Jake David Charles (born 16 February 1996) is a semi-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 striker for

Whitby Town Whitby Town Football Club is an English football club based in Whitby, North Yorkshire. The club participates in the Northern Premier League, the seventh tier of English football. Founded in 1880, Whitby are one of the oldest clubs from the Nor ...

. 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 parishes in England, civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is on the A644 road (Great B ...

, 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 association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

'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 Mason Kane Bennett (born 15 July 1996) is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Burton Albion. He has also represented England Youth at U-16 and U-17 Level. He holds the record as Derby County's youngest-ever pla ...

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...

. After appearing as unused substitute against

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 ...

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 sys ...

defeat by

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

. 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 National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

club

Guiseley Guiseley ( ) is an area in the metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated south of Otley and Menston and is now a north-west ...

on a one-month

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 ...

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 Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

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. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system, as of the 2024–25 seas ...

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. Together with the Isthmian League and the Southern Football League, Southern League it forms levels seven and eight of the English footba ...

Premier Division club

Stalybridge Celtic Stalybridge Celtic Football Club is an English football club based in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester. They are currently members of the and play at Bower Fold. The team traditionally plays in a blue and white strip. In 1921, Stalybridge Celti ...

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 Stafford Rangers Football Club is a semi-professional English football team from Stafford which plays in the Northern Premier League Division One West. The team wear black and white stripes with black shorts. Stafford Rangers' rivals include ...

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

. He finished the season with nine goals in 39 appearances in all competitions. In May 2022, it was announced that Charles had joined Scarborough Athletic following their promotion to

National League North The National League North, officially known as Vanarama National League North for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Association football league in England. National League North is the second division of the National League (English footb ...

. On 29 September, he joined

FC United of Manchester Football Club United of Manchester, more commonly known as FC United, is a semi-professional football club based in Moston, Manchester, England, that competes in the , the seventh tier of the English football league system, and plays home m ...

on an initial one-month loan deal. In November 2023, he joined

Ashton United Ashton United Football Club is a football club in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, England. They are currently members of and play at Hurst Cross. Having been founded as Hurst in 1892, they folded in 1892, before being reformed in 1909. ...

on an initial one-month loan deal. The following month, the loan was extended by an additional two months. After remaining on loan at Ashton, Charles was released by Scarborough at the end of the season. On 8 June 2024, Charles joined

Premier Division side

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 Mel, Mels or MEL may refer to: Biology * Mouse erythroleukemia cell line (MEL) * National Herbarium of Victoria, a herbarium with the Index Herbariorum code MEL People * Mel (given name), the abbreviated version of several given names (including ...

and his cousin Jeremy. 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 e ...

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 association football, football championship organised by UEFA for ...

match against

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

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 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 ...

, 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 association football, footballer who played as a centre-forward or as a centre-back. Best known for his first stint at Leeds United F.C., Leeds United and Juventus FC, Ju ...

. 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 Sportspeople from Mirfield People educated at Garforth Academy Footballers from West Yorkshire English men's footballers Welsh men's footballers Men's association football wingers Men's association football forwards Wales men's youth international footballers Wales men's 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 F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Northern Premier League players F.C. United of Manchester players Ashton United F.C. players Isthmian League players Whitby Town F.C. players 21st-century English sportsmen