Charles James Goode (born 3 August 1995) 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

centre-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

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 ...

. A graduate of the

Fulham Academy The Fulham F.C. Academy is a football academy based at Motspur Park in London. The Academy, headed by director Sean Cullen, runs along the lines of many of the English football academies as deemed appropriate by the national governing body, and r ...

, Goode began his senior career in

non-League football 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 ...

, before breaking into League football with

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The club was formed in ...

in 2015. A

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the c ...

in January 2019 led to a permanent move to the club at the end of the 2018–19 season. Following victory in the 2020 League Two play-off final, Goode transferred to Championship club Brentford, with whom he was promoted to the Premier League in 2021. Following an injury and illness-affected spell in which he appeared sparingly, Goode transferred to Stevenage in 2024. He was capped by

England C The England national football C team (previously known as the England National Game XI and the England Semi-Pro national team) are the football teams that represent England at non-League level. Formed in 1979 as the England Non-League team, it f ...

at international level.

Club career

Early career

Goode began his youth career as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

, before being moved back through

midfield In many sports, midfield is the part of a sports field that is near the line that is equally far from the end lines. That is, in American football it is the part of the field near the 50-yard line; in association football (soccer) and field hoc ...

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 ...

. After a spell with hometown club

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

, he joined the

at the age of 10 and was released at age 16 in 2012. Goode dropped into

and after a season with Harefield United U18, he gained his first experience of senior football with Hadley, A.F.C. Hayes and

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 ...

between 2013 and 2015. He was a part of the 2014–15 Hendon squad which reached 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 ...

Premier Division play-off final and won the 2014–15

Isthmian League Cup The Alan Turvey Trophy, also known as the Velocity Cup under a sponsorship deal, formerly the Isthmian League Cup, is a football knock-out cup competition organised by the Isthmian League in England. History Isthmian League Chairman and Presiden ...

and

London Senior Cup The London Senior Cup is the County Senior Cup of the London FA. The London Senior Cup was first won by Upton Park in 1882. Although the leading professional sides in London no longer compete, the Cup has been won in the past by the likes of ...

. A growth spurt during the 2014–15 season saw Goode move from right back to central defence.

Scunthorpe United

On 10 June 2015, Goode joined

League One League One or League 1 may refer to: Association football * EFL League One, the third tier of football in England. * China League One, the second tier of football in China * K League 1, the top-tier football in South Korea * Lao League 1 * Lea ...

club

on a free transfer and signed a two-year contract, with the option of a further year. He failed to fully establish himself during four seasons at

Glanford Park Glanford Park, currently known as The Attis Arena for sponsorship reasons, is a association football, football stadium in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England, and is the home of team Scunthorpe United F.C., Scunthorpe United. Opened in 1988 at ...

and by the time of his departure in July 2019, he had made 85 appearances and scored six goals.

Northampton Town

As a result of falling down the pecking order at Scunthorpe United, on 31 January 2019, Goode joined League Two club

on loan until the end of the 2018–19 season. During what remained of the season, he made 17 appearances and signed a three-year contract with the club for an undisclosed fee on 3 July 2019. Goode was named team captain for the 2019–20 season and made 45 appearances and scored four goals during a campaign which culminated in promotion to League One, after victory in the 2020 League Two play-off final. He was voted the club's 2019–20 Supporters' Player of the Year, was named in the League Two

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 ...

and was nominated for the September and October 2019 PFA Fans' Player of the Month awards. On 18 August 2020, Goode departed Northampton Town for a club-record fee. During 18 months at

Sixfields Sixfields is an area of Northampton, Northamptonshire, England about west of the town centre along the A4500 St James Road and Weedon Road towards M1 junction 16 about further west. It is close to the Duston, Upton and St James areas ...

, he made 62 appearances and scored four goals.

Brentford

2020–21

On 18 August 2020, Goode transferred to

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

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 signed a four-year contract, with the option of a further year, for an undisclosed fee reported to be "just over" £1 million. Competing with Mads Bech Sørensen for third place in the centre back pecking order, Goode played sparingly during the opening months of the

2020–21 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 ...

season. After a period out with illness, he returned to match play in mid-December 2020, but then spent another period out of the squad until returning to full fitness in March 2021. Goode made four late-season appearances, but did not appear during Brentford's 2021 EFL playoff campaign. As an unused substitute during the 2–0 victory in 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 ...

over

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club ( ; ) is a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales. It competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Swansea have played their home matches at ...

, he received a promotion medal.

2021–22 and loan to Sheffield United

Goode made his first appearance of the 2021–22 season with a

start Start can refer to multiple topics: * Takeoff, the phase of flight where an aircraft transitions from moving along the ground to flying through the air * Starting lineup in sports * Track and field#Starts use in race, Starts use in sport race * S ...

in a

EFL Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

third round match versus

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 ...

and his performance in the 7–0 win was recognised with a place in the EFL Cup Team of the Round. In early November 2021, injuries to summer transfers Zanka and

Kristoffer Ajer Kristoffer Vassbakk Köpp Ajer (born 17 April 1998) is a Norwegian professional association football, footballer who plays as centre-back or right-back for club Brentford F.C., Brentford and the Norway national football team, Norway national te ...

allowed Goode to make a run of

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 ...

starts. His run was ended by a hamstring injury suffered in late December and he failed to return to the matchday squad prior to his departure on loan for the remainder of the season on the final day of the winter

transfer window In association football, a transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club, club can add players to their squad who were previously under contract with another club. Such a Transfer (association football), transfer is comp ...

