Jonathan David Brown (born 27 April 1990) is a Welsh 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 ...

and former Wales under-21 international who plays as a winger for

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, pl ...

club

OKC Energy FC Oklahoma City Energy Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The club is a member of the USL Championship, the second division of the American soccer league system. History Oklahoma City businessman ...

Early life

Born in

Bridgend Bridgend (; cy, Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr or just , meaning "the end of the bridge on the Ogmore") is a town in Bridgend County Borough in Wales, west of Cardiff and east of Swansea. The town is named after the Old Bridge, Bridgend, medieval bridge ...

, Brown attended the Archbishop McGrath School as a youngster. Brown also competed in various sports, including

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

and athletics and was the Welsh 100m champion at the 12–14 age group after taking part in the Welsh games. Brown's father, Steve, was captain of the Wales youth rugby team between 1976 and 1977.

Club career

Cardiff City

Brown was originally spotted by

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

scout

Gwyn James Gwyn or Gwynn may refer to: People * Gwyn (name), includes a list of people with the given name or surname Gwyn, including variants such as Gwynn and Gwynne Fictional or mythological characters * Gwyn ap Nudd, in Welsh mythology * Gwynn (''Slu ...

but was unable to sign for the

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...

club, due to a rule meaning youth players must sign with a team within one and a half hours of their home, so he recommended him to

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

. Having worked his way through the youth system at Cardiff, Brown made his first team debut against Welshpool Town in the

FAW Premier Cup The FAW Premier Cup (until 1998 the FAW Invitation Cup) was a Welsh football cup competition, organised annually by the Football Association of Wales from 1997 to 2008. Since the FAW excluded clubs playing in English leagues (including six Welsh c ...

where he scored the only goal of the game with a free-kick to send the Bluebirds into the semi-final, becoming the first

-born player to play for Cardiff since

Billy Rees William Rees (10 March 1924 – 27 July 1996) was a Welsh professional footballer and Wales international. Career Rees was born in Pwllcarn Terrace, Blaengarw. He had been working as a coal miner while playing amateur football for Carn Rovers ...

. He made his league debut for Cardiff on 12 February 2008 against

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

when he came off the bench in the closing minutes and made a second appearance later in the season, coming on as a substitute again during a 3–1 win over

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

. At the end of the season he was rewarded with a one-year deal at the club, his first professional contract. Brown was the latest in a long line of recent youth players to have broken into the first team with the Bluebirds such as

Joe Ledley Joseph Christopher Ledley (born 23 January 1987) is a Welsh former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder. He started his career with then Championship side Cardiff City where he spent six years. He helped the club to the F ...

Chris Gunter Christopher Ross Gunter (born 21 July 1989) is a Wales, Welsh Association football, footballer who plays as a Defender (association football), defender for AFC Wimbledon and the Wales national football team, Wales national team. An attacking D ...

Darcy Blake Darcy James Blake (born 13 December 1988) is a Welsh former professional footballer. During his career, he won 14 caps for Wales at international level, scoring once, and made more than 100 appearances in the Football League. He began his care ...

and

Aaron Ramsey Aaron James Ramsey (born 26 December 1990) is a Welsh professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Ligue 1 club Nice and the Wales national team. Ramsey mainly plays as a box-to-box midfielder, but has also been deployed on the left ...

Loan at Wrexham

Having not made an appearance for Cardiff during the 2008–09 season, Brown 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 ...

on a two-month loan deal. He made his debut on 29 November in a 2–1 win over

Stevenage Borough Stevenage Football Club (known as Stevenage Borough Football Club until 2010) is a professional association football club based in the town of Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, League Two, the fourth tier o ...

, setting up

Jefferson Louis Jefferson Lee Louis (born 22 February 1979) is a footballer who plays for as a striker. A journeyman, he has played for 42 different clubs, being transferred 47 times over a 28-year career. He has played in the English Football League for Oxf ...

to score Wrexham's first goal before being replaced after 88 minutes by

Shaun Whalley Shaun James Whalley (born 7 August 1987) is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for League Two club Accrington Stanley. Born in Prescot, Merseyside, Whalley played for Norwich City and Southport as a youth before making his ...

. He scored his first goal for the club in his very next game when he scored in the 90th minute to give Wrexham a 2–1 win over

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 ...

. On Christmas Eve, Brown was involved in a road accident while travelling back to Wrexham. On his way back from South Wales, Brown's car overturned near

Welshpool Welshpool ( cy, Y Trallwng) is a market town and community in Powys, Wales, historically in the county of Montgomeryshire. The town is from the Wales–England border and low-lying on the River Severn; its Welsh language name ''Y Trallwng'' m ...

and he was forced to break one of the vehicles windows in order to escape. Brown kept the incident a secret from Wrexham manager

Dean Saunders Dean Nicholas Saunders (born 21 June 1964) is a Welsh football manager and former professional footballer. As a player, he was a striker in a career which lasted from 1982 until 2001. He played for Liverpool and Aston Villa in the 1990s, and s ...

until after he had played against Barrow on boxing day two days later. Having been a first team regular during his initial loan spell, in early January it was confirmed that his loan deal had been extended by one month and at the end of the January transfer window the two clubs agreed for the loan deal to last until the end of the season. After the extended deal was agreed, manager Dean Saunders praised the impact Brown had at the side since arriving at the North Wales side. In his next game for the club, Brown scored his fourth goal of the season when he scored direct from a free-kick as Wrexham won 3–2 over

Grays Athletic Grays Athletic Football Club is a football club based in Grays, Essex, England. They are currently members of the and play at Parkside in nearby Aveley. History The club was established as Grays Juniors in 1890, before merging with former S ...

