Benjamin James Davis (born 24 November 2000) is a Thai 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 an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

or a winger for

Thai League 1 The Thai League (, pronounced as ') or Thai League 1 (, pronounced as '), often referred to as T1, is the highest level of the Thai football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Thai L ...

side Uthai Thani and the Thailand national team.

Club career

Youth

Davis started his career training at JSSL Singapore, a youth soccer academy owned by his father based in Singapore that has partnerships with

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

and

Singapore Premier League The Singapore Premier League, commonly abbreviated as the SPL, officially known as the AIA Singapore Premier League for sponsorship reasons, is a men's professional football league sanctioned by the Football Association of Singapore (FAS), wh ...

side

Tampines Rovers Tampines Rovers Football Club (currently known as BG Tampines Rovers due to sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football, football club based in Tampines, Singapore, that competes in the Singapore Premier League, the top tier of t ...

. He later joined the

Football Association of Singapore The Football Association of Singapore (FAS) is the governing body responsible for the administration of football in Singapore. Established in 1892 as the Singapore Football Association (SFA), it is the oldest football association in all of ...

's (FAS) Junior Centre of Excellence, and went on to represent various national age group teams.

Fulham

In 2017, Davis earned a two-year academy scholarship with Fulham after impressing in trials. He was the first ever Singaporean player to sign for a Premier League side. In his first season, Davis made 10 appearances for the club's under-18 South League team, scoring a header against West Ham's Under-18 side and recording a passing accuracy of 90 percent. In 2018, Fulham announced that Davis, alongside other academy players, were offered professional contracts, where they would now earn a weekly wage as well as continue to play for the club's Under-18 and Under-23 side. He signed his first professional Fulham contract in June 2017 and is listed on the club's website as an English national. On 13 October 2019, Davis confirmed that he had registered to play as a local player with the English Football Association.

Oxford United

On 31 August 2021, Davis joined League One side

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 ...

on a two-year deal.

Port (loan)

In August 2022 he was sent on a season-long loan to

club

Port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...

His contract with Oxford was not renewed at the end of the 2022–23 season.

Chonburi

On 19 May 2023, Davis signed with

Chonburi Chonburi (, , IAST: , ) is the capital of Chonburi Province and, as part of the district Mueang Chonburi District, Mueang Chonburi, the List of municipalities in Thailand, seventh-largest city in Thailand. It is about 100 km southeast of Ba ...

. On 11 January 2024, Chonburi has officially announced the release of Davis to join Uthai Thani, a team participating in the Thai League 2nd leg of the 2023/24 season, He played a total of 9 matches for the team in all competitions.

Uthai Thani

On 11 January 2024, Davis signed with Uthai Thani.

International career

Davis currently holds passports from the United Kingdom, Thailand, and Singapore but represents Thailand internationally. During his training stint with JSSL Singapore and FAS Junior Centre of Excellence, Davis represented

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

in several 2016 AFC U-16 Championship qualifiers in 2015. In 2017, Davis earned a call-up to Singapore's under-19 side to play in several 2018 AFC Under-19 Championship qualifiers. In 2018, Davis received a surprise call-up to the senior Singapore national team for a run of 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers, but he did not play in any of the matches. In September 2019, Davis was called up to the Thailand under-23 national team for the

SEA Games The Southeast Asian Games, commonly known as SEA Games is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia. The games are under the regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with su ...

training camp. In 2020, Davis represented

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

at the

2020 AFC U-23 Championship The 2020 AFC U-23 Championship was the fourth edition of the AFC U-23 Championship, the biennial international age-restricted men's football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for under-23 national teams. A total of ...

, appearing in a 1–1 draw against Iraq in the group stage as well as a 1–0 loss to Saudi Arabia in the quarter-final, cap-tying him to Thailand. In 2022, he was called up to the U23 team for the

2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup The 2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup was the 5th edition of the AFC U-23 Asian Cup (prior to 2021 known as the AFC U-23 Championship), a biennial international age-restricted football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the ...

Senior

In 2023, Davis received his first call-up to the Thailand national team for the 2023 King's Cup to replace captain,

Chanathip Songkrasin Chanathip Songkrasin (, ; born 5 October 1993), is a Thai professional Association football, footballer who plays as an Midfielder#Attacking midfielder, attacking midfielder for Thai League 1 club BG Pathum United F.C., BG Pathum United. Chanat ...

who withdrew from the squad due to injury. In November 2024, he was selected in the Thailand squad for the

2024 ASEAN Championship The 2024 ASEAN Championship (officially the ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup 2024 due to sponsorship reasons) was the 15th edition of the ASEAN Championship (formerly the AFF Championship) association football, football tournament of nations affili ...

