Christopher James Solly (born 20 January 1991) is an English former 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 played as a

right 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 ...

Career

Charlton Athletic

Solly was born in Rochester, Kent. On 3 May 2009, he made his debut for

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 ...

, coming on as a first-half substitute for the injured Darren Ward in a 4–2 victory over

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

. Solly made his full debut for the 1st team in the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...

against Barnet on 6 October 2009. He scored his first goal for the club after coming on as a substitute in the 3–1 win over

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club, commonly referred to as Orient, is a professional association football club based in Leyton, Waltham Forest, London, England. The team compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. ...

on 13 August 2010. Due to the uncertainty over the future of

Carl Jenkinson Carl Daniel Jenkinson (born 8 February 1992) is an English professional association football, footballer who plays as a right-back for side Bromley F.C., Bromley. Jenkinson began his career with Charlton Athletic F.C., Charlton Athletic before ...

, Solly established himself as first choice

towards 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. Despite the arrival of

Andy Hughes Andy Hughes (11 November 1965 – 12 June 2009) was an English electronic music producer. He is best known for his work with the Orb, where he helped mix and produce '' Orbus Terrarum'', '' Orblivion'', and '' Cydonia'', as well as the Orb's s ...

, he continued to keep his place in the side the following season. Following an impressive 2011–12 season, Solly was voted Charlton's Player of the Year by supporters and selected as Young Player of the Year by the club's management team. He became the first Charlton player to win both awards in the same season since defender

Richard Rufus Richard Raymond Rufus (born 12 January 1975) is an English former professional footballer who played as a centre back, spending his entire career with one club, Charlton Athletic. He was also capped six times by England U21. Rufus was part of ...

in 1995. Solly continued his impressive form into the 2012–13 season as Charlton finished 9th in their first season back in the Championship. Solly capped a fine season by winning the Charlton Player of the year award for a second year running. Despite reported summer interest from

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 ...

clubs, Solly secured his future to Charlton by signing a new four-year deal in September of the 2013–14 season. On 1 June 2020, Charlton manager Lee Bowyer accused Solly of refusing to play for the club ahead of the resumption of the

2019–20 EFL Championship The 2019–20 EFL Championship (referred to as the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the 4th season of the EFL Championship under its current title and the 28th season under its current league division format. Leeds United won th ...

season, following the suspension of the season due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom The COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In the United Kingdom, it has resulted in confirm ...

. On 2 July 2020, it was confirmed that Solly had left Charlton after his contract expired.

Ebbsfleet United

On 11 December 2020, Solly joined

National League South The National League South, officially Vanarama National League South, is a professional Association football league in England. National League South is the second division of the National League (English football), National Leagues and step ...

side

Ebbsfleet United Ebbsfleet United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Northfleet, Kent, England. The club compete in the National League South, the sixth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1946 from the merger ...

. Solly made his debut for Ebbsfleet United on 13 January 2021 in a 2-1 victory over Concord Rangers. On 18 March 2021, it was confirmed that Solly would remain at Ebbsfleet United for the 2021-22 National League South season. As part of his new deal, Solly would also take on a first-team coaching role. Solly was awarded the National League South Player of the Month award for September 2022 after captaining the side to top of the league. On 26 April 2024, Ebbsfleet United confirmed that Solly would leave the club when his contract expired. On 29 April 2024, Solly announced his retirement from playing on social media. In his statement Solly said, "making this decision for any player can never come easy but this is my time now to say goodbye to my footballing playing days".

Career statistics

Honours

Charlton Athletic *

Football League One The English Football League One, known as Sky Bet League One for sponsorship reasons, or simply League One, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League One is the second-highest division of the English Football League an ...

: 2011–12 *

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 ...

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 ...

Ebbsfleet United *

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

Individual * Charlton Athletic Player of the Year: 2011–12,

2012–13 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 ...

Young Player of the Year: 2011–12 *

Player of the Month: September 2022

References

External links

Profile
at the Charlton Athletic F.C. website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Solly, Chris 1991 births Living people Sportspeople from Rochester, Kent Footballers from Kent English men's footballers England men's youth international footballers Men's association football defenders Charlton Athletic F.C. players Ebbsfleet United F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players English football coaches 21st-century English sportsmen