Junior Flemmings (born 16 January 1996) 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 winger and

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 ...

for

UAE Pro League The UAE Pro League (), also known as the ADNOC Pro League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the highest level of the Emirati football league system. The first team to w ...

club

Ajman Ajman ( '; Gulf Arabic: عيمان ''ʿYmān'') is the capital of the emirate of Ajman in the United Arab Emirates. It is the List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, fifth-largest city in UAE after Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Al Ain. Loca ...

and the Jamaica national team.

Club career

Early career

Born in

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long spit (landform), sand spit which connects the town of Por ...

, Flemmings began his career in the youth ranks of

Tivoli Gardens Tivoli Gardens, also known simply as Tivoli (), is an amusement park and pleasure garden in Copenhagen, Denmark. The park opened on 15 August 1843 and is the third-oldest operating amusement park in the world, after Dyrehavsbakken in nearby Kla ...

Tivoli Gardens

In 2013, he made his debut for the first team in the

National Premier League The Jamaica Premier League (formerly the National Premier League), commonly abbreviated as JPL and officially known as the Wray and Nephew Jamaica Premier League for sponsorship reasons, is sanctioned by the Jamaican Football Federation as the ...

. He was unpaid during the 2013 season with Tivoli Gardens to ensure that he wouldn't ruin his chances of playing collegiate soccer in the United States. During the 2015–2016 season Flemmings led Tivoli Gardens in scoring with eight goals, including a late game winner on 23 November 2015 which helped his club to a 2–1 victory over

Boys' Town FC Boys' Town Football Club is a Jamaican professional football club based in the community of Trench Town in Kingston. The club currently competes in the KSAFA Championship. The team is based in Kingston, Jamaica, with their home ground at the C ...

New York Red Bulls II

After months of speculation, Flemmings signed with

New York Red Bulls II New York Red Bulls II is an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Montclair, New Jersey. They are the reserve team of the New York Red Bulls and play in MLS Next Pro, the third tier in the American soccer pyramid. Hi ...

of the

United Soccer League The United Soccer League (USL) is an organizer of various professional and amateur soccer leagues in the United States league system. It currently organizes its Championship, League One, and League Two for men, its Super League and W Leag ...

on 25 March 2016. On 2 April 2016, during his first appearance, Flemmings recorded his first goal and assist with the club in a 2–0 victory against Louisville City. On 22 May 2016, Flemmings scored a late match winner helping New York to a 1–0 victory against

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 ...

. On 12 August 2016, Flemmings helped New York to a 5–1 victory over

Orlando City B Orlando City B (or OCB for short) is an American soccer club that began play in 2016 and currently plays in MLS Next Pro. Owned by Orlando City SC and based at the Orlando City training facility in Kissimmee, the club plays its home games at ...

, scoring one goal and being a constant threat throughout the match. On 14 April 2017, Flemmings scored his first goal of the season for New York, helping the club to a 3–1 victory over

. On 19 August 2017, Flemming scored two goals to help New York to a 4–0 victory over

FC Cincinnati Football Club Cincinnati is an American professional soccer club based in Cincinnati. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team was first announced on August 12, 2015 as a United Soccer Leag ...

. On 2 September 2017, Flemmings scored one goal and assisted on another in New York's 4–2 victory over

Tampa Bay Rowdies The Tampa Bay Rowdies are an American professional soccer team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The club was founded in 2008 and first took the pitch in 2010. Since 2017, the Rowdies have been members of the USL Championship in the second tie ...

Tampa Bay Rowdies

In January 2018, Flemmings signed with

in the USL.

Phoenix Rising

Flemmings signed with Phoenix Rising in 2019. He netted sixteen goals and seven assists in his first season with the team, and finished eighth in the league for the Golden Boot, finishing behind teammate and Golden Boot winner Solomon Asante (22 goals). Flemmings' second season with Phoenix resulted in a Golden Boot Award, scoring 14 goals in a

COVID Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

-shortened season. Phoenix was propelled to a first place finish in Group B.

Homophobia controversy

On 30 September 2020, while playing for the Phoenix Rising, Flemmings was accused of using a Jamaican homophobic slur, "

batty boy In Jamaican Patois, ''batty boy'' (also ''batty bwoy'', ''batty man'', and ''chi chi bwoy/man'') is a slur often used to refer to a gay or effeminate man. The term batiman (or battyman) is also used in Belize owing to the popularity of Jamaican m ...

