Benjamin James Chilwell (born 21 December 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 ...

for club Chelsea, and the England national team. Beginning his career at

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

, Chilwell had a loan spell with

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 ...

. He joined Chelsea in 2020 and won 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 ...

in his first season with the club. He has since made over 100 appearances for Chelsea, as well as winning the

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 ...

on loan with Crystal Palace in

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. At international level, Chilwell made his debut for England in 2018. He was a member of the England squad that finished as runners-up at

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international men's association footb ...

Early life

Benjamin James Chilwell was born on 21 December 1996 in

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of Milton Keynes urban area, its urban area was 264,349. The River Great Ouse forms t ...

, Buckinghamshire, and was raised in

Ampthill Ampthill () is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. It lies between Bedford, Bedfordshire, Bedford and Luton. At the 2021 census it had a population of 8,825. Histor ...

, Bedfordshire. He attended Redborne Upper School and Community College in Ampthill.

Club career

Leicester City

Chilwell joined

's academy aged 12 in 2009 having played in

Rushden & Diamonds Rushden & Diamonds Football Club was an association football club based in Irthlingborough, Northamptonshire, England. Nicknamed "The Diamonds", the club played at Nene Park. The club's main rivals were county neighbours Kettering Town F.C., Ket ...

' centre of excellence. He won their Academy Player of the Year award at the end of the 2014–15 season. After featuring for the club in pre-season under new manager

Claudio Ranieri Claudio Ranieri (; born 20 October 1951) is an Italian professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who is the head coach of Serie A club AS Roma, Roma but will leave on 30 June 2025, followin ...

, Chilwell was given the number 30 shirt ahead of the 2015–16 season. On 27 October 2015, in the club's League Cup match against

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. They play their home ...

, he made his first-team debut. Chilwell played the entire match as Leicester lost 5–4 in a

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following a 1–1 draw after extra time. On 19 November 2015, Chilwell joined

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 ...

club

on a

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until 3 January 2016. He made his debut nine days later in a 2–0 home loss to

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 ...

. Despite only spending six weeks at the West Yorkshire club, Chilwell would later describe his spell as "''a big part of isgrowth in iscareer''" and credited Huddersfield manager David Wagner with aiding his development as an attacking full back. In January 2016, Chilwell was recalled from his loan by Leicester City. On 10 January, he started at left-back and played the full 90 minutes of a 2–2 draw away at

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

in the third round of the

. Ten days later, he made his first appearance at

King Power Stadium King Power Stadium is a football stadium in the city of Leicester, East Midlands, England, and the home of Leicester City. The stadium opened in 2002 as the Walkers Stadium and has a capacity of 32,259. The club attracted worldwide attenti ...

as Leicester were beaten 2–0 by Tottenham in the replay. He was described in the BBC's match report as "Leicester's best player" and "exceptional as an attacking full-back". On 28 July 2016, Chilwell signed a new contract with Leicester until June 2021. Having previously been assigned the number 30, Chilwell was given the squad number 3 for the 2016–17 season. He made his

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 ...

debut on 26 December in a 2–0 home defeat to Everton. Five days later, he made his first home appearance in the Premier League, playing the full 90 minutes of a 1–0 win over

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

. He made 19 appearances across the 2016–17 season, including two in the

, and scored his first career goal on 18 May 2017 in a 6–1 home loss to Tottenham Hotspur. During the 2017–18 season, Chilwell became Leicester's first-choice left-back ahead of Christian Fuchs. Chilwell was

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for the first time in his career on 13 January 2018 after receiving two yellow cards within five minutes of each other in a goalless draw away to Chelsea. He signed a new six-year contract with Leicester on 20 October 2018 and, five days later, scored once and assisted two more goals in the team's record 9–0 win away at

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, ...

