Jonathan Nicholas Grant (born October 15, 1993) 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 lea ...

who plays as a defender for

Atlético Ottawa Atlético Ottawa is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Ottawa, Ontario. The club competes in the Canadian Premier League and plays its home games at TD Place. The team was founded in 2020 by Spanish club Atlético Madrid. History F ...

in the

Canadian Premier League The Canadian Premier League (CPL or CanPL; ) is a professional Association football, soccer league in Canada and the highest level of the Canadian soccer league system. The league comprises eight teams, from five of provinces and territories of ...

. Born in Canada, Grant plays for the Guyana national team.

Early life

Grant began playing youth soccer at age three with Wexford SC in

Scarborough, Ontario Scarborough (; 2021 Canadian census, 2021 Census 629,941) is a district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is situated in the eastern part of the City of Toronto. Its borders are Victoria Park Avenue to the west, Steeles Avenue (Toronto), Steele ...

. When he was 15, he joined

Sigma FC Sigma Sports is a Canadian youth soccer development academy and player management company based in Mississauga, Ontario. They also operate a senior academy soccer team that currently competes in League1 Ontario, as Sigma FC. Over 140 Sigma playe ...

. In 2012, Grant committed to join

Yavapai College Yavapai College is a public community college in Yavapai County, Arizona. The main campus is in Prescott, with locations in Clarkdale, Prescott Valley, Chino Valley and Sedona. History Yavapai College was established in 1965 by means of a ...

Club career

In 2014, he played with

League1 Ontario League1 Ontario (L1ON) is a semi-professional men's soccer league in Ontario, Canada. The league is sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association and the Ontario Soccer Association. League1 Ontario consists of three tiers – League1 Premier ...

. After the season, he was invited to train with the first team and reserves of Belgian club

Genk Genk () is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city located in the Belgian Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg near Hasselt. The municipality comprises only the town of Genk itself. It ...

. On May 15, 2015, after a month-long trial, he signed a professional contract with

USL USL may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Underground Sound of Lisbon, a Portuguese dance music project * Urban Strawberry Lunch, a band from Liverpool Companies * United Spirits Limited, India * Former United States Lines shipping company C ...

club

FC Montreal FC Montreal was a Canadian professional association football, soccer team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada that played in the USL Championship, the third tier of the United States soccer league system. The team served as a reserve team of Major ...

, the second team of

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

club Montreal Impact. He made his debut the same day against the

Charleston Battery The Charleston Battery are an American professional association football, soccer club based in Charleston, South Carolina, and member of the USL Championship. Founded in 1993, the Battery are the oldest continuously operating professional socc ...

. In December 2015, he signed with the

Swope Park Rangers Sporting Kansas City II is a MLS Next Pro club affiliated with Sporting Kansas City of Major League Soccer. For the 2022 season they will play their home games at Kansas Jayhawks, Rock Chalk Park at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, ...

for the 2016 season. He scored his first goal for the club in a 3–0 win over

Orange County Blues FC Orange County Soccer Club is an American soccer team based in the Orange County, California city of Irvine. Founded in 2010 as the Los Angeles Blues, the team currently plays in the Western Conference of the USL Championship, the second tier ...

on July 23, 2016. In 2017, he returned to his former club

. He was named Defender of the Year and a league First-Team All-Star. In February 2018, Grant signed with Swedish

Division 1 Norra Ettan Fotboll, or simply Ettan (), which also is its common name in everyday speech, is the third level in the Swedish football league system and consists of 32 Swedish football teams. It was formerly simply known as ''Division 1''. Division 1 ...

club

Nyköpings BIS Nyköpings BIS is a Swedish football club located in Nyköping. The club started out as a merger in 1966 between Nyköpings SK and Nyköpings AIK. Since their foundation Nyköpings BIS has participated mainly in the middle divisions of the Swedis ...

for the 2018 season. However, he suffered an injury in pre-season and would miss the entire 2018 season due to surgery, so he and the club agreed to terminate the contract by mutual consent in June 2018. In February 2019, he signed with

Forge FC Forge FC, also known as Forge Football Club, Forge FC Hamilton, or Hamilton Forge FC, is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Hamilton, Ontario, that competes in the Canadian Premier League, the top tier of Canadia ...

of the

. He scored his first goal on August 25, 2019, against

Cavalry FC Cavalry Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer club based in the Calgary metropolitan region of Alberta. The club competes at the top of the Canadian soccer league system in the Canadian Premier League, and plays their home matches ...

. Injuries limited his play time over his first two seasons with the club. In February 2021, he extended his contract with the club. After the 2022 season, his option for 2023 was declined by the club. In March 2023, he signed with fellow CPL side

York United York United Football Club (formerly known as York9 FC) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto, Ontario. The club competes in the Canadian Premier League and plays its home games at York University's York Lions Stadium. History ...

for the 2023 season. In August 2023, he suffered a facial fracture after a head-on-head collision with Théo Collomb in a match against the

HFX Wanderers Halifax Wanderers FC, also written as HFX Wanderers FC, is a Canadian professional soccer club in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The club competes in the Canadian Premier League (CPL) at the top of the Canadian soccer league system, and play their home ...

, keeping him out for several weeks. After the 2023 season, he departed the club. In February 2024, he signed with

on a two-year contract. He became the first player to have played for all three of the league's

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

-based clubs. During pre-season, he suffered a knee injury requiring knee surgery, forcing him to miss the entire 2024 season.

International career

Grant was eligible to play for Canada, where he was born, and Guyana, where his parents are from.

Canada

Grant received his first call-up to Canada national team on January 9, 2015, for a pair of friendlies against

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

. However, he did not appear in either of the two matches. In June 2015, he was called up to the Canada U23 for the 2015 Pan Am Games. In September 2015, he was named to the squad for the

2015 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship The 2015 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship was the fourteenth edition of the CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship, CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying, the quadrennial, international, age-restricted association football, foot ...

Guyana

In 2023, it was revealed that he had begun the process to obtain a Guyanese passport, with the goal of representing the country at senior level. In March 2023, he was called up to the Guyana national team for the first time ahead of their

CONCACAF Nations League The CONCACAF Nations League (, ) is an association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its secondary continental tournament for men's senior national teams from North America, Central America and the Caribbean. The tournament takes pla ...

matches. He proceeded to win his first cap for the ''Golden Jaguars'' on 25 March, starting in a 2–0 win over

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

, in which he recorded an assist. In June 2023, Grant was named to Guyana's 23-man squad for the

2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup qualification The 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup qualification tournament determined the final three teams to qualify for the 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup. The matches took place from 16 to 20 June 2023 at DRV PNK Stadium, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States. Teams Tw ...

tournament.

Honours

Club

;Forge FC *

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

Individual

Defender of the Year:

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

First Team All Star:

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Grant, Jonathan 1993 births Living people Men's association football defenders Soccer players from Pickering, Ontario Guyanese men's footballers Guyana men's international footballers Canadian men's soccer players Canada men's under-23 international soccer players Canadian sportspeople of Guyanese descent Canadian expatriate men's soccer players Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Yavapai Roughriders men's soccer players FC Montreal players Sporting Kansas City II players Nyköpings BIS players Forge FC players League1 Ontario players USL Championship players Canadian Premier League players Footballers at the 2015 Pan American Games Pan American Games soccer players for Canada Sigma FC players York United FC players Atlético Ottawa players 21st-century Canadian sportsmen 21st-century Guyanese sportsmen