Benjamin Anthony Johnson (born 24 January 2000) 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 lea ...

who plays as a full back for club

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. The club currently competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Ipswich Town were founded in 1878 but did not turn ...

Early and personal life

Johnson was born in

Waltham Forest The London Borough of Waltham Forest () is an outer London borough formed in 1965 from the merger of the municipal boroughs of Leyton, Walthamstow and Chingford. The borough's administrative headquarters are at Waltham Forest Town Hall, wh ...

, Greater London. He is second cousins with former

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

and

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

full-back Paul Parker and former England and

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

defender

Ledley King Ledley Brenton King (born 12 October 1980) is an English former professional footballer. A one-club man, he spent his entire career with Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur and played 323 competitive matches for them from 1999 to 2012. He is ...

. He attended

Davenant Foundation School Davenant Foundation School is a Christian Ecumenical secondary school, founded in 1680, currently in Loughton, Essex, England. History Foundation in Whitechapel In February 1680 the Reverend Ralph Davenant, rector of St Mary's Whitechapel, ...

Loughton Loughton () is a suburban town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex. The town borders Waltham Abbey, Theydon Bois, Chigwell, Chingford, and Buckhurst Hill, and lies north-east of Charing Cross. For statistical purposes ...

, Essex. A Christian, he is a member of All Saints Church in

Woodford Green Woodford Green is an area of Woodford, London, Woodford in East London, England, within the London Borough of Redbridge. It adjoins Buckhurst Hill to the north, Woodford Bridge to the east, South Woodford to the south, and Chingford to the we ...

Club career

Johnson joined

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

at the age of seven. Originally an attacking winger, Johnson was converted to a full-back as his youth career progressed. He was named on the bench for West Ham's 2–1 loss at

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

on 3 December 2017, and he signed his first professional contract when he turned 18 in January 2018. On 27 February 2019, Johnson made his

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

debut for West Ham, starting at left-back away at champions Manchester City in a 1–0 defeat at the

City of Manchester Stadium The City of Manchester Stadium, currently known as Etihad Stadium for sponsorship reasons, and commonly shortened as The Etihad, is the home of Premier League club Manchester City F.C., Manchester City, with a domestic football capacity of 53, ...

. Two serious

hamstring A hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in human anatomy between the hip and the knee: from medial to lateral, the semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris. Etymology The word " ham" is derived from the Old ...

injuries and the form of fellow defender,

Jeremy Ngakia Jeremy Mpobi Ngakia (born 7 September 2000) is a professional footballer who plays as a right-back for club Watford. Career Youth career Born in Deptford, south London, Ngakia had a trial with Chelsea's academy before joining West Ham United a ...

prevented Johnson from making another appearance until 17 July 2020 when he played in West Ham's 3–1 win against

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

. On 27 December 2020, Johnson scored his first goal for the Hammers and first professional goal, against

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, commonly referred to as Brighton, is a professional football club based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Their home gr ...

to level in a game which finished 2–2. In August 2021, Johnson won West Ham's Young Player of the Season award, after making 20 appearances for the first team in the 2020–21 season. On 20 March 2022, during a 3–1 defeat away to Tottenham, Johnson made his 50th first team appearance for West Ham, a month after having a two-year contract extension triggered by the club. In May 2022, for the second season running, Johnson won the Young Player of the Season award, newly named the

Mark Noble Mark James Noble (born 8 May 1987) is an English former professional Association football, footballer who played as a midfielder. He is currently the sporting director of Premier League club West Ham United F.C., West Ham United. A fan of the c ...

Award. His departure from the club at the end of his contract, after the end of the 2023–24 season was reported in June 2024. He played 109 games in all competitions for West Ham, scoring two goals, and was a member of the squad which won the 2023 Europa Conference League final. On 1 July 2024, Johnson signed for newly promoted side

on a four-year contract on a free transfer. On 13 April 2025, he scored his first goal for the club in a 2–2 draw with Chelsea.

International career

Johnson received his first international call up on 18 March 2022, named in the

England U21 The England national under-21 football team, also known as England under-21s or England U21(s), is the national under-21 association football team of England, under the control of the Football Association. It is considered to be the feeder team ...

squad for vital

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the comp ...

qualifiers against

Andorra Andorra, officially the Principality of Andorra, is a Sovereignty, sovereign landlocked country on the Iberian Peninsula, in the eastern Pyrenees in Southwestern Europe, Andorra–France border, bordered by France to the north and Spain to A ...

and

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

. He made his debut during a 3–0 victory away to the latter on 29 March 2022. On 14 June 2023, Johnson was selected for the England squad competing in the

2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-21 Euro 2023) was the 24th edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship (27th edition if the Under-23 era is also included), the biennial international youth Association f ...

; a tournament the Young Lions ultimately went on to win.

Career statistics

Honours

West Ham United *

UEFA Europa Conference League The UEFA Conference League (UECL), usually known simply as the Conference League, is an annual association football, football competition organised since 2021 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European foot ...

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

England U21 *

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

Individual *

Young Player of the Year:

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, 2021–22

References

External links

Profile
at the Ipswich Town F.C. website * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Ben 2000 births Living people English men's footballers Footballers from the London Borough of Waltham Forest Black British sportsmen 21st-century Black British people Men's association football fullbacks West Ham United F.C. players Premier League players England men's under-21 international footballers UEFA Conference League–winning players Ipswich Town F.C. players 21st-century English sportsmen