. Linking up with Championship club

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

, Goode was

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

for the first time in his professional career on his second appearance, for a two-footed challenge on

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

attacker

Reda Khadra Reda Khadra (born 4 July 2001) is a German professional footballer who plays as a attacking midfielder or winger for club Reims. A youth product of Borussia Dortmund, Khadra moved to Brighton & Hove Albion in 2020 and made his Premier League ...

on 23 February 2022. While training during the suspension, he suffered a knee

cartilage Cartilage is a resilient and smooth type of connective tissue. Semi-transparent and non-porous, it is usually covered by a tough and fibrous membrane called perichondrium. In tetrapods, it covers and protects the ends of long bones at the joints ...

problem, which led to his return to Brentford for treatment in April. Goode failed to return to fitness before the end of the season and he was not involved in the Blades' unsuccessful playoff campaign.

2022–23 and loan to Blackpool

The knee cartilage problem saw Goode miss Brentford's entire

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 ...

pre-season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of S ...

and the first half of the regular season. He was included in the squad for the mid-season

training camp A training camp is an organized period in which military personnel or athletes participate in a rigorous and focused schedule of training in order to learn or improve skills. Athletes typically utilise training camps to prepare for upcoming events ...

and made one friendly appearance during the period. Goode returned to the matchday squad on

Boxing Day Boxing Day, also called as Offering Day is a holiday celebrated after Christmas Day, occurring on the second day of Christmastide (26 December). Boxing Day was once a day to donate gifts to those in need, but it has evolved to become a part ...

2022 and remained an unused substitute during a 2–2 draw with

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 ...

. He failed to win any further first team call-ups before joining Championship club

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

on loan until the end of the

season on 23 January 2023. Goode immediately went into the starting lineup, before suffering a season-ending hamstring injury on his third appearance.

2023–24 and loan to Wigan Athletic

During the 2023–24 pre-season, Goode was included in Brentford's 2023 Premier League Summer Series squad, but he did not receive a call into a matchday squad during the tournament. He returned to match play with the

B team B, or b, is the second letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''bee'' (pronounced ), plural ''bees''. It represent ...

on 25 October 2023 and was an unused substitute during six first team matches either side of the turn of the year. On 22 January 2024, Goode joined League One club

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, they have p ...

on loan until the end of the 2023–24 season. He made 13 appearances during the remainder of a mid-table season and returned to Brentford one week early, for personal reasons. Goode was released by Brentford when his contract expired at the end of the 2023–24 season. He made just 20 appearances during his four seasons with the club.

Stevenage

On 5 August 2024, Goode transferred to League One club

and signed a one-year contract, with the option of a further year, on a free transfer. Either side of four months out with a broken

fibula The fibula (: fibulae or fibulas) or calf bone is a leg bone on the lateral side of the tibia, to which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long bones. ...

, Goode made 24 appearances and scored one goal during a mid-table 2024–25 season. He was retained for the 2025–26 season.

International career

Goode was capped once by

, as a second-half substitute in a 2–1 friendly victory over Republic of Ireland U21 on 1 June 2015.

Personal life

Goode's father and brother Ben also became footballers. He is an

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 ...

supporter. Goode attended

Bushey Meads School Bushey Meads School (also known as "BMS") is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form with academy status, located in Bushey, Hertfordshire, England. The school forms part of the Bushey St James Trust, in partnership with Little Reddings ...

and during his career in non-League football, he worked in his family's business, installing electric

blinds A window blind is a type of window covering. There are many different kinds of window blinds which use a variety of control systems. A typical window blind is made up of several long horizontal or vertical slats of various types of hard mate ...

Career statistics

Honours

Hendon *

: 2014–15 *

: 2014–15 Northampton Town *

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 ...

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 ...

Brentford *

EFL Championship play-offs The English Football League (EFL) Championship play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from third to sixth in the EFL Championship table and are part of the English Football League play-o ...

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 ...

Individual * Harefield United U18 Players' Player of the Year: 2012–13 *

Supporters' Player of the Year: 2019–20 *

: 2019–20 League Two

References

External links

Charlie Goode
at stevenagefc.com
Charlie Goode
at premierleague.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Goode, Charlie 1995 births Living people English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Hadley F.C. players Brook House F.C. players Hendon F.C. players Scunthorpe United F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Southern Football League players Isthmian League players English Football League players Premier League players England men's semi-pro international footballers People educated at Bushey Meads School Blackpool F.C. players Footballers from Watford Wigan Athletic F.C. players Stevenage F.C. players 21st-century English sportsmen