Adam Rhys Davies (born 17 July 1992) 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, rugby lea ...

who plays as

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for club

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

and the Wales national team. Davies began his career with

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

after previously playing in the Everton Academy. He did not make any appearances for Wednesday and left for

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

in June 2014. At

Oakwell Oakwell is a multi-purpose sports ground in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England used by Barnsley Football Club for home fixtures, and those of their reserves. As of 2023, the Barnsley F.C. Women's team also play at the stadium. While the na ...

Davies experienced promotion from League One in 2015–16, relegation from the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

in 2017–18 and promotion again in 2018–19. In June 2019 Davies joined

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

Early life

Davies was born in

Rinteln Rinteln () is a small town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located on the banks of the Weser river north of the Porta Westfalica. The town of Rinteln is in the broad valley between the hills of the Weserbergland and the North Lippe Bergland. In ...

, Lower Saxony, with his father stationed in Germany while serving in the

British Armed Forces The British Armed Forces are the unified military, military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its British Overseas Territories, Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests ...

. His family moved to

Warrington Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...

, where Davies attended Great Sankey High School.

Club career

Early career

Davies started his career with the Everton youth system at the age of 14. He started his scholarship with Everton in July 2008 and broke into the under-18 team during the 2008–09 season. He was named as the Academy Player of the Season for 2009–10. Davies joined the first team on a pre-season tour of the United States in July 2011 before playing regularly for the reserve team in 2011–12. He was released by Everton at the end of the season. Davies signed for

club

on 23 October 2012 on a month-to-month contract as backup to first-choice goalkeeper Chris Kirkland. He was an unused substitute for the first team on multiple occasions throughout the 2012–13 and 2013–14 seasons before being released by the club.

Barnsley

Davies signed for League One club

on 13 June 2014 on a two-year contract. He made his first-team debut on 9 August 2014 in the opening match of 2014–15, a 1–0 home defeat to

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1896 as Crawley Foo ...

. Davies played 25 times in 2014–15 as the Tykes were unable to mount a promotion challenge finishing in 11th. He signed a new contract with Barnsley in May 2015. Barnsley had a successful 2015–16 season as they recovered from a slow start to gain promotion via the play-offs, beating

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

3–1 in the

2016 Football League One play-off final Sixteen or 16 may refer to: *16 (number) *one of the years 16 BC, AD 16, 1916, 2016 Films * ''Pathinaaru'' or ''Sixteen'', a 2010 Tamil film * ''Sixteen'' (1943 film), a 1943 Argentine film directed by Carlos Hugo Christensen * ''Sixteen'' (2 ...

. They also beat

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club () is a professional association football, football club based in Oxford, England. The club compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football league system, English football. Founded as Headingto ...

3–2 in the 2016 Football League Trophy Final. Adam Davies 2017-07-29

On 26 January 2017, Davies signed a new contract with Barnsley until June 2019. Davies was an ever-present in 2016–17 helping the side finish in a safe mid-table position of 14th. He was appointed as the team's

vice-captain Vice-captain, alternate captain (ice hockey) or vice-skip (curling) may refer to a role in a number of sports immediately below the role of captain. The vice-captain may have a number of different roles, including substituting as captain when the re ...

on 3 August 2017. He was later named first team captain. Barnsley were relegated from the Championship in 2017–18. Davies was one of the key players in Barnsley's 2018–19 season, during which the Tykes won promotion back to the Championship, starting 42 of their 46 games. He made vital contributions in crucial fixtures, most notably the away fixtures against

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system after winning the 202 ...

and

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

, saving a second-half penalty in the latter. On 26 March 2019, Davies was one of four Barnsley players named in the EFL Team of the Season for League One. Davies was also named in the overall EFL Team of the Season on 8 April 2019. Davies' season was again recognised on 24 April 2019 when he was named in the PFA Team of the Year for League One along with four teammates. He was offered a new contract by Barnsley at the end of the 2018–19 season.

Stoke City

Davies signed for Championship club

on 25 June 2019 along with Barnsley teammate Liam Lindsay. He made his debut for Stoke in an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

tie against

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

on 4 January 2020. He made his Championship debut for Stoke on 12 July 2020 in a 2–0 victory against

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

in place of the injured Jack Butland. Davies kept his place in the side for the final few matches of the 2019–20 season and impressed as Stoke remained unbeaten to avoid relegation from the Championship. Davies began the 2020–21 season as first-choice goalkeeper until he suffered a knee injury playing against

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club ( ; ) is a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales. It competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Swansea have played their home matches at ...

on 27 October 2020. Josef Bursik and Angus Gunn took Davies' place in the team until he returned from injury in March 2021. Davies made 21 appearances during the campaign as Stoke finished in 14th position.

Sheffield United

Davies joined

on 25 January 2022 for an undisclosed fee.

International career

Davies was called up to the Wales national team on 4 October 2016 to replace the injured Danny Ward for the

2018 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification process was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA FIFA#Structure, confederations to decide 31 of the 32 teams which would play in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with Russia national football team, Rus ...

matches against

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. He made his debut on 20 March 2019 in a 1–0 friendly win over

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...

at the

Racecourse Ground The Racecourse Ground (), is a football stadium in Wrexham, Wales. It is the home of Wrexham A.F.C., Wrexham AFC. It is the largest stadium in North Wales and the List of football stadiums in Wales, fifth-largest in Wales. It is the world's o ...

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

, coming on at half time for Ward. In October 2020, Davies made his competitive debut for Wales as a 79th minute substitute, replacing the injured Wayne Hennessey in a 1–0 win away to

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

. In May 2021 he was selected for the Wales squad for the delayed

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international men's association footb ...

tournament, where he was third-choice behind Ward and Hennessey. In November 2022 he was named in the Wales squad for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Barnsley *

EFL League One The English Football League One, known as Sky Bet League One for sponsorship reasons, or simply League One, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League One is the second-highest division of the English Football League an ...

runner-up: 2018–19; play-offs:

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...

: 2015–16 Individual *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's Football in England, En ...

: 2018–19 League One * EFL Team of the Season: 2018–19 *EFL League One Team of the Season: 2018–19 * Everton Academy Player of the Season: 2009–10

References

External links

Profile
at the Barnsley F.C. website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, Adam 1992 births Living people Sportspeople from Rinteln Footballers from Lower Saxony Footballers from Warrington Welsh men's footballers 21st-century Welsh sportsmen Wales men's international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Everton F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players English Football League players UEFA Euro 2020 players 2022 FIFA World Cup players People educated at Great Sankey High School