Cyrus Sylvester Frederick Christie (born 30 September 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 ...

who plays as a defender for

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 system ...

club

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's ...

and the Republic of Ireland national team.

Early and personal life

Christie was born in

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed ...

, West Midlands. He is a nephew of the late boxer Errol Christie. Christie has Jamaican heritage on his father's side, and his mother has Lebanese and Irish ancestry.

Career

Coventry City

Christie made his first-team debut for

club

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed the ...

against

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district in Lancashire, England. It is in Morecambe Bay on the Irish Sea. Name The first use of the name was by John Whitaker in his ''History of Manchester'' (1771), ...

on 10 August 2010, in a 2–0 away defeat in the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

. He joined

Conference North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Sys ...

club Nuneaton Town on

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that ...

in January 2011, but was recalled by Coventry after two starts and three substitute appearances. He then went on a 'work experience' loan to another Conference North club Hinckley United, in February 2011, where he made eight appearances. After Coventry's first league win of the 2011–12 season, a 2–0 home win against

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

, Christie made it into the

Team of the Week. The following season, he was in the League One side of the week after putting a man of the match performance against Leyton Orient. The following game on 3 November, in the first round of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competit ...

, he scored his first goal in a 3–0 win against Arlesey Town and was praised by manager Mark Robins. On 8 December he scored his first league goal in a 5–1 home win over

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield. Walsall is t ...

. In 2012, Coventry were relegated to League One.

Derby County

On 10 July 2014, Christie returned to the Championship on a three-year contract at Derby County. He was out of contract at Coventry, but the two clubs agreed an undisclosed fee for the player since he came through Coventry's academy and was under 23 years old. Christie made his debut against

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around ...

on 9 August, where he provided an assist for goalscorer Jeff Hendrick in a 1–0 home victory. On 20 February 2016, he scored his first Rams goal in his 74th appearance, a 3–1 win at

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings w ...

. His short-range strike with seven minutes remaining was his first club goal since March 2013 and ended an eight-game winless run at the start of the year.

Middlesbrough

On 7 July 2017, Christie and

Jonny Howson Jonathan Mark Howson (born 21 May 1988) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Middlesbrough in the Championship. Howson started his professional career at Leeds United, where he made 225 appearances following his ...

moved for undisclosed fees to newly relegated Championship club

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

. He made his debut on 5 August as the season began with a 1–0 loss at

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Ro ...

, and scored his first goal for the club in a 1–1 draw away to

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

on 23 September.

Fulham

On 31 January 2018, Christie joined Championship side

for an undisclosed fee. He made his debut for Fulham in a 1–1 draw at Bristol City on 21 February 2018. At the end of the season, Fulham were promoted to the Premier League. Christie scored his first goal for Fulham in an

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by th ...

tie against

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 Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, ea ...

on 25 September 2018. In August 2019, Christie accused a Fulham fan of assaulting his sister and the fan's wife of using racist language at the club's opening game of the season, a 1–0 loss at Barnsley. On 13 January 2022, Christie joined

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

side

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club (; cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Cymdeithas Dinas Abertawe) is a professional football club based in Swansea, Wales that plays in the Championship, the second tier of English football. Swansea have played their ho ...

on loan for the remainder of the 2021–22 season. He scored his first goal for the club against Bristol City on 13 February 2022. In May 2022 while on international duty, Christie revealed that he was now a free agent as he would not be signing a new contract at Fulham following the end of his contract, he also confirmed that he had interest from clubs outside of England interested in him.

Hull City

On 26 August 2022, Christie moved on a free transfer to Championship club

International career

Born in England, Christie was eligible to represent the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

through his grandmother from Dublin. In October 2014, Ireland manager

Martin O'Neill Martin Hugh Michael O'Neill, (born 1 March 1952) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. Starting his career in Northern Ireland, O'Neill moved to England where he spent most of his pla ...

asked Christie to represent the Republic of Ireland, having been impressed with his performances for Derby at the beginning of the 2013–14 season following his move from Coventry. On 10 November, Christie was called into the Ireland squad for a UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying match against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

, and a friendly against the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. On 18 November 2014, Christie made his international debut for Ireland against the United States, in a 4–1 win at the

Aviva Stadium Aviva Stadium (also known as Lansdowne Road) is a sports stadium located in Dublin, Ireland, with a capacity for 51,700 spectators (all seated). It is built on the site of the former Lansdowne Road Stadium, which was demolished in 2007, and re ...

, with O'Neill praising his performance. He scored his first international goal on his next cap, a 4–0 away win over Gibraltar on 4 September 2015 which was his competitive debut in UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying. That 8 October, he played in a victory over world champions

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

in another qualifier, and was praised for his contributions. Christie scored an

own goal An own goal, also called a self goal, is where a player performs actions that result in them or their team scoring a goal on themselves, often resulting in a point for the opposing team, such as when a football player kicks a ball into their own ...

on 14 November 2017 as the Irish lost 5–1 at home to

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establishe ...

in a

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

qualifying play-off. He was subsequently the target of online racist abuse, which the Football Association of Ireland reported to the police.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Fulham * EFL Championship play-offs:

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in ...

References

External links

Cyrus Christie
at the Football Association of Ireland * {{DEFAULTSORT:Christie, Cyrus 1992 births Living people Footballers from Coventry English footballers Republic of Ireland association footballers Republic of Ireland international footballers Association football defenders Coventry City F.C. players Nuneaton Borough F.C. players Hinckley United F.C. players Derby County F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players Fulham F.C. players Swansea City A.F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players National League (English football) players English Football League players Premier League players UEFA Euro 2016 players Black Irish sportspeople English people of Irish descent English sportspeople of Jamaican descent English people of Lebanese descent Irish people of Jamaican descent Sportspeople of Jamaican descent Irish people of Lebanese descent Sportspeople of Lebanese descent Hull City A.F.C. players