. In total, Brown made 27 appearances in all competitions for the club, scoring four times before returning to Cardiff, where he was released.

Central Coast Mariners

Having spent time on trial at the club, in December 2009 he joined Australian

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

side

Central Coast Mariners Central Coast Mariners Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Gosford, on the Central Coast of New South Wales. It competes in the A-League Men, under licence from the Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The Ma ...

on a contract until the end of the 2009–10 season, with the option of a possible two-year deal. However, he was released at the end of the season without making an appearance for the first team.

Southport

Following a six-month spell at the Somerset club, Brown signed for

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Irish ...

, on 2 July 2011, ready for the 2011–12 season. He made his competitive club debut on 13 August 2011 on the first day of the 2011–12 season. He signed for AFC Telford United on loan for the rest of the season on 31 January 2012.

AFC Telford United

Following his release from Southport, Brown joined Telford United on a permanent deal. Jon announced to the fans of Telford that he was leaving them to move to Thailand to play over there. He played his last game at home against Wrexham in a 0–2 loss.

Hereford United

Following a successful trial, Brown signed a three-month contract with

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'The ...

on 25 July 2013.

Abahani Limited Dhaka

In 2016, Brown joined Bangladeshi club

Abahani Limited Dhaka Abahani Limited Dhaka ( bn, ঢাকা আবাহনী লিমিটেড), also referred as Dhaka Abahani or Abahani Limited, is a Bangladeshi professional Association football, football club based in the Dhanmondi area of Dhaka, Ban ...

and won the

Bangladesh Football Premier League The Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), officially known as TVS Bangladesh Premier League for sponsorship reasons, is a top tier of Bangladeshi professional football league pyramid. It is run directly by the professional football league committee ...

in the same year. He scored his first goal in the

AFC Cup The AFC Cup is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Under its current rules, the competition is played primarily between clubs from nations that did not receive direct qualifying s ...

on 4 April 2017 against

Mohun Bagan A.C. Mohun Bagan Athletic Club is an Indian professional sports club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. Founded in 1889, its football section is one of the oldest in India and Asia. The club is most notable for its victory over East Yorkshire Regiment ...

of India.

USL Championship

Brown joined

team

Oklahoma City Energy FC Oklahoma City Energy Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The club is a member of the USL Championship, the second division of the American soccer league system. History Oklahoma City businessman ...

for the 2017 & 2018 season. On 30 January 2019 Brown joined

side

Hartford Athletic Hartford Athletic is an American professional soccer team based in Hartford, Connecticut. The club was founded in 2018 and started play in the USL Championship in 2019. It is the only pro soccer team in Connecticut. History On June 8, 2021, Ha ...

ahead of their inaugural 2019 season. He rejoined

on a loan on 6 June 2019 and transferred back to Oklahama for the 2020 season.

International career

Brown has been a regular at various youth levels for Wales and was part of the under-19 squad that took part in the

Milk Cup SuperCupNI, formerly called the Northern Ireland Youth Soccer Tournament and the Dale Farm Milk Cup, is an international youth football tournament held annually in Northern Ireland. The cup matches are mainly played in the North Coast area of ...

in 2007. He made his under-21 debut against Malta U21 on 5 February 2008, scoring his first goal for the under-21 side on 31 March 2009 in a 5–1 win over

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

Honours

Club

;

(1): 2015–16

References

External links

Jonathan Brown player profile
at cardiffcityfc.co.uk * (Cardiff & Wrexham stats) * (Southport & Bath City stats) {{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Jonathan Living people 1990 births Welsh footballers Footballers from Bridgend Association football midfielders Cardiff City F.C. players Wrexham A.F.C. players Central Coast Mariners FC players Bath City F.C. players Southport F.C. players AFC Telford United players Jonathan Brown Hereford United F.C. players Brackley Town F.C. players Merthyr Town F.C. players Abahani Limited (Dhaka) players OKC Energy FC players Hartford Athletic players English Football League players National League (English football) players Jonathan Brown Southern Football League players Bangladesh Football Premier League players USL Championship players Wales youth international footballers Wales under-21 international footballers Welsh expatriate footballers Expatriate soccer players in Australia Welsh expatriate sportspeople in Australia Expatriate footballers in Belgium Welsh expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Thailand Welsh expatriate sportspeople in Thailand Expatriate footballers in Bangladesh Welsh expatriate sportspeople in Bangladesh Expatriate soccer players in the United States Welsh expatriate sportspeople in the United States