Reece James (footballer, Born 1999)
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Reece Lewis James (born 8 December 1999) is an English professional footballer who plays as a right-back for club Chelsea, which he captains, and the England national team. James joined the Chelsea academy as a youth and turned professional in 2017, a season where he captained the under-18s to victory in the FA Youth Cup and was named Academy Player of the Season. A productive
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spell with
Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, they have p ...
of the Championship saw him promoted to the Chelsea first team upon his return in 2019. He won the
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, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup with the club in 2021, and was appointed captain in 2023. After representing
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at various youth levels, James made his senior debut in 2020, and went on to appear at UEFA Euro 2020.


Early life

James was born in Redbridge, Greater London, and attended Isleworth and Syon School. He is from a family all involved in football. His sister Lauren is also a professional footballer and signed for Chelsea Women in July 2021. Their father Nigel is a football coach. He is of Grenadian and Dominican descent through his father, and English descent through his mother.


Club career


Early career

Starting his grassroots playing career at Kew Park Rangers and Epsom Eagles, James signed with Chelsea at the age of six, and had a short spell at West London rivals
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when he was seven. He played as a striker idolizing
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in his early teens, but was moved to the midfield, and later to a right-back position where he struggled at first. He turned professional with Chelsea in March 2017. During the 2017–18 season he captained the under-18s to win the FA Youth Cup and was named Academy Player of the Season. He signed a new four-year contract with the club in June 2018. In June 2018, James joined Championship club
Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, they have p ...
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 ...
for the 2018–19 season. He made his first-team debut on 4 August, starting in Wigan's first game of the season, helping his side to a 3–2 home victory over
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. He scored his first goal for Wigan on 4 November, scoring the first goal with a free kick in the sixth minute of a 2–1 home loss to Leeds United. In March 2019, he was selected to the 2018–19 Championship Team of the Season. He won three awards at Wigan Athletic's end of season awards, including Player of the Year.


2019–2021: First-team breakthrough and UEFA Champions League title

On 25 September 2019, James made his debut for Chelsea after returning from injury. He scored his first goal and assisted two in a 7–1 win over Grimsby Town in the third round of the 2019–20 EFL Cup. James became Chelsea's youngest ever goalscorer in the
UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...
when he scored the fourth goal of their 4–4 comeback draw with Ajax on 5 November. He signed a long-term contract extension with Chelsea on 16 January 2020. On 14 September 2020, James scored his first
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goal, in a 3–1 win for Chelsea against Brighton & Hove Albion. On 5 December, James made his 50th appearance for Chelsea in all competitions in the club's 3–1 league win over Leeds United. In January 2021, James was subject to racist abuse online. In March, he deleted his
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account in response to the abuse he received. On 29 May, James won his first-ever Champions League as Chelsea won 1–0 against Manchester City in the final in
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.


2021–2023: Injury issues

On 28 August 2021, James was sent off at the end of the first half of a 1–1 draw against
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due to a handball incident. He scored two goals in the second half of a 3–0 win over Newcastle United at St James' Park on 30 October. At the end of the season James was nominated for the PFA Young Player of the Year award. On 5 September 2022, James signed a new six-year contract with Chelsea, committing to the club until June 2028. His performances were praised in October 2022, although later that month he suffered a knee injury, and had to see a specialist doctor. He was injured on his first game back, on 27 December 2022, being substituted after 53 minutes. he was ruled out of play for a further four weeks. On 25 April 2023, Chelsea announced that James would miss the rest of the season with a hamstring problem.


2023–present: Assuming the captaincy and further injuries

Following the departure of César Azpilicueta, James was named club captain of Chelsea on 9 August 2023. He suffered a hamstring injury early in the season, which re-occurred in November 2023 after he returned to play. In late December 2023, he had surgery to fix the recurring hamstring injury. James returned on 11 May 2024 as a substitute against Nottingham Forest, providing the game-winning assist to Nicolas Jackson in the 3–2 victory at City Ground. He received a red card in the penultimate match of the 2023–24 season, meaning he would miss the first 3 games of the 2024–25 season. James began the 2024–25 season with a number of injuries. After returning to play in October 2024, James was criticised by Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca for a lack of effort. He suffered a further hamstring injury in November 2024. He returned to play in January 2025, scoring a goal on his first Premier League game back. James said his time injured had been "lonely and frustrating".