. On 9 November 2019, Chilwell made his 100th appearance for Leicester City in a 2–0 home win over

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 ...

in the

Chelsea

2020–2023

On 26 August 2020, Chilwell signed a five-year contract with Chelsea, after Leicester City had accepted an offer for the player, reported by

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC BBC Television, television, BBC Radio, radio and BBC Online, online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadc ...

to be £45 million. He made his debut on 23 September, providing the assist for

Olivier Giroud Olivier Jonathan Giroud (; born 30 September 1986) is a French professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for Major League Soccer club Los Angeles FC. Giroud began his senior club career ...

's goal in a 6–0 home win against

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

in the third round of the

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after he came off from the bench. On his first league start for the club on 3 October, Chilwell scored the opening goal and assisted Kurt Zouma for the second as Chelsea beat Crystal Palace 4–0 at home. On 7 April 2021, Chilwell scored his first

goal in a 2–0 away win over

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

in the first-leg of the quarter-final tie. On 16 May, Chilwell scored against his former club Leicester City in the 2021 FA Cup final in the 88th minute, only for it to be disallowed by VAR, as Leicester went on to win 1–0. On 29 May, Chilwell won his first-ever trophy after Chelsea defeated

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

1–0 in the

2021 UEFA Champions League final The 2021 UEFA Champions League final was the final match of the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League, the 66th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 29th season since it was renamed from the European Cup to th ...

. On 2 October 2021, on his first Premier League start of the campaign, Chilwell scored his first goal of the season in a 3–1 home win over

. Chilwell would go on to score in Chelsea's next two league games as well, 1–0 win against

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 ...

and a 7–0 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 ...

. Having scored in Chelsea's final match of the

2020–21 Premier League The 2020–21 Premier League was the 29th season of the Premier League, the top English professional league for association football clubs since its establishment in 1992 and the 122nd season of top-flight English football overall. The season w ...

season, Chilwell became the first English player to score in four consecutive Premier League games for Chelsea since

Frank Lampard Frank James Lampard (born 20 June 1978) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the manager of English club Coventry City. Widely regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of all time, one of Chelsea's greates ...

in February 2013. On 23 November 2021, Chilwell sustained a ruptured cruciate ligament injury in a 4–0 home win during Chelsea's

2021–22 UEFA Champions League The 2021–22 UEFA Champions League was the 67th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 30th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. Real Madrid de ...

group stage match against

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

. He was substituted in the second half after a coming together with

Adrien Rabiot Adrien Thibault Marie Rabiot (; born 3 April 1995) is a French professional Association football, footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Ligue 1 club Olympique de Marseille, Marseille and the France national football team, France nation ...

. On 28 December 2021, it was revealed in a statement by Chelsea that Chilwell would have to receive a surgical repair, which ruled him out for the rest of the season.

2023–present

Chilwell signed a new contract with Chelsea on 11 April 2023, keeping him at the club until the summer of 2027. In August, he was named as Chelsea's new vice-captain, acting as deputy to Reece James. On 25 February 2024, Chilwell captained Chelsea in the

2024 EFL Cup final The 2024 EFL Cup final was the final match of the 2023–24 EFL Cup. It was played between Chelsea F.C., Chelsea and Liverpool F.C., Liverpool, in a repeat of the 2022 EFL Cup final, 2022 final, at Wembley Stadium in London, England, on 25 Februa ...

where they lost 1–0 to

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

. Chilwell's future with the club was cast into doubt in late August 2024 when new manager Enzo Maresca made clear the player was not in his plans, telling reporters "with (Chilwell), I said he is a lovely guy but with his position, he's going to struggle with us." On 23 September, Maresca announced that Chilwell was back in the squad for the

home tie against Barrow the following day; he appeared as a 46th-minute substitute in a 5–0 win, which ended up being his only appearance for Chelsea of the season.

Loan to Crystal Palace

On 3 February 2025, Chilwell joined Crystal Palace on loan for the remainder of the 2024–25 season. On 1 March, he was subjected to homophobic chants by

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 ...

supporters during the fifth round of the FA Cup, an incident which sparked an investigation by

the Football Association The Football Association (the FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest footb ...

. Crystal Palace defeated Millwall 3–1, and would eventually progress to 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 ...

