Reece Joel Oxford (born 16 December 1998) is an English 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 ...

who plays as a defender for

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

club

FC Augsburg Fußball-Club Augsburg 1907 e. V., commonly known as FC Augsburg () or Augsburg, is a German football club based in Augsburg, Bavaria. FC Augsburg play in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system. The team was founded as ...

. Oxford made his debut for

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

aged 16 years and 198 days, making him the club's youngest ever player, beating a record of 16 years and 221 days set in 1922 by Billy Williams.

Club career

West Ham United

Oxford was born in

Edmonton, London Edmonton is a town in north London, England within the London Borough of Enfield, a local government district of Greater London. The northern part of the town is known as Lower Edmonton or Edmonton Green, and the southern part as Upper Edmont ...

, and was a boyhood supporter of Arsenal. He began playing football at

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

's academy but was released from the club in 2011. He then joined

at under-13 level. He turned out for the under-18 team while still an under-15 schoolboy, and made the bench for a League Cup match in August 2014, still aged 15. On 11 January 2015, Oxford signed a long-term professional contract with West Ham. Four months later, he won the

Dylan Tombides Dylan James Tombides (8 March 1994 – 18 April 2014) was an Australian professional footballer who played as a striker for West Ham United and the Australian under-17 and under-23 teams. He partially grew up in Macau and played in Hon ...

Academy Player of the Year Award. Oxford made his competitive, first team debut on 2 July 2015, aged 16, starting in midfield in a 3–0 win against Andorran club Lusitanos in a

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

first qualifying round First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

first leg tie. In so doing, he became West Ham's youngest ever player. He then made his

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 Fo ...

debut on 9 August, playing the first 79 minutes before being substituted for

Kevin Nolan Kevin Anthony Jance Nolan (born 24 June 1982) is an English former professional footballer and current first team coach for Premier League club West Ham United. He has represented England at under-21 level. After growing up in Toxteth, Live ...

as West Ham won 2–0 away to Arsenal. Following his start, Oxford became the second-youngest Premier League starter of all-time, after

Jose Baxter Jose Baxter (born 7 February 1992) is an English former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Born in Bootle, Baxter began his career with his home town club of Everton, where in 2008 he became the Premier League's t ...

. Ahead of the 2016–17 season, Oxford was named in ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

s list of the best youth prospects in English football. On his 18th birthday, 16 December 2016, Oxford signed a new, four-and-a-half year contract with West Ham. Just over one month later, he was sent on loan to

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

for the remainder of the season. He made his Reading debut on 11 March 2017 in a 3–0 away defeat to Preston North End, coming on as a second-half substitute for Paul McShane. He made five appearances, his final match being the 8 April away defeat to

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

, 7–1. On 21 June 2017, Oxford was sent on loan to

club Borussia Mönchengladbach for the 2017–18 season. He did not make his debut until 28 October when he came on as an 89th-minute substitute for Lars Stindl in a 3–1 win against

Hoffenheim Hoffenheim () is a village in Rhein-Neckar-Kreis, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It belongs to the municipality of Sinsheim and, as of 2020, it has a population of 3,191. History The village, settled since prehistoric times, and first mentione ...

. On 12 December, Oxford made his first league start for ''Gladbach'', against

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

. After the match, sporting director Max Eberl praised Oxford's development during his time at the club and stated exploratory talks had taken place over a permanent deal. His loan was cut short and he returned to West Ham on 29 December 2017. On 31 January 2018, Oxford was loaned to Borussia Mönchengladbach again.

Augsburg

On 31 January 2019, Oxford again went out on loan, this time joining German team

until the end of the season. Oxford made nine appearances for Augsburg, his final game coming in the last day of the

season in an 8–1 defeat by

Wolfsburg Wolfsburg (; Eastphalian: ''Wulfsborg'') is the fifth largest city in the German state of Lower Saxony, located on the river Aller. It lies about east of Hanover and west of Berlin. Wolfsburg is famous as the location of Volkswagen AG's he ...

. On 2 August 2019, Oxford joined Augsburg permanently on a four-year deal.

International career

Oxford has played for England up to under-20 level and captained his country at the

2015 UEFA European Under-17 Championship The 2015 UEFA European Under-17 Championship was the 14th edition of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship (33rd edition if the Under-16 era was also included), the annual European youth football competition contested by the men's under-17 nation ...

. The Young Lions reached the quarter-finals, and Oxford scored in the

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

as they defeated

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

in a play-off for the 2015 U-17 World Cup. West Ham refused permission for him to play in the U17 World Cup in Chile, fearing that exposure to an international football tournament would lead to burnout.

Style of play

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

.com has described his playing style as, "Tall and quick, he is not daunted in the face of illustrious opponents." On several occasions, Oxford has been compared to former West Ham academy graduate

Rio Ferdinand Rio Gavin Ferdinand (born 7 November 1978) is an English former professional footballer who played as a centre-back, and is now a television pundit for BT Sport. He played 81 times for the England national team between 1997 and 2011, and w ...

Personal life

Oxford is of Jamaican descent through his grandfather. His grandfather, Karl, is the brother of the Jamaican footballer Neville Oxford. In December 2018, Oxford was the victim of a theft when his 18-carat

Rolex Rolex SA () is a British-founded Swiss watch designer and manufacturer based in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1905 as ''Wilsdorf and Davis'' by Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred Davis in London, the company registered ''Rolex'' as the brand name of ...

watch was stolen from the changing rooms at West Ham's

Chadwell Heath Chadwell Heath is an area in east London, England. It is situated on the boundary of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham and the London Borough of Redbridge, around west of Romford and east of Ilford, and north-east of Charing Cross. ...

training ground.

Career statistics

Honours

Club

West Ham United

* Under-21 Premier League Cup: 2015–16

Individual

Academy Player of the Year Award: 2015 *West Ham United Young Player of the Year: 2015–16

References

External links

Reece Oxford profile
at the official West Ham United F.C. website *
England profile
at The FA {{DEFAULTSORT:Oxford, Reece 1998 births Living people Footballers from Edmonton, London English men's footballers England men's youth international footballers Men's association football defenders Men's association football midfielders Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players West Ham United F.C. players Premier League players Black British sportsmen Reading F.C. players English Football League players English expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Germany English expatriate sportspeople in Germany Borussia Mönchengladbach players FC Augsburg players Bundesliga players English people of Jamaican descent English victims of crime