International career


Youth

James has represented England at youth level from under-18 up to under-21. In May 2017, James was included in the under-20 squad for the 2017 Toulon Tournament. He started in the final as England beat the
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to retain their title. In July, James was part of the under-19 squad that won the 2017 UEFA European Under-19 Championship. He started in the semi-final against the
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. James was a member of the under-20 squad that travelled to the 2019 Toulon Tournament and was carried off on a stretcher with ankle ligament damage during the first half of the final group game defeat to Chile on 7 June 2019. On 4 October, James was included in the under-21 squad for the first time. He made his under-21 debut during the 3–0
2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification The 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying competition was a men's under-21 association football, football tournament that determined the 14 teams that would be joining the automatically qualified co-hosts Hungary national under-21 fo ...
victory away to
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on 15 November.


Senior

On 5 October 2020, James was called up for the first time to the senior team by manager Gareth Southgate following an injury to Raheem Sterling. He made his debut on 8 October at Wembley Stadium, coming on as a 58th-minute substitute for Kieran Trippier in a 3–0 win over
Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
. He was sent off for dissent after the final whistle in his second start, against
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. James was named in the 26-man England squad for Euro 2020. At Euro 2020, James started in the 0–0 draw against
Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
. In November 2021, he said that he was in the best form of his career, and that he hoped to become England's first-choice right-back. In October 2022, following a knee injury sustained playing for Chelsea in the Champions League against AC Milan, James was ruled out of the
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. He later stated he was "devastated" to be excluded from the England squad. In November 2023, following injury, he said he wanted to return to the England squad, after England manager Gareth Southgate said James's Euro 2024 squad position was at risk. On 24 March 2025, James scored his first ever senior international goal in a 3–0 victory over
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during 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification.


Personal life

In August 2020, James made a personal donation and posted a link on his social media accounts to a Crowdfunder site which was looking to boost Wigan's funds; in a bid to save his former loan club. He wrote in the post 'Come on let's help @laticsofficial out' in a bid to encourage others to follow. In January 2021, Marcus Rashford praised James, along with his teammate Mason Mount, for their "amazing" charitable work. James had spent the past 18 months volunteering with a London-based charity, The Felix Project. James credits his father, Nigel James, Chelsea youth team coaches Frank O'Brien, Joe Edwards, and Jody Morris as having major influence on his career. Reece and his sister Lauren are the first brother and sister to represent England at senior level in the modern era.


Style of play

His former manager at Chelsea, Thomas Tuchel, described him as "strong and influential". For part of his career he had a wing-back partnership with Ben Chilwell at both club and international level.


Career statistics


Club


International

:''England score listed first, score column indicates score after each James goal''


Honours

Chelsea U18 * U18 Premier League: 2016–17, 2017–18 * FA Youth Cup: 2016–17, 2017–18 Chelsea *
UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...
: 2020–21 *
UEFA Conference League The UEFA Conference League (UECL), usually known simply as the Conference League, is an annual football competition organised since 2021 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It is the thir ...
: 2024–25 * UEFA Super Cup: 2021 * FIFA Club World Cup: 2021 *
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 ...
runner-up: 2019–20, 2020–21, 2021–22 * EFL Cup runner-up: 2021–22 England U19 * UEFA European Under-19 Championship: 2017 England U20 * Toulon Tournament: 2017 England * UEFA European Championship runner-up: 2020 Individual * Toulon Tournament Best XI: 2017 * Chelsea Academy Player of the Year: 2017–18 * Wigan Athletic Player of the Year: 2018–19 *Wigan Athletic Player's Player of the Year: 2018–19 *Wigan Athletic Goal of the Season: 2018–19 *FA Cup Team of the Year: 2020–21 *PFA Community Champion Award: 2020–21


References


External links


Profile
at the Chelsea F.C. website
Profile
at the Football Association website * {{DEFAULTSORT:James, Reece 1999 births Living people People from Redbridge, London Footballers from the London Borough of Redbridge English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Fulham F.C. players Chelsea F.C. players Wigan Athletic F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players UEFA Champions League–winning players UEFA Conference League–winning players England men's youth international footballers England men's under-21 international footballers England men's international footballers UEFA Euro 2020 players Black British sportsmen 21st-century Black British people English people of Grenadian descent English people of Dominica descent Sportspeople of Grenadian descent 21st-century English sportsmen