Jake David Charles (born 16 February 1996) 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 striker or winger for

Scarborough Athletic Scarborough Athletic Football Club is an association football club based in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England. The club was formed on 25 June 2007 as a phoenix club following the winding up of Scarborough Football Club. After spending the ...

. Born in England, he has represented Wales at youth international level.

Club career

Huddersfield Town

Charles was born in

Mirfield Mirfield () is a town and civil parish in Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is on the A644 road between Brighouse and Dewsbury. At the 2011 census it had a population of 19,563. Mirfield ...

, West Yorkshire. He began to play football when he was three and joined Battyeford Juniors and Garforth Villa's youth academy before joining

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. ...

's U11 side when he was 10. Having progressed through the academy, Charles signed his first professional contract with the club on 28 February 2013 and started his first years scholars. With his contract set to expire at the end of the 2013–14 season, Charles signed a contract extension, keeping him until 2017. Throughout 2013–14, Charles was honoured by the League Football Education and was nominated for the League Football Education's Championship Apprentice of the Year, but lost out to Mason Bennett of

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

. After appearing as unused substitute against

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 2 ...

on 17 March 2015 for the first time, Charles made his first-team debut for

as an 87th-minute substitute in a 2–0

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 system ...

defeat by

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

. Later in the 2014–15 season Charles scored twice for the Huddersfield Town under-21 team as they beat

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

under-21s to seal a place in the Professional Development League 2 play-off Final. On 31 July 2015, he joined

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

club

Guiseley Guiseley ( ) is a town in metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated south of Otley and Menston and is now a north-western suburb of Leeds. It sits ...

on a one-month

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that ...

until 29 August 2015 but he did not make any appearances for the club during this spell.

Barnsley

On 1 September 2016, Charles signed for fellow Championship club Barnsley on a contract until the end of 2016–17. On 25 November 2016, he joined National League club

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

on loan until 1 January 2017. Charles was released by Barnsley at the end of 2016–17.

Stalybridge Celtic

Charles signed for

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English Association football, football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division ...

Premier Division club Stalybridge Celtic on 28 July 2017. He made 45 appearances in all competitions, scoring 12 goals, as Stalybridge finished in 22nd place in the table. He left the club at the end of 2017–18.

Stafford Rangers

In October 2018, Charles joined

side Stafford Rangers and scored on his debut.

Farsley Celtic

On 29 May 2020 National League North club Farsley Celtic announced they had signed Charles. In June 2021, Charles returned to Stafford Rangers. He finished the season with nine goals in 39 appearances in all competitions. In May 2022, it was announced that Charles had joined

following their promotion to

National League North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Sy ...

International career

Charles has represented Wales at under-16, under-17 and under-19 and under-21 levels. After making his debut for the Wales under-17 side, Charles became the fourth member of his family to play for the country after his grandfather, his great-uncle Mel and his cousin

Jeremy Jeremy may refer to: * Jeremy (given name), a given name * Jérémy, a French given name * ''Jeremy'' (film), a 1973 film * "Jeremy" (song), a song by Pearl Jam * Jeremy (snail), a left-coiled garden snail that died in 2017 * ''Jeremy'', a 19 ...

. He was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

three times by the under-17s in 2012, before appearing three times for the under-19s in 2014. Charles was called up to the Wales under-21 squad for their

2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-21 Euro 2017) was the 21st edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship, a biennial international youth football championship organised by UEFA for the men's under-21 n ...

match against

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Mac ...

on 31 March 2015. He made his debut on 4 September as an 81st-minute substitute in a 3–1 away won over Luxembourg in 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying. He finished his under-21 career with nine appearances from 2015 to 2016.

Style of play

A versatile forward, Charles can play both as a striker or as a winger.

Personal life

Charles is the grandson of Wales international player

John Charles William John Charles (27 December 1931 – 21 February 2004) was a Welsh footballer who played as a centre-forward or as a centre-back. Best known for his first stint at Leeds United and Juventus, he was rated by many as the greatest all-roun ...

. While growing up, Jake Charles attended Ninelands Primary School and

Garforth Academy Garforth Academy (formerly known as Garforth Comprehensive School until September 1992 and Garforth Community College until November 2010) is a secondary school and sixth form for pupils aged 11–18 and is located on Lidgett Lane (B6137) ...

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Charles, Jake 1996 births Living people People from Mirfield People educated at Garforth Academy Footballers from West Yorkshire English footballers Welsh footballers Association football wingers Association football forwards Wales youth international footballers Wales under-21 international footballers Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Guiseley A.F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players York City F.C. players Stalybridge Celtic F.C. players Stafford Rangers F.C. players Farsley Celtic A.F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Northern Premier League players