John David Swift (born 23 June 1995) 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 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. ...

left winger 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. ...

for club

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

Early life

John David Swift was born on 23 June 1995 in

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 ...

, Hampshire. And attended Brune Park Secondary School.

Club career

Early years

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

, Swift began his career at Soccer City in

Fareham Fareham ( ) is a market town at the north-west tip of Portsmouth Harbour, between the cities of Portsmouth and Southampton in south east Hampshire, England. It gives its name to the Borough of Fareham. It was historically an important manufac ...

, before moving to Kickers in

Eastleigh Eastleigh is a town in Hampshire, England, between Southampton and Winchester. It is the largest town and the administrative seat of the Borough of Eastleigh, with a population of 24,011 at the United Kingdom 2011 census, 2011 census. The town ...

. He joined local

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 ...

club

in 2005, but was released after just one season. He joined Chandler's Ford Tornadoes, before spending six months with Premier League club Chelsea as an U13. Upon his release he joined Pace Youth in

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

After interest from

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 ...

, Portsmouth and

, Swift rejoined Chelsea after a successful trial in 2007.

Chelsea

Youth years

While still an U15, Swift made his U18 debut during the 2009–10 season. He was a part of the U15 team's success in the Junior Section of the 2010 Milk Cup, scoring in a 3–0 victory over

Cruz Azul Club de Futbol Cruz Azul S.A. de C.V., commonly referred to as Cruz Azul, is a professional association football, football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. It competes in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football league system, Mexican footba ...

in the final. Swift signed a scholarship deal at the end of the

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

season and was part of the U18 team which won the

2011–12 FA Youth Cup The FA Youth Cup 2011–12 was the 60th edition of the FA Youth Cup. The competition consisted of several rounds and was preceded by a qualifying competition, starting with the preliminary round which was followed by four qualifying rounds for no ...

. He made his U21 debut towards the end of the 2011–12 season and was awarded a four-year professional contract in July 2012. Swift alternated between the U18, U19 and U21 teams during the 2012–13 season and he cemented a place in the U21s the following year, scoring 9 goals in 26 appearances and winning the

U21 Premier League The Professional Development League is a system of English youth football leagues that are managed, organised and controlled by the Premier League or by the Football League. It was introduced by the Football Association via the Elite Player Pe ...

title.

Senior

Swift began training with the first team in the latter stages of the 2013–14 season and was rewarded for his form with the U21s by being named as a substitute for the final match of the campaign versus

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It currently competes in , the third tier of the English football league system in the 2025–26 season following relegation. Founded in 1899 a ...

. He made his professional debut when he replaced

Eden Hazard Eden Michael Walter Hazard (born 7 January 1991) is a Belgian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Winger (association football), winger or attacking midfielder for Lille OSC, Lille, Chelsea F.C., Chelsea, Real ...

in the dying minutes of the 2–1 victory. Swift spent the majority of the 2014–15 season away on

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

and did not receive a first team call up.

Loan to Rotherham United

On 1 August 2014, Swift joined newly promoted

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 ...

side

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional association football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The team plays in EFL League One, the third tier of English football, after suffering relegation fr ...

on loan for the duration of the 2014–15 season. He made his debut as a substitute on the opening day of the season in a 1–0 away defeat to

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...

, replacing

Matt Derbyshire Matthew Anthony Derbyshire (born 14 April 1986) is an English footballer who plays as a striker for club Matlock Town. He began his career with non-League side Great Harwood Town before earning himself a move to local Premier League team ...

after 70 minutes. He made his first start for the Millers in the following match versus

Fleetwood Town Fleetwood Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Fleetwood, Lancashire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Established in 1997, the current Flee ...

in the League Cup first round, lasting 66 minutes of the extra time victory before being replaced by Matt Derbyshire. After two further appearances, Swift was consigned to the bench until 14 November, when he returned to Chelsea after failing to "make a significant impact" at the

New York Stadium The New York Stadium, currently known as the AESSEAL New York Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a association football, football stadium in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. Opened in July 2012, it is the home ground of Rotherham United F. ...

. He made just four appearances for the club.

Loan to Swindon Town

On 3 January 2015, Swift joined high-flying

League One League One or League 1 may refer to: Association football * EFL League One, the third tier of football in England. * China League One, the second tier of football in China * K League 1, the top-tier football in South Korea * Lao League 1 * Lea ...

club

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team, known as the "Robins", currently compete in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded as Swindon A ...

on loan until the end of the 2014–15 season. He began his time at the County Ground by making five consecutive starts and he scored his first professional goal on his third appearance, in a 3–1 victory over Chesterfield. He netted again on 7 March, sending the Robins on their way to a 3–0 victory over

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

. A fourth-place finish saw Swindon qualify for the

promotion playoffs Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

, but Swift made just one appearance in the semi-final first leg versus

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 ...

, picking up a muscle strain, which saw him ruled out of the victorious second leg and the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

defeat to

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

. He made 19 appearances and scored two goals for Swindon.

Loan to Brentford

On 1 October 2015, Swift joined Championship side

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 a loan which was later extended until the end of the 2015–16 season. He made his debut two days later as a second-half substitute for

Toumani Diagouraga Toumani Diagouraga (born 10 June 1987) is a French football coach and former professional player who played as a defensive midfielder. He is currently an academy coach for club Middlesbrough. He played his entire career in the English Footbal ...

during a 2–0 defeat to Derby County. Deployed as a

right winger 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. ...

