Carl Edward Richard Cort (born 1 November 1977) is a 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 forward. He notably played in the

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 ...

for

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

and

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 ...

, also playing 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 ...

for Lincoln City,

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 ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

. He also had a spell with Spanish club UD Marbella and finished his professional career with

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984. It is considered the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the ...

side

Tampa Bay Rowdies The Tampa Bay Rowdies are an American professional soccer team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The club was founded in 2008 and first took the pitch in 2010. Since 2017, the Rowdies have been members of the USL Championship in the second tie ...

. Born in England, he represented the

England U21 The England national under-21 football team, also known as England under-21s or England U21(s), is the national under-21 association football team of England, under the control of the Football Association. It is considered to be the feeder team ...

earning 14 caps and scoring 8 goals, before switching his allegiance to

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

, although not playing for them until 2011 during the final few years of his career. He was capped six times between 2011 and 2012 and failed to score a goal.

Career

Wimbledon

Cort, born in London of Guyanese descent, began his career with Wimbledon as a teenager. He went on a one-month loan to Lincoln City in February 1997, and when he came back to the Dons he made his debut as a substitute against

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

on 9 April 1997. He had to wait until the start of the next season to make his second appearance; on 13 September 1997 Cort started away against

and scored in the first minute as Wimbledon went on to win 3–1. Three days later he scored twice 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 ...

in the League Cup. A place in the England under-21s soon followed. Another highlight at Wimbledon was scoring a hat trick against

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

in the League Cup in October 1999.

Newcastle United

Newcastle boss

Bobby Robson Sir Robert William Robson (18 February 1933 – 31 July 2009) was an English football player and coach. His career included periods playing for and later managing the England national team and being a UEFA Cup-winning manager at Ipswich Town. ...

paid £7 million to sign Cort on a five-year contract in the summer of 2000, seeing off competition from

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 ...

and

. After making his debut against

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

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 ...

, he scored on his Newcastle home debut, against Derby County, but struggled with hamstring problems and underwent surgery after only a few appearances for his new club. He did eventually return to the first team in March 2001, and went on to score five goals in ten appearances before the season ended. In the 2001–02 season, injury ruined his season again. Cort was ruled out until March due to injuries to his ankle and knee. He travelled to the United States for specialist treatment and was treated by the same surgeon who treated future teammate Joleon Lescott. The injuries appeared to take their toll, and Cort struggled to make an impact in the

. His only league appearance in the 2002–03 season was a four-minute cameo as a substitute at

West Ham West Ham is a district in East London, England and is in the London Borough of Newham. It is an inner-city suburb located east of Charing Cross. The area was originally an ancient parish formed to serve parts of the older Manor of Ham, a ...

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Having recovered from injury, he moved to

for £2 million during January 2004. He scored five goals for his new club that season but could not prevent relegation from the top flight. In the 2004–05 season, his form improved and he scored 16 goals in 40 appearances. Wolves had an indifferent season in 2005–06. Cort began the season well, scoring nine goals in the first 11 matches. Injury interrupted his season again, and by the end of May, Cort had added only two more to his tally, totalling 11 goals in 24 appearances. After the following campaign was again plagued by injury, he was released by Wolves in May 2007.

Leicester City

On 8 June 2007, Cort signed a two-year contract with Leicester City. He scored his only goal for the club in a 4–3 League Cup defeat to Chelsea on 31 October. Although it won Leicester City's Goal of the Month for October, Cort failed to score a single league goal, and he was transfer listed on 23 December. He was released by the club by mutual consent on 11 January.

Later career

On 30 January 2008, Cort joined Spanish club UD Marbella, who were then playing in the

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: second division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish ...

. Cort returned to England when he signed for Norwich City on 9 December 2008 until the end of the 2008–09 season. He made his debut for Norwich against

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

at the

Madejski Stadium The Madejski Stadium (), currently known as the Select Car Leasing Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Reading, Berkshire, England. It is the home of Reading Football Club, who play in EFL League One. It also provides the ...

and scored his first goal for the club in a 3–3 draw at Wolves on 3 February 2009. This was his first league goal since March 2006, when he netted for Wolves in a Championship fixture at Hull City. Following Norwich's relegation to League One Cort left the club after having his contract terminated by mutual consent. After leaving Norwich, Cort went on trial with Wycombe Wanderers but was not offered a contract. He later went on to sign for

on a five-month deal, which was then extended to the end of the season. He scored his first goal for Brentford against Swindon Town on 3 October 2009 and added another 5 goals making it 6 goals in 26 appearances. In June 2010, Cort signed a new one-year contract at Brentford, but was later released in January 2011. Cort had been training with the

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 ...

reserve/development squad. It was reported that he had scored in an appearance for the reserve team towards the end of October 2011. On 10 August 2012,

announced they had signed Cort.News , Tampa Bay Rowdies
/ref>

Personal life

He is the elder brother of fellow professional footballer Leon Cort, and the younger brother of non-League footballer Wayne Cort. He is also the half-brother of AC Milan midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cort, Carl 1977 births Footballers from the London Borough of Southwark People from Southwark Living people Men's association football forwards Black British sportsmen English men's footballers England men's under-21 international footballers England men's youth international footballers English expatriate men's footballers English people of Guyanese descent Sportspeople of Guyanese descent Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Guyanese men's footballers Guyana men's international footballers Wimbledon F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players Newcastle United F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Leicester City F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Marbella FC players Tampa Bay Rowdies players Premier League players English Football League players North American Soccer League (2011–2017) players Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States People educated at Archbishop Tenison's Church of England School, Lambeth English expatriate sportspeople in the United States