Hayden Rhys Hackney (born 26 June 2002) is a 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 ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

club

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

. Born in England, he is an under-21 international for Scotland.

Early life

Hackney was born in

Redcar Redcar is a seaside town on the Yorkshire Coast in the Redcar and Cleveland unitary authority in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It is located east of Middlesbrough. The Teesside built-up area's Redcar subdivision had a population of ...

Club career

He joined

's academy at under-10 level. Having been part of the Middlesbrough team that reached the under-18 Premier League Cup final in 2019, he signed his first professional contract with the club on 26 June 2019, his 17th birthday. Shortly after being named on the first-team bench for a match against Barnsley in November 2019, he was praised by Middlesbrough manager

Jonathan Woodgate Jonathan Simon Woodgate (born 22 January 1980) is an English football manager and former player who is currently the First Team Coach at EFL Championship club, Middlesbrough. Woodgate began his career at Middlesbrough but moved to Leeds Unite ...

, with Woodgate claiming "Hayden Hackney deserves to be there because he's been outstanding for the Under-23s". He made his senior debut on 9 January 2021, starting in a 2–1

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competit ...

defeat away to

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings w ...

. He made his league debut for the club in the final match of the season as a substitute in a 3–0 defeat to

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their ho ...

. He signed a new two-year contract with the club later that month. On 31 August 2021, Hackney joined

EFL League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football L ...

side

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. The side currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The tea ...

on loan until January 2022. After playing in the majority of games in the first half of the season, Hackney's loan was extended to last until the end of the season. In the 15th minute of a 2–0 defeat to

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

, Hackney was caught spitting at an opponent. The referee did not see this at the time, but after the game, the

Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world an ...

confirmed that Hackney had admitted to spitting and was given a six-game suspension. On 19 October 2022, Hackney scored his first goal for

against

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 193 ...

in a 4–1 win.

International career

Hackney represented England at under-15 level. He is also eligible to represent Scotland because his mother was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. He debuted for the Scotland under-21 team in November 2022.Hayden Hackney profile at scottishfa.co.uk
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Style of play

Hackney plays as a

central midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He often plays as a

deep-lying playmaker A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

due to his ability in possession of the ball.

Career statistics

Honours

Individual * Middlesbrough Young Player of the Year:

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 ...

References

2002 births Living people People from Redcar Footballers from North Yorkshire Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's under-21 international footballers English men's footballers England men's youth international footballers Scottish people of English descent English people of Scottish descent Men's association football midfielders Middlesbrough F.C. players Scunthorpe United F.C. players English Football League players {{Scotland-footy-bio-stub