Benjamin Philip Pringle (born 25 July 1988) 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

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

UAE Second Division League UAE Second Division League is the third tier of football (soccer), football league competition in the United Arab Emirates, the league is organised by United Arab Emirates Football Association, UAE Football Association for private funded clubs a ...

club

Precision Precision, precise or precisely may refer to: Arts and media * ''Precision'' (march), the official marching music of the Royal Military College of Canada * "Precision" (song), by Big Sean * ''Precisely'' (sketch), a dramatic sketch by the Eng ...

. He has notably played for

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...

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 ...

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

and

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

with further spells in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

with

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the National League South, the sixth level of the English football league system. They have played their ho ...

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. The club currently competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Ipswich Town were founded in 1878 but did not turn ...

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional association football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. As of the 2025–26 EFL League Two, 2025–26 season, the team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the Eng ...

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "the Mariners", the club was f ...

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ...

, Gillingham and

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 ...

. Prior to his professional career he had played at

non-League Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

level for

Newcastle Blue Star Newcastle Blue Star F.C. is a association football, football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It was established in 1930 and joined the Wearside League in 1973. In 1978, the club won the FA Vase. They won promotion to the Northern Prem ...

, Morpeth Town and Ilkeston Town.

Early life

Pringle was born and raised in

Whitley Bay Whitley Bay is a seaside town in the North Tyneside borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It was formerly governed as part of Northumberland and has been part of Tyne and Wear since 1974. It is part of the wider Tyneside built-up area, being around ...

, Tyne and Wear.

Career

Early career

Pringle started his career at Wallsend Boys Club, before joining the youth system at

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

. After being released by

, he joined Non League side

before a spell at Morpeth Town.

Ilkeston Town

In 2008 joined Ilkeston Town. At Ilkeston he made a total of 54 competitive first team appearances, scoring 6 goals.

Derby County

In May 2009 it was announced he was moving to

on a one-year deal, with the move set to be completed in July. He made his Derby debut as an 80th-minute substitute against

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Peterborough United formed in ...

on 8 August 2009. The following game of the 2009–10 football season, Pringle started his first game for Derby in the League Cup 2–1 loss to League Two side

. Pringle signed an extension to his Derby deal to take him through to the end of the 2010–11 season on 11 December 2009. Pringle was captain of the Derby County reserves side that won the 2009–10 Central League Central Section title and was also named the club's Young Player of the Season for the campaign. He was handed his first League start in the final game of the 2009–10 season against

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It currently competes in , the third tier of the English football league system in the 2025–26 season following relegation. Founded in 1899 a ...

in a 2–0 win and earned the supporter's Man of the Match award. In February 2011, Pringle's contract was extended until summer 2012.

Torquay United (loan)

In March 2011, Pringle joined then League Two outfit

on a months loan. Pringle spent just 19 days of the loan at Torquay, playing five games, but returned to Derby after expressing a desire to fight for a place in the Derby first team rather than remain at Plainmoor. Upon his return to Derby, despite having had his contract extended at the end of the 2010–11 campaign, Pringle was told he was free to find another club.

Rotherham United

On 3 June 2011, it was revealed he had agreed personal terms with Rotherham United. The transfer was confirmed later that day, with Pringle joining ''The Millers'' on a free transfer, signing a two-year contract. He made his first team debut for Rotherham at home to

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 ...

on 6 August 2011, and scored his first goal for the club in a 2–1 win over

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, England. Its first team competes in League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' ...

on 16 August.Career stats summary at Soccerbase
/ref> He had made nine appearances for Rotherham up until mid-October but following his substitute appearance versus Bristol Rovers he had not played again for them as of mid-February. However, he was an unused sub in Rotherham's game against

Burton Albion Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third level of the English football league system. The club moved its home g ...

on 18 February. Pringle's form contributed greatly to the clubs' automatic promotion to League One at the end of the 2012–13 season. On 18 January 2013, Pringle signed a new two-and-a-half-year contract with Rotherham. His goals and assists during the 2013–14 season helped Rotherham reach the League One play-off final. Pringle played in the final, and after a 2–2 draw, Rotherham earned promotion after beating

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. ...

