Ben Purrington (born 20 May 1996) 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

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

left wing-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

left 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

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third level of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

Career

Plymouth Argyle

Purrington was born in

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

, Devon. He joined the

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. The club has played ...

youth academy in September 2005 when he was nine. He signed his first professional contract in May 2013. Seven months later, Purrington made his first-team debut in a League Two match against

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club () is a professional association football, football club based in Oxford, England. The club compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football league system, English football. Founded as Headingto ...

, and scored his first senior goal in his fourth match; 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 ...

tie with

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in , the third tier of the English football league system. Vale are named after the valley of ports on the Trent and Mersey Canal ...

. He soon became a regular in the side after an injury suffered to teammate Gary Sawyer at the beginning of the 2016–17 season.

Rotherham United

On 30 January 2017, Purrington completed a move to

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 ...

for a reported £300,000 fee, signing a three-and-a-half-year contract. He made his debut in a 1–0 away defeat to

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern League and Western L ...

on 4 February 2017.

Loans to AFC Wimbledon and Charlton Athletic

Purrington joined League One club

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional association football club based in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton, London. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in ...

on 1 August 2018 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 scored his first goal for Wimbledon in an

tie against Halifax Town on 1 December 2018. He was recalled to Rotherham United on 10 January 2019. On the same day as his recall, Purrington joined League One club

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 loan until the end of the season.

Charlton Athletic

On 2 July 2019, Purrington joined

on a three-year contract. On 13 June 2022, it was confirmed that Purrington would be leaving Charlton Athletic following the expiration of his contract.

Ross County

On 29 June 2022, Purrington signed a two-year deal at Ross County.

Exeter City

On 11 January 2024, Purrington signed an 18-month contract at

. On 5 May 2025, Exeter announced the player would leave the club in June when his contract expired.

Personal life

Purrington's uncle is former England rugby union player Richard Hill. Purrington is the older brother of Tom Purrington, who also plays football semi-professionally as a midfielder for Taunton Town.

Career statistics

Honours

Rotherham United *

EFL League One play-offs The EFL League One play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from third to sixth in the EFL League One table and are part of the English Football League play-offs. , the play-offs comprise tw ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

Charlton Athletic *EFL League One play-offs:

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

References

External links

Profile
at the AFC Wimbledon website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Purrington, Ben 1996 births Living people Footballers from Exeter English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players AFC Wimbledon players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Ross County F.C. players Exeter City F.C. players English Football League players Scottish Professional Football League players 21st-century English sportsmen