Jamille Antonio Matt (born 20 October 1989) is a Jamaican 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 club

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

. Matt began his career at Sutton Coldfield Town, before moving to

Kidderminster Harriers Kidderminster Harriers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. The team competes in the National League North, the sixth level of the English football league system. Formed in ...

in 2010. He spent three seasons at the club, before moving to Fleetwood Town in January 2013. He signed on loan for

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 ...

in November 2015, and for

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. The club has played ...

in March 2016. He moved to

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 ...

in June 2016. He spent the 2017–18 on loan at

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "the Mariners", the club was f ...

, before signing for Newport County in June 2018.

Career

Born in Jamaica, Matt moved from Sutton Coldfield Town to

in November 2010 on non-contract terms, following a trial earlier in that month. Matt signed a contract with Kidderminster in May 2011. In March 2012 there were issues with Matt's work permit, and he was granted a period of leave from the club. Matt returned to first-team action in November 2012. Matt won the

Conference Premier The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National Leagues and step 1 of the National Le ...

Player of the Month Award in December 2012, and he signed a new 18-month contract in January 2013.

Fleetwood Town

Later that month,

Fleetwood Town Fleetwood Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Fleetwood, Lancashire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Established in 1997, the current Flee ...

broke their club record transfer fee to sign Matt. In November 2013 the club announced that Matt would be ruled out for a month with an ankle injury. Matt was part of Fleetwood's 2013–14 team that beat

Burton Albion Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third level of the English football league system. The club moved its home g ...

1–0 in the 2014 Football League Two play-off final at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

, seeing Fleetwood promoted into

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 ...

for the first time in their entire history. In August 2014 it was announced that Matt would miss the entire 2014–15 season due to injury. In May 2015 it was announced that Matt would be offered a new contract by the club. He signed a two-month loan deal with

in November 2015. He signed a 28-day loan deal with

in March 2016.

Blackpool

After his release by Fleetwood, Matt signed for

in June 2016. Matt scored his first goal for Blackpool in an

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 ...

tie against former club

on 6 November 2016. After tearing his hamstring on 17 April 2017 in a 1–0 victory over

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system after winning the 202 ...

, Matt missed the remainder of the 2016–17 season. Blackpool eventually went on to beat

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

2–1 in the

2017 EFL League Two play-off final The 2017 EFL League Two play-off final was an association football match played on 28 May 2017 at Wembley Stadium, London, between Blackpool F.C., Blackpool and Exeter City F.C., Exeter City. The match determined the fourth and final team to gai ...

, seeing Blackpool promoted back into League One after one season. On 29 August 2017, Matt joined League Two side

on loan until end of season. He was released by Blackpool at the end of the 2017–18 season.

Newport County

On 20 June 2018, Matt joined Newport County on a two-year contract. He made his debut on 4 August in a 3–0 defeat to Mansfield Town, scoring his first goal ten days later in a 4–1 win versus Cambridge United in the

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 ...

. On 6 January 2019, he scored the first goal in Newport's 2–1

win over

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 ...

side

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

. He was part of the team that reached the League Two playoff final at

on 25 May 2019. Newport lost 1–0 to

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ...

after a goal in the 119th minute. Matt was released by Newport County at the end of the 2019–20 season due to the club's

Coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

financial concerns.

Forest Green Rovers

Matt signed for

Forest Green Rovers Forest Green Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. Formed in October 188 ...

on 20 July 2020 on a one-year deal. On 31 December 2020, having scored 9 goals in 23 appearances, Matt exercised his option to extend his contract by a further year. In April 2021, he was nominated for the EFL League Two Player of the Season. Matt was appointed as club captain for the 2021–22 season.

Walsall

On 13 January 2023, Matt signed an 18-month contract with

EFL League Two The English Football League Two, simply known as League Two and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Betting & Gaming, Sky Bet League Two, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League Two is the fourth division of the English ...

side

, after joining for an undisclosed fee. On 18 May 2024, he signed a new one-year contract.

Career statistics

Honours

Fleetwood Town *

Football 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 Engli ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Forest Green Rovers *

: 2021–22 Individual *

Player of the Year:

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 ...

PFA Fans' Player of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Fans' Player of the Year (often called the PFA Fans' Player of the Year, or simply the Fans' Player of the Year) award is given to footballers in the top four flights of English football, the Premier L ...

: 2021–22 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 ...

: 2021–22 League Two

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Matt, Jamille 1989 births Living people Jamaican men's footballers 21st-century Jamaican sportsmen Men's association football forwards Sutton Coldfield Town F.C. players Kidderminster Harriers F.C. players Fleetwood Town F.C. players Stevenage F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Newport County A.F.C. players Forest Green Rovers F.C. players Walsall F.C. players National League (English football) players English Football League players Jamaican expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Jamaican expatriate sportspeople in England