, Swift replaced Konstantin Kerschbaumer in the starting lineup for the following match versus former side Rotherham United and scored his first goal for the Bees with the opener in a 3–0 win over

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

on 24 October. He became a regular starter and scored the first

brace Brace (formerly known as ''Brace For War'') was an Australian mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion. Brace was founded in 2005 by Kya Pate. In an interview with MMA Kanvas Kya Pate detailed what it is like to be the promoter of Australian MMA. Si ...

of his career to send the Bees on the way to a 3–0 win over

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

on 23 February 2016, subsequently being named in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

Team of Midweek. After overcoming an achilles injury suffered on international duty, he scored his seventh goal of the season in a 5–1 rout of

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

on the final day. Swift made 28 appearances during the season and returned to

Stamford Bridge Stamford Bridge may refer to: * Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire, a village in England ** Battle of Stamford Bridge, 25 September 1066 * Stamford Bridge (bridge), a bridge in the village of Stamford Bridge * Stamford Bridge (stadium), in ...

Reading

Swift signed a three-year contract, with the option of an additional year, with

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

on 14 July 2016. He scored on his Reading debut in a 1–0 win over

on 6 August 2016. On 27 March 2017, Swift was nominated for the EFL Young Player of the Year award along with

Ryan Ledson Ryan Graham Ledson (born 19 August 1997) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Huddersfield Town, which he captains. Club career Everton Ledson joined Everton's academy at the age of five. After progressing ...

and

Ollie Watkins Oliver George Arthur Watkins (born 30 December 1995) is an English professional association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for club Aston Villa F.C., Aston Villa and the England national football tea ...

. On 31 July 2017, Swift signed a new five-year contract with Reading, keeping him at the club until 2022. On 11 September 2021, he scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

, in a 3–3 draw against

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English f ...

West Brom

Swift signed a three-year contract with West Bromwich Albion on 26 May 2022 on a free transfer. On 30 July 2022, he made his competitive debut and scored the equalizing goal in a 1-1 draw against

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

in the opening game of the championship season.

International career

Swift has represented England from U16 through to U21 level. He made his international debut in a

Victory Shield The Victory Shield is an annual football (soccer), football tournament competed for by the under-16 teams of Scotland national under-16 football team, Scotland, Republic of Ireland national under-16 football team, Republic of Ireland, Northern Irel ...

defeat to Wales U16 on 15 October 2010. He was part of the

U17 U17 or U-17 may refer to: Naval vessels * * , various vessels * , a submarine of the Austro-Hungarian Navy Other uses * Cessna U-17 Skywagon, an American utility aircraft * Nonconvex great rhombicuboctahedron In geometry, the nonconvex g ...

squad which won the 2011 FA International Tournament and the 2012 Algarve Tournament, but he could not help the team to qualify for the 2012 European U17 Championship. Swift made 9 appearances during the U19s' failed qualification attempts for the

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

and

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

European U19 Championships. Moving up to

U20 U20 or U-20 may refer to: Naval vessels * * , a sloop of the Royal Navy * , a submarine of the Austro-Hungarian Navy Other uses * Great truncated cuboctahedron * Meizu U20, a smartphone * Roland U-20, a synthesizer * Small nucleolar RNA S ...

level for the 2014–15 season, Swift was a part of the squad which won the 2014 Four Nation Tournament and he finally scored his first international goal with the opener in a 2–1 victory over United States U20 on 29 March 2015. Swift was called into the U20 squad for the

2015 Toulon Tournament The 2015 Toulon Tournament was the 43rd edition of the Toulon Tournament. The competition began on 27 May and ended on 7 June 2015. Participants AFC * * CAF * * CONCACAF * * * UEFA * * * Source: Squads Venues Group stage Group A ...

and appeared in all of England's matches as the Young Lions finished fourth. In November 2015, Swift made his U21 debut with a start in a 3–1 2017 European U21 Championship qualifying win over

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. On 25 August 2016, he was called up for

Gareth Southgate Sir Gareth Southgate (born 3 September 1970) is an English professional Association football, football manager and player, who played as a Defender (association football), defender and midfielder. A Crystal Palace F.C., Crystal Palace Crystal ...

's U21 side to face Norway in a UEFA U21 Euro 2017 qualifier.

Personal life

Swift attended Brune Park school in

Gosport Gosport ( ) is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hampshire, England. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 70,131 and the district had a pop ...

and lived in the town until the age of 16.

Career statistics

Honours

Chelsea Youth * Professional U21 Development League: 2013-14 England U17 *FA International U17 Tournament: 2011 *Algarve Tournament: 2012 England U20 *Four Nation Tournament: 2014 England U21 *

Toulon Tournament The Maurice Revello Tournament (officially French: the ''Festival International "Espoirs" – Tournoi Maurice Revello''), previously known as the Toulon Tournament, is a Association football, football tournament, which traditionally features invit ...

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 ...

References

External links

John Swift profile
at chelseafc.com
John Swift profile
at TheFA.com * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Swift, John 1995 births Living people Footballers from Portsmouth English men's footballers England men's youth international footballers England men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football midfielders Chelsea F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Reading F.C. players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players 21st-century English sportsmen