. Thailand was due to travel to Singapore in December for their match in the ASEAN Championship but Davis' availability to play in Singapore is in doubt. Davis scored a brace on 8 December 2024 in a 10–0 thrashing win over

Timor-Leste Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the coastal exclave of Oecusse in the island's northwest, and ...

but was substituted in the 42nd minute due to an ankle injury. As a result, he was out for two weeks and was not in the Thailand squad for the matches against

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

on 14 December and Singapore on 17 December.

Personal life

Davis was born in

Phuket Phuket (; , , or ''Tongkah'') is one of the Southern Thailand, southern Provinces of Thailand, provinces (''changwat'') of Thailand. It consists of the island of Phuket, List of islands of Thailand, the country's largest island, and another 3 ...

, Thailand, and migrated to Singapore at the age of five with his family. Davis studied at the

Singapore Sports School Singapore Sports School (SSP) is a specialised Independent school, independent boarding school under the purview of Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth of the Government of Singapore that offers an integrated sports and academic programme to ...

from 2013 to 2015 before moving to London's

Harrow High School Harrow High School is a co-educational academy in the London Borough of Harrow and a specialist Sports College. It was previously called Gayton High School and Harrow County School for Boys. The school has a sixth form for post-16 studies part ...

in 2016. In 2017, he was awarded a two-year scholarship with Fulham's academy. Davis is the second-youngest of four children. His mother, Sopee Davis, is Thai, while his father, Harvey Davis, is English.

National service evasion

As a Singaporean citizen, Davis was to be conscripted under the city-state's

national service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

scheme upon turning 18. His application for deferment to develop his professional career as a footballer with Fulham was rejected by the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

(MINDEF) as he did "not meet the criteria for long-term deferment from full-time NS". His father drew parallels to

Joseph Schooling Joseph Isaac Schooling (born 16 June 1995) is a Singaporean former professional swimmer who specialised in butterfly, freestyle, and medley events. He was the gold medalist in the 100m butterfly at the 2016 Olympics, achieving Singapore's ...

, a national swimmer who was granted deferment and went on to win Olympic medals. MINDEF countered that Davis' contract with Fulham was no different from other pre-enlistees' personal pursuits and a further appeal supported by the

(FAS) was also denied. The ministry also said that Davis did not meet the criteria for long-term deferment due to it being a personal pursuit, and that it was unfair to other pre-enlistees who served their NS commitments. It further added that the deferment rejection was also based on grounds that Davis' father "would not commit to a date" on when his son would return to Singapore to serve NS, coupled with subsequent remarks to the media that he would encourage his son to renounce his Singapore citizenship in order to pursue his career. On 11 January 2019, Davis failed to report for national service and since 18 February 2019 has been deemed as a defaulter. While the FAS had previously supported Davis' deferment application, they condemned his decision to not return. In October 2019, Davis eventually chose to represent Thailand and declared he would not return to Singapore despite being a citizen, and had no intentions to fulfill his national service obligations.

International statistics

Singapore under-16 international caps

Singapore under-19 international caps

Thailand under-23 international caps

International goals

Honours

ASEAN All-Stars *

Maybank Challenge Cup The 2025 Maybank Challenge Cup () was the charity hybrid friendly match played by the ASEAN All-Stars, a selection team by the ASEAN Football Federation and English Premier League club Manchester United in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The ASEAN All ...

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

Thailand U-23 *

Southeast Asian Games The Southeast Asian Games, commonly known as SEA Games is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia. The games are under the regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with sup ...

silver medal:

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

Individual *

Goal of the Month: April 2025 *

ASEAN All-Stars The ASEAN All-Stars is a football team founded by the ASEAN Football Federation in 2014. The team is made up of Southeast Asia internationals and selected players from the regional leagues. History 2014 team The ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Ben 2000 births Living people Ben Davis Ben Davis Ben Davis Ben Davis Singaporean men's footballers Ben Davis Singaporean National Service defaulters Singaporean people of Thai descent Singaporean people of English descent Naturalised citizens of Singapore Men's association football midfielders Thai expatriate sportspeople in England Fulham F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players Ben Davis Ben Davis (footballer, born 2000) Ben Davis (footballer, born 2000) Ben Davis (footballer, born 2000) Competitors at the 2021 SEA Games SEA Games medalists in football Ben Davis Ben Davis