", against the openly gay San Diego Loyal midfielder Collin Martin. The Loyal, who had been leading 3–1 up to that point, walked off the field in protest and forfeited the match. Flemmings denied using the slur and said, in a

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

statement following the match, that he stands "in solidarity with the

LGBTQ+ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The group i ...

movement". It was the last time that Flemmings took the pitch for Phoenix Rising. The USL Championship suspended him six games for using "foul and abusive language" and fined him an undisclosed amount. In addition, Phoenix Rising team officials placed Flemmings on administrative leave for the remainder of his contract with the team, which concluded on 30 November 2020. Flemmings' contract with the team was not renewed. The incident ultimately cost Rising a chance to host the USL Championship Final. Rising and

Louisville City FC Louisville City Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in Louisville, Kentucky. The team plays in the USL Championship, which is currently the second tier of the American soccer pyramid. The club was founded in 2014 after O ...

both finished with 35 points and 11 wins, but Rising had a higher goal differential and would have thus had home-field advantage had it reached the final. However, Rising was only in contention to host the final as a result of the three points it earned by forfeit. Due to the ensuing outcry, Rising announced that if it reached the final, whoever won the Eastern Conference final would have home-field advantage in the Championship Final. They were set to play the

in Tampa Bay in that game, but it was canceled due to a COVID outbreak in the Rowdies organization.

Birmingham Legion

On 13 January 2021, Flemmings joined USL Championship side Birmingham Legion. In the announcement of Flemmings joining Legion, team officials noted his history with homophobia at Phoenix Rising, but said they believe that "second chances provide opportunities for growth." Team officials also said they had "extensive conversations" with Flemmings' former coaches and teammates, in addition to Martin and Donovan for their perspective on the team signing Flemmings. Flemmings also apologized for the incident in the statement.

Toulouse

On 5 January 2022, Flemmings was transferred to

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship reasons, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Prof ...

side

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

. Toulouse was promoted to

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

at the end of the 2021–22 season, but Flemmings did not make any appearances in the top tier during the first half of the 2022–23 season.

Loan to Niort

On 31 January 2023, Flemmings was loaned to

Niort Niort (; Poitevin: ''Niàu''; ; ) is a commune in the Deux-Sèvres department, western France. It is the prefecture of Deux-Sèvres. The population of Niort is 58,707 (2017) and more than 177,000 people live in the urban area. Geography T ...

until the end of the 2022–23 season.

International career

Flemmings has represented

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

at the U-20 and U-17 national team level, serving as captain of the U-17's. He received his first full national team call up in November 2015, and was named to the 18-player match roster for Jamaica's

2018 World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting rights in l ...

qualifier against Panama, but was an unused substitute. Flemmings made his senior international debut versus

French Guiana French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...

in the

2017 Caribbean Cup The 2017 Caribbean Cup was the 19th and final edition of the Caribbean Cup, the biennial international men's football championship of the Caribbean region organized by the Caribbean Football Union (CFU). The top four teams qualified for the 20 ...

. Flemmings' scored the match-winning goal against Guadalupe in Jamaica's second group stage match of the

2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 16th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the biennial international men's association football, soccer championship of the North, Central American, and Caribbean regions organized by CONCACAF. The tournament was ...

thus qualifying them for the quarterfinals.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Jamaica's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Flemmings goal.''

Honors

New York Red Bulls II *

USL Cup The USL Cup is an annual soccer competition in men's domestic American soccer. The USL Cup is currently known as the USL Jägermeister Cup after its title sponsor, Jägermeister. The competition is open to all clubs in USL Championship and US ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

* USL Regular Season:

Phoenix Rising * USL Championship Regular Season:

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 ...

* Western Conference **Winners (Regular Season):

**Winners (Playoffs):

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 ...

Jamaica *

Caribbean Cup The Caribbean Cup was an association football competition organized by CFU as its top regional tournament for men's senior national teams from the Caribbean. The tournament was held from 1989 to 2017, as the direct successor competition of the ...

runner-up:

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 ...

Toulouse *

: 2021–22 Individual * RSPL Young Player of the Season: 2015–16 *

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a men's professional association football, soccer league in the second tier of the United States soccer league system#Men's leagues, United States league system. It is organized by the United Soccer League (USL) a ...

Golden Boot Winner: 2020

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Flemmings, Junior 1996 births Footballers from Kingston, Jamaica Living people Jamaican men's footballers 21st-century Jamaican sportsmen Jamaica men's youth international footballers Jamaica men's under-20 international footballers Jamaica men's international footballers Men's association football forwards Valencia CF players Tivoli Gardens F.C. players New York Red Bulls II players Tampa Bay Rowdies players Phoenix Rising FC players Birmingham Legion FC players Toulouse FC players Chamois Niortais FC players FK Voždovac players Ajman Club players National Premier League players USL Championship players Ligue 2 players Championnat National 3 players Serbian SuperLiga players UAE Pro League players 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Jamaican expatriate men's footballers Jamaican expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Jamaican expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Jamaican expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in France Jamaican expatriate sportspeople in Serbia Expatriate men's footballers in Serbia Expatriate men's footballers in the United Arab Emirates