Ian David Jeffs (born 12 October 1982) is an English former

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 ...

and the current assistant manager of the Icelandic women's national football team and Úrvalsdeild karla club ÍBV. Úrvalsdeild kvenna club ÍBV. Jeffs began his career with

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' ...

but made only one senior appearance for the club before being released in 2004. He was loaned to Kidsgrove Athletic for a short spell during the 2002–03 season. Jeffs has spent the majority of his career playing in Iceland, where he has represented ÍBV,

Fylkir Íþróttafélagið Fylkir (, ) is a multi-sport club in Árbær, in the eastern part of Reykjavík, the capital of Iceland. It features departments in football, handball, volleyball, gymnastics and karate. Kit The Fylkir official home kit is ...

and Valur. Between 2006 and 2007 he played for Swedish side

Örebro Örebro ( ; ) is the seventh-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Örebro Municipality, and capital of Örebro County. It is situated by the Närke Plain, near the lake Hjälmaren, a few kilometers inland along the small river Svartån, and ...

, where he was part of the side that won promotion to the

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

, the top division of Swedish football.

Playing career

Born in

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

, Jeffs came through the youth ranks at

and was awarded his first professional contract in February 2001 along with eleven other academy graduates, including

Dean Ashton Dean Ashton (born 24 November 1983) is an English former professional footballer. He made over 240 appearances as a forward in the Football League and Premier League for Crewe Alexandra, Norwich City and West Ham United, and was capped by Engla ...

, David Vaughan and

Michael Higdon Michael Higdon (born 2 September 1983) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward. He began his career with Crewe Alexandra where he came through the youth team before making the break into their first eleven in 2003 ...

. His first involvement in senior football came during a loan spell at non-league side Kidsgrove Athletic in the 2002–03 season. On 16 May 2003, it was announced that he and teammate Tom Betts were to join newly promoted Icelandic

Úrvalsdeild The Besta deild karla () is a professional association football league in Iceland and the highest level of the Icelandic football league system. The competition was founded in 1912 as the Icelandic Championship. Because of the harsh winters in I ...

outfit ÍBV on loan for the duration of the 2003 campaign. Jeffs made his debut for the club two days later in a 2–3 home defeat to KA. In his third appearance for ÍBV, he scored the only goal in a 1–0 home win over

as the team recorded their first victory of the season. He was almost ever-present in the ÍBV starting line-up during the first two months of the season, appearing in 11 out of 12 league and cup matches; an injury sustained in the 0–2 defeat to Þróttur kept him out of the 4–5

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

loss to

Grindavík Grindavík () is a fishing town in the Southern Peninsula district of Iceland, not far from Þorbjörn, a tuya (a type of flat-topped, steep-sided volcano). It is one of the few towns with a harbour on this coast. Most of the inhabitants work ...

in the fourth round of the Icelandic Cup. Jeffs went on to play all but two of ÍBV's league matches in the 2003 season, scoring three goals in the process. Jeffs and Betts returned to Crewe at the end of their loan period and were given international clearance to play for the Railwaymen following the re-opening of the

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 ...

on 1 January 2004. Jeffs went on to make his debut for the club two days later, coming on as a second-half substitute for

Ben Rix Benjamin Rix (born 11 December 1983) is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Career Rix joined Crewe Alexandra as a schoolboy, signing as a professional in January 2001. He made his debut in October and make 22 ...

as Crewe were beaten 0–1 at home by Telford United in the third round of the

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 ...

. He was never selected to play for the club again and was released at the end of the 2003–04 campaign,. Retrieved 31 May 2014. having already agreed to return to ÍBV on a permanent basis for the 2004 season.

Career statistics

Managing career

Jeffs was the manager of ÍBV women's football team from 2015 to 2018 and ÍBV men's football team in 2016. In late 2018, he was hired as the assistant manager to the Icelandic women's national football team and as an assistant to ÍBV men's football team.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jeffs, Ian 1982 births Living people Footballers from Chester English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Crewe Alexandra F.C. players Kidsgrove Athletic F.C. players Ian Jeffs Örebro SK players Ian Jeffs Ian Jeffs Allsvenskan players Ian Jeffs English expatriates in Iceland English expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Ian Jeffs English football managers 21st-century English sportsmen