; Chilwell was an unused substitute as the club went on to lift the FA Cup for the first time in its history following a 1–0 victory against Manchester City. On 20 May, he scored his first goal for Palace in a 4–2 league 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 ...

International career

Along with his Leicester teammate Demarai Gray, Chilwell was called up from the under-21 team to the full

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 ...

squad in September 2018 for a friendly match against

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 ...

. He made his debut in this match on 11 September, as a 79th-minute substitute for Danny Rose in a 1–0 home win. Upon taking to the pitch in the match at the

he became the first England player to debut at his club ground since

Paul Scholes Paul Scholes (born 16 November 1974) is an English football pundit, coach and former player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of all time, Scholes spent his entire professional playing career with Manchester United, for whom h ...

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after W ...

in 1997. Chilwell made his first start on 12 October in a goalless draw with

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

in the

2018–19 UEFA Nations League A The 2018–19 UEFA Nations League A was the top division of the 2018–19 edition of the UEFA Nations League, the inaugural season of the international football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations of UEFA. ...

, in a match played behind closed doors. Chilwell was named in the 26-man England squad for

. On 22 June 2021, Chilwell and fellow England player

Mason Mount Mason Tony Mount (born 10 January 1999) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Manchester United. Mount began his senior club career with Chelsea, and joined Vitesse and Derby County on consecutive loans bet ...

were forced to self-isolate after coming into contact with

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 ...

player Billy Gilmour, who tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

after England's goalless draw with Scotland at the tournament. On 9 October 2021, Chilwell scored his first international goal in a 5–0 away win during England's

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification was the FIFA World Cup qualification, qualifying process which decided the 31 teams that would join hosts Qatar national football team, Qatar, who received an automatic spot, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Par ...

match against

Andorra Andorra, officially the Principality of Andorra, is a Sovereignty, sovereign landlocked country on the Iberian Peninsula, in the eastern Pyrenees in Southwestern Europe, Andorra–France border, bordered by France to the north and Spain to A ...

Personal life

Chilwell's father was from New Zealand and emigrated to England in 1993, three years prior to Chilwell's birth. Chilwell's maternal grandfather Guy Shuttleworth was also a sportsman who played football for Corinthian-Casuals — winning an international cap for England Amateurs in 1949 — and represented

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

. He died at the age of 94 on 21 January 2021. Chilwell played cricket for his local club,

Flitwick Flitwick () is a town and civil parish in Central Bedfordshire, England. It is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "a hamlet on the River Flitt". The spelling ''Flytwyk'' appears in 1381. The nearby River Flit runs through Flitwick Moor, ...

. Chilwell is the godfather to former Leicester City teammate

James Maddison James Daniel Maddison (born 23 November 1996) is an English professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for club Tottenham Hotspur and the England national team. Maddison began his career with Coventry City before joining ...

's son. Chilwell was the victim of a campaign of harassment by

TikToker TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

Orla Melissa Sloan between 2021 and 2023. Sloan was convicted for harassment in June 2023, as well as of stalking Chilwell's former team-mates

and Billy Gilmour.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Chelsea *

: 2020–21 *

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup Association football, football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions: the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's offic ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

runner-up: 2020–21 *

runner-up: 2023–24 Crystal Palace *FA Cup: 2024–25 England *

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro or Euros, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition ...

runner-up:

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is an international European football competition played by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The competition was devised to minimise friendlies a ...

third place: 2018–19 Individual *UEFA Champions League Squad of the Season: 2020–21 *

Under-21s Player of the Season: 2015–16 *Leicester City Academy Player of the Year: 2014–15

References

External links

Profile
at the Crystal Palace F.C. website
Profile
at the Chelsea F.C. website
Profile
at the Football Association website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chilwell, Ben 1996 births Living people Footballers from Milton Keynes English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Rushden & Diamonds F.C. players Leicester City F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Chelsea F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players UEFA Champions 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 English people of New Zealand descent English victims of crime 21st-century English sportsmen