São Paulo de Juniores (''São Paulo Youth Cup'') and Copinha (''Little Cup''), is a cup competition played by Brazilian under-20 associ ...

, an annual under-18 youth tournament run by the São Paulo Football Federation, as English players are rare in Brazilian clubs. "I was a substitute in all three matches," reported Seth Burkett from this event. During his six months with the club, Burkett played a total of fifteen minutes for the first-team of Sorriso, which was in a pre-season friendly in January 2010. After the end of his contract, in May 2010, Burkett had negotiations with another Brazilian club side, Taboão. After leaving Brazil in June 2010, Burkett enrolled at

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for post-nominals) is a public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university since 1966, but it dates back to 1909, when L ...

. He re-joined Stamford in summer 2010, signing an extension in July 2011.

Futsal career

In 2011, he was also called up to the England futsal squad. He played for Loughborough Futsal from 2010 to 2015, and later played for London United Futsal and

Baku United FC Baku United FC is a futsal club based in London, England. In 2014, the club became first English side to reach UEFA Futsal Cup. History Baku United futsal club was founded in 2008 by the Odlar Yurdu Organisation. Back at that time the Odlar Yu ...

Writing career

In 2014, he released a book on his time in Brazil, called ''The Boy in Brazil'', which made ''The Independents 'Book of the Week' in June.

References

*
As aventuras de um inglês no rico país do "bang-bang" e do futebol
', POP Internet, 15 January 2010.

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burkett, Seth 1991 births Living people English men's footballers Stamford A.F.C. players Peterborough United F.C. players Expatriate men's footballers in Brazil Northern Premier League players March Town United F.C. players English expatriate men's footballers British expatriates in Brazil Men's association football defenders Footballers from Peterborough People from Barnack English men's futsal players Baku United FC players English writers