James Downey (born 19 October 1987) is an Australian

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 last played for Ballarat Red Devils in the National Premier Leagues Victoria Division 1.

Club career

Downey was with the

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

Academy of Sport between 2003 and 2004 before joining the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

in 2005. Downey holds the AIS football program beep test record (16.3). In March 2007 Downey was signed by

Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional Association football, soccer club based in Perth, Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under Professional sports league organi ...

where he is contracted to the end of the 2009/2010

A-League A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...

season. On 12 January 2010, it was announced he would be joining

North Queensland North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the Australian state of Queensland that lies just south of Far North Queensland. Queensland is a massive state, larger than many countries, and its Tropical North Queensland, trop ...

for the rest of the 2009–10 season in a swap for striker Daniel McBreen. He was released, along with all other North Queensland players. He signed up for Dutch Eerste Divisie side Sparta in July 2010. He has come back to Australia and is playing with local club the

Oakleigh Cannons Oakleigh Cannons Football Club is an Australian soccer club based in the south-east Melbourne suburb Oakleigh. As of 2025, the club competes in the National Premier Leagues Victoria (NPL Victoria). History South Oakleigh Soccer Club was establ ...

, in the

Victorian Premier League The Victorian Premier League (VPL) is an Australian soccer league based in Victoria that was founded in 2023 and administered by Football Victoria. It consists of two divisions that were named after the VPL's breakaway of the National Premier L ...

in a bid to gain a professional contract with an

club. He scored his first goal for the club against St Albans Saints. He scored his second goal for the opening the scoring, against the Green Gully Cavaliers He was signed by New Zealand

team

Wellington Phoenix Wellington Phoenix Football Club is a professional football club based in Wellington, New Zealand. It competes in the Australian A-League Men, under licence from Football Federation Australia. Phoenix entered the competition in the 2007–08 ...

for the 2011–12 A-League season. Downey was released in June 2013. A persistent knee injury kept Downey out of professional football until January 2015 when it was announced that he had signed for Ballarat Red Devils ahead of their maiden season in

National Premier Leagues Victoria 1 The Victorian Premier League (VPL) is an Australian soccer league based in Victoria that was founded in 2023 and administered by Football Victoria. It consists of two divisions that were named after the VPL's breakaway of the National Premier L ...

, after training with the team for the entire 2014 NPLV season during his rehabilitation.Jimmy Downey overcomes injury to join Red Devils
Ballarat Courier

International career

Downey has played 13 games for the

Young Socceroos The Australia national under-20 soccer team, known colloquially as the Young Socceroos, represents Australia in international under-20 Association football, soccer. The team is controlled by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football ...

, scoring one goal. He has also been called up for the Australia under 17 team.

Career statistics

(''Correct as of 6 May 2011'')

References

External links

Perth Glory profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Downey, Jimmy 1987 births Living people Sportspeople from Gympie Australian men's soccer players Australia men's youth international soccer players Australia men's under-20 international soccer players Australian expatriate men's soccer players Perth Glory FC players Sparta Rotterdam players A-League Men players Wellington Phoenix FC players Ballarat City FC players Northern Fury FC players Eerste Divisie players Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Australian Institute of Sport soccer players Men's association football defenders Men's association football midfielders Soccer players from Queensland 21st-century Australian sportsmen