4–3 on penalties to earn a second successive promotion. At the end of the 2013–14 season, Pringle was voted in the 2013–14 Football League One PFA Team of the Year. On 9 August 2014, Pringle started for Rotherham in their opening fixture of The Championship season in a 1–0 defeat against his former club Derby County. On 23 August 2014, Pringle scored his first goal in the Championship with a winner in Rotherham's 1–0 victory against

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 9 January 2015, Rotherham agreed a fee with Millwall for Pringle, however Pringle turned down the move to the club. On 27 January 2015, Pringle scored his second goal of the season in a 4–2 victory against

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

where he was also named man of the match.

Fulham

On 19 June 2015, Pringle signed for

on a two-year contract, joining on the same day as goalkeeper

Andy Lonergan Andrew Michael Lonergan (born 19 October 1983) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper. Lonergan is a former England U21 international and is also eligible to play for the Republic of Ireland. After starting his career a ...

Ipswich Town (loan)

Pringle joined

on an initial one-month loan on 12 February 2016.

Preston North End

On 4 July 2016, Pringle signed for

on a three-year contract for an undisclosed fee. On 31 August 2018, Pringle joined

on a season-long loan. However, his loan was cut short, with Pringle joining League Two rivals

on 22 January 2019 He was released by Preston at the end of the 2018–19 season.

Gillingham

In September 2019, Pringle joined Gillingham on a contract intended to run until the end of the season. He went on to make 11 appearances for the Kent side in all competitions, but was released at the conclusion of the 2019–20 season.

Morecambe

On 10 August 2020, Pringle joined League Two side

on a one-year deal. He was released by the club's new manager in June 2021 after the club had won promotion through the play-offs.

Altrincham

On 3 August 2021, Pringle joined

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 ...

side

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester, southwest of Sale, Greater Manchester, Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2021 United Kingdom ce ...

following his release from Morecambe. He was released at the end of the 2022–23 season.

United Arab Emirates

Ahead of the 2023–24 season, Pringle joined Fleetwood United as a player/coach, the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

-based sister club to

Fleetwood Town Fleetwood Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Fleetwood, Lancashire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Established in 1997, the current Flee ...

. He captained the team and helped them to win the

title, which brought promotion to the

UAE First Division League UAE First Division League is the second tier of football league competition in the United Arab Emirates. As of 2020–21, the league features 15 sides who play each other in a home and away round-robin format, with a total of 28 games for each t ...

.Ex-Preston North End, Fulham and Ipswich Town man captains team to UAE title win
/ref> In September 2024, Pringle joined Precision Football following their promotion to the UAE Second Division.

Honours

Ilkeston Town *

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English Association football, football league that was founded in 1968. Together with the Isthmian League and the Southern Football League, Southern League it forms levels seven and eight of the English footba ...

Premier Division play-offs:

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

Rotherham United *

Football League Two The English Football League Two, simply known as League Two and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet League Two, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League Two is the fourth division of the English Football League (EFL ...

second-place promotion:

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 ...

Football 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 ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Tranmere Rovers *

EFL 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 Engl ...

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 ...

Morecambe *EFL League Two play-offs:

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 ...

Fleetwood United *

: 2023–24 Individual * Ilkeston Town Player of the Year: 2008–09 *

Young Player of the Year: 2009–10 *

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 ...

: 2013–14 League One

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pringle, Ben 1988 births Living people Sportspeople from Whitley Bay Footballers from Tyne and Wear English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Wallsend Boys Club players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Newcastle Blue Star F.C. players Morpeth Town A.F.C. players Ilkeston Town F.C. (1945) players Derby County F.C. players Torquay United F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Fulham F.C. players Ipswich Town F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players Morecambe F.C. players Altrincham F.C. players Fleetwood United F.C. players Precision Football players Northern Premier League players English Football League players UAE Second Division League players English expatriate men's footballers English expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Expatriate men's footballers in the United Arab Emirates 21st-century English sportsmen