Alexander Cole Mighten (born 11 April 2002) 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 lea ...

who plays as a winger for

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

club San Diego FC. Born in the United States, he represented England at youth international level. Mighten joined

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

from Arnold Town in 2019 and made his professional debut in September 2019. He was an unused substitute in the 2022 EFL Championship play-off final and made his Premier League debut in August of that year. He joined League One side

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

on loan for the first half of the 2022–23 season and spent the first half of the 2023–24 season on loan at Belgian club

KV Kortrijk Koninklijke Voetbalclub Kortrijk (often simply called KV Kortrijk or KVK) is a Belgian professional football club based in Kortrijk, West Flanders. They play in the Belgian First Division, and they achieved their best ranking ever during the 20 ...

, before being loaned to Port Vale for the second half of the campaign. He signed with San Diego FC of Major League Soccer in August 2024 and was immediately loaned out to Danish club Nordsjælland.

Early life

Alexander Cole Mighten was born on 11 April 2002 in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

, United States, while his father, Eddie Mighten, worked for

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

. His family returned to

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

, England when he was three years old. His brother, David, played

college soccer College soccer, called college football in some countries, is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. While it is most widespread in the United States, it is also prominent in Japan, South Kore ...

Medaille College Medaille University was a private university, private college in Buffalo, New York. The Sisters of St. Joseph founded Medaille in 1937, naming it after their founder, Jean Paul Médaille. It later became nonsectarian and coeducational. The colle ...

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

Club career

Nottingham Forest

Mighten joined the

academy in 2009 after previously playing for Arnold Town. During his development in the club's

Academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

, Mighten received support from former Forest players

Des Walker Desmond Sinclair Walker (born 26 November 1965) is an English football coach and former player who played as a defender. At club level he played in seven cup finals for Nottingham Forest at Wembley, winning five of them. He was Forest's play ...

and David Johnson, as well as from Academy manager Gary Brazil. On 24 September 2019, Mighten made his professional debut when he appeared as a 78th-minute substitute during a 5–0 loss in an

EFL Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

fixture at

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

. He signed his first professional contract three months later. He then made his first start for the Reds on 5 January 2020, in a 2–0 defeat to Chelsea in an

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 ...

match; Mighten impressed in the game, winning a penalty for Forest only for it to be ruled out by a marginal VAR decision. He made his league debut on 22 February, in a 0–0 draw with

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 ...

at the

City Ground The City Ground is a association football, football stadium in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England, on the banks of the River Trent. It has been home to Nottingham Forest F.C., Nottingham Forest since 1898 and has a capacity of 30,455. ...

. He went on to make a total of eight

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 ...

appearances by the end of the 2019–20 season. In August 2020, Mighten signed a new contract extension to keep him at the club until June 2025. He scored his first professional goal in a 1–1 draw at

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 Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

on 19 December. He scored further goals against

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

and Queens Park Rangers, ending the 2020–21 campaign with three goals in 27 appearances as he saw gametime under both

Sabri Lamouchi Sabri Lamouchi (born 9 November 1971) is a French professional Manager (association football), football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. During his 19-year playing career, Lamouchi played for clubs in France, Italy and Qata ...

and Chris Hughton. Supporters named him the club's Young Player of the Season. He again played 27 games in the 2021–22 season, this time scoring once against Swansea City, and also featured once in the play-off semi-finals and was an unused substitute in the play-off final win over

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 ...

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

. On 29 August 2022, Mighten joined League One club

on a season-long

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 ...

. He made his debut a day later against

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The club competes in , the third tier of English football, and is managed by Graham Alexander. The club was founded in 1903 and ...

in the

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Motors, Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English association football, football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and ...

, playing 80 minutes. His first goal at Hillsborough came against

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district of Lancashire, England, on Morecambe Bay, part of the Irish Sea. In 2011 the parish had a population of 34,768. Name The first use of the name was by John Whit ...

in the FA Cup. He returned to Nottingham Forest on 10 January 2023 having played 14 times and scoring two goals, at times playing out of position at wing-back and

centre-forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than Midfielder, midfielders and Defender (association football), d ...

. Wednesday decided to end the loan as they were contributing a significant portion of the player's wages, much to Forest manager Steve Cooper's frustration. As Mighten had already played for Forest and Wednesday in the 2022–23 season, this left him unable to join another club on loan and gametime for Forest in the

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 ...

was an unreaslitic prospect. Wednesday manager Darren Moore said that "it was one of the hardest decisions that I have had to make since becoming a manager". On 5 September 2023, Mighten moved on a season-long loan to

, who were bottom of the

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023 ...

. He featured 12 times in all competitions during a four-month stay at the Guldensporen Stadion. However, eight of his league appearances were from the substitute bench. After being recalled by Forest on 9 January 2024, Mighten remained in Nottingham until transfer deadline day, when he was loaned to League One side Port Vale for the remainder of the 2023–24 season. David Flitcroft, the club's

director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an senior management, executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many typ ...

, said that "we look forward to watching Alex grow both on and off the pitch throughout his time with the club and with Andy Crosby's team". However, Mighten missed four weeks due to a foot injury picked up in mid-March.

San Diego FC

On 30 August 2024, Mighten signed with

side San Diego FC ahead of their inaugural season in 2025. Sporting director Tyler Heaps described his "unique and special qualities". The following day he joined

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga (, ) is a professional association football league in Denmark and the highest level of the Danish football league system. The league is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams relegated. It is the current ...

club Nordsjælland on loan for the remainder of the calendar year.

International career

Mighten first represented

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 ...

at under-15 level. 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 ...

against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

for the under-18 team. Mighten received his first call-up to the under-19 squad in March 2021. On 6 September 2021, Mighten made his debut for the under-20 side in a 6–1 victory over

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

at St. George's Park. As Mighten was born in

, United States, he is also eligible to represent the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Style of play

A versatile player, his main position is as a winger, where he utilises his extreme pace and one-on-one ability.

Career statistics

Honours

Nottingham Forest *

EFL Championship play-offs The English Football League (EFL) Championship play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from third to sixth in the EFL Championship table and are part of the English Football League play-o ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

References

External links

*
Profile
at the Nottingham Forest F.C. website {{DEFAULTSORT:Mighten, Alex 2002 births Living people Sportspeople from West Hartford, Connecticut Soccer players from Hartford County, Connecticut Footballers from Nottingham American emigrants to England African-American soccer players Black British sportsmen English men's footballers England men's youth international footballers American men's soccer players Men's association football wingers Arnold Town F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players K.V. Kortrijk players Port Vale F.C. players San Diego FC players FC Nordsjælland players English Football League players Premier League players Belgian Pro League players Danish Superliga players Major League Soccer players People educated at West Bridgford School English expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium English expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark English expatriate sportspeople in Denmark 21st-century American sportsmen 21st-century English sportsmen