Wesley Charles (born 12 December 1975) is a Vincentian

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 ...

. He was born in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

Career

Europe

Charles spent the beginning of the 2000s traveling Europe. His travels started in Ireland, where he first joined

Bray Wanderers Bray Wanderers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Fánaithe Bhré) are an Irish association football club playing in the League of Ireland First Division. The club in its present form was founded in 1942 in Bray, and was known until 2010 as ''B ...

in November 2000 after spending two seasons with

Sligo Rovers Sligo Rovers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Ruagairí Shligigh) is an Irish professional football club playing in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland. The club is based in Sligo in the west of Ireland. The club was founded in 1928 ...

, where he was voted Player of the Year in 2003. In July 2005, Charles signed for Russian Premier League club

Rostov Rostov ( rus, Росто́в, p=rɐˈstof) is a town in Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, one of the oldest in the country and a tourist center of the Golden Ring. It is located on the shores of Lake Nero, northeast of Moscow. Population: While t ...

on loan for the remainder of their season, with an option to make the move permanent on a two-year contract at the end of it. He then returned to Republic of Ireland and

. Charles then signed for

Galway United Galway United Football Club (Irish language, Irish: ''Cumann Peile Ghaillimh Aontaithe'') is an List of association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland, Irish association football club based in Galway. They play in the League of Ireland Fi ...

in July 2006. He was appointed

club captain The team captain of an association football team, sometimes known as the skipper, is a team member chosen to be the on-pitch leader of the team; they are often one of the older or more experienced members of the squad, or a player that can heavi ...

for the 2007 season. He was released by

in July 2008. In March 2011, Charles returned to Europe and signed for

League of Ireland First Division The League of Ireland First Division ( ga, Céad Roinn Sraith na hÉireann), also known as the SSE Airtricity League First Division, is the second level division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland football league system. Th ...

side

Salthill Devon Salthill Devon Football Club is an Irish association football club originally based in Salthill, Galway. Their senior team currently plays in the Galway & District League. They have previously played in the Connacht Senior League, the A Champi ...

Canada

On 9 July 2008, he was released by Galway United. Two days later he signed by the

Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on March ...

of the

United Soccer Leagues First Division The USL First Division (usually referred to as USL-1) was a professional men's soccer league in the United States and Canada from 2005 to 2010. During its existence, it formed the second tier of soccer in the United States soccer league system b ...

. On 12 October 2008, he helped the Whitecaps capture their second USL First Division Championship beating the Puerto Rico Islanders 2–1 in Vancouver On 30 September 2008, Charles was called up for the USL First Division All-League Team. On 18 December the Whitecaps announced the contract extensions of Charles for the 2009 season. On 22 July 2009, Charles was released by the Whitecaps after a second incident with a teammate in just over a month. The first incident with a teammate occurred during a home game on 12 June. Charles was involved in an altercation with teammate

Charles Gbeke Charles Gbeke (born March 15, 1978) is a former professional soccer player who played as a forward. Born in Ivory Coast, he made three appearances for the Canada national team. Gbeke began his career with brief stints with Seattle Sounders a ...

, which both players were fined and handed suspensions as a result. The second incident took place when Charles scuffled with teammate

Jeff Parke Jeff Parke (born March 23, 1982) is an American former soccer player. He played 11 seasons in Major League Soccer, appearing in over 250 matches. Youth Parke played for powerhouse youth club FC Delco. He then played four years of college soccer ...

during a training session on 21 July 2009. On 19 July 2010 Charles signed with the Montreal Impact for the remainder of the 2010 season.

International

First appeared on the pitch wearing the national team jersey on 30 July 1995 in a match against Trinidad and Tobago. Charles has been capped numerous times at International level for

St Vincent and the Grenadines Saint Vincent and the Grenadines () is an island country in the Caribbean. It is located in the southeast Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, which lie in the West Indies at the southern end of the eastern border of the Caribbean Sea wh ...

. He played in 10 of 12

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

qualifiers in 2000, scoring twice. Charles also captained his country's national team in the 2010

Caribbean Cup The Caribbean Cup was the championship tournament for national association football teams that are members of the Caribbean Football Union. The first competition, established by Shell and run by former England Cricket fast bowler Fred Rumsey, wa ...

Honors

Vancouver Whitecaps *

USL First Division The USL First Division (usually referred to as USL-1) was a professional men's soccer league in the United States and Canada from 2005 to 2010. During its existence, it formed the second tier of soccer in the United States soccer league system b ...

Championship (1):

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Career stats

References

External links

*
Wesley Charles Interview
1975 births Living people Saint Vincent and the Grenadines footballers Saint Vincent and the Grenadines expatriate footballers League of Ireland players Sligo Rovers F.C. players Bray Wanderers F.C. players FC Rostov players Expatriate association footballers in the Republic of Ireland Saint Vincent and the Grenadines expatriate sportspeople in Ireland Galway United F.C. players Vancouver Whitecaps (1986–2010) players Whitecaps FC Academy players Montreal Impact (1992–2011) players USL League Two players USL First Division players USSF Division 2 Professional League players Salthill Devon F.C. players Men's association football defenders Saint Vincent and the Grenadines men's international footballers Expatriate footballers in Russia Expatriate soccer players in Canada {{SaintVincent-footy-bio-stub