Ben Coker (born 17 June 1989) 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 defender or

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for

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 ...

Career

In 2007, Coker spent time with sixth-tier Swedish club

Ånge IF Ånge IF is a Swedish football club located in Ånge. Background Ånge IF currently plays in Division 5 which is the seventh tier of Swedish football Association football is the most popular sport in Sweden, with over 240,000 license ...

, scoring two goals. Coker joined

Bury Town Bury Town Football Club is a semi-professional football club, based in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England. The club are currently members of the and play at Ram Meadow. History Early history The club was established by William Lake at a meeti ...

in October 2008 from fellow Southern League side Barton Rovers. He was previously with

Conference A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject, or to bring together people who have a common interest. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always d ...

side

Histon Histon is a village and civil parish in the South Cambridgeshire district, in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is immediately north of Cambridge – and is separated from the city – by the A14 road (England), A14 road which runs eas ...

. He impressed on his debut for Bury, earning the sponsors man of the match award. Coker helped the

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

club win promotion to the

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional Association football, football league covering Greater London, East of England, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, th ...

Colchester United

In summer 2010, Coker joined

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its ea ...

after he impressed in a trial period at the end of 2009–10 season, having done well for non-league Bury Town during the 2009–10 campaign. On 30 September 2010, Coker joined Chelmsford City on loan for a month. The loan was extended by a further month and was given permission to play 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 ...

tie against

Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the London Borough of Barnet, northwest London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient Manorialism, manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has ...

. On 14 January 2011, Coker made his debut for Colchester against

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

in a 2–1 victory, providing assists for both goals. He was awarded the Colchester United Young Player of the Year award at the end of the 2010–11 season, his first with the club. On 15 May 2012, Coker signed a 12-month contract extension to see him through to summer 2013 with Colchester. On 12 October 2012, Coker was loaned to former club Histon on a month-long deal. On 4 February 2013, Coker had his contract with Colchester cancelled by mutual consent having made only two first-team appearances in the

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 ...

season. He returned to

permanently on 8 February 2013 following a loan spell earlier in the same season.

Southend United

Prior to the 2013–14 season, he played in three friendlies for

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth level of English football. The team are known as "The Shrimpers", a reference ...

, impressing sufficiently in the games he played to be offered a contract by manager Phil Brown. On 16 April 2014, Coker signed a new two-year deal at

, keeping him contracted until June 2016, and on 7 August 2015 this was extended for another 3 years with an option for a further year. On 27 October 2018 he suffered a serious knee injury whilst playing for Southend against Sunderland, and did not play any more games that season. His struggle to recover from the injury was the subject of a BBC documentary series entitled 'Coming Back'. He never played any more games for Southend, and was released by them at the end of the 2018–19 season.

Lincoln City

On 23 August 2019 it was announced that he had signed for Lincoln City. He only played one cup game before being loaned to Cambridge United in January 2020. Coker signed a season-long loan at League Two club

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevenage w ...

on 7 August 2020.

Stevenage

On 16 October 2020, he made his season-long loan permanent at

. Coker was released at the end of the 2021–22 season.

Solihull Moors

On 4 August 2022, Coker signed for

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

club

Solihull Moors Solihull Moors Football Club is a professional association football club based in Solihull, England. The club currently competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system, after achieving promotion from the Na ...

on a one-year deal. At the end of the 2022–23 season, Coker was one of eight players to be released by the club.

Barnet

Coker joined Barnet for the 2023-24 season. After winning the National League title in the 2024-25 season, Coker left the Bees after two goals in 71 appearances.

Ebbsfleet United

Coker joined

for the 2025-26 season.

Personal life

Coker developed

type 1 diabetes Type 1 diabetes (T1D), formerly known as juvenile diabetes, is an autoimmune disease that occurs when the body's immune system destroys pancreatic cells (beta cells). In healthy persons, beta cells produce insulin. Insulin is a hormone require ...

at the age of 15.

Career statistics

Honours

Southend United *

Football League Two play-offs The EFL League Two play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from fourth to seventh in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are part of the annual Engli ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Barnet *

: 2024–25 Individual *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's Football in England, En ...

: 2014–15 League Two

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Coker, Ben 1989 births Living people English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Bury Town F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players Barton Rovers F.C. players Chelmsford City F.C. players Histon F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players Cambridge United F.C. players Stevenage F.C. players Solihull Moors F.C. players Barnet F.C. players Ebbsfleet United F.C. players Southern Football League players English Football League players National League (English football) players People with type 1 diabetes English expatriate men's footballers English expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Footballers from Hatfield, Hertfordshire 21st-century English sportsmen