Sam Benjamin McCallum (born 2 September 2000) is an English 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

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, it is the highest divi ...

club

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

Career

Early career

McCallum was born in

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

, Kent and grew up in the nearby seaside town of

Herne Bay Herne Bay is a seaside town on the north coast of Kent in South East England. It is north of Canterbury and east of Whitstable. It neighbours the ancient villages of Herne, Kent, Herne and Reculver and is part of the City of Canterbury loca ...

. He attended

Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys (also known as The Langton Grammar School for Boys and simply referred to as The Langton) is an 11–18 foundation grammar school for boys and mixed sixth form in Canterbury, Kent, England. It was establi ...

in Canterbury. McCallum started his career at non-League club

before moving to League One club

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...

in August 2018 after being at

Jamie Vardy Jamie Richard Vardy ( Gill; born 11 January 1987) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for and captains club Leicester City. He will become a free agent on 1 July 2025. After being released by Sheffield Wednesday at ...

V9 Academy V9 Academy is an English association football, football academy co-founded by Jamie Vardy with the intention of gaining non-League football, non-League players contracts at professional clubs. History The V9 Academy was founded, in 2016, by profes ...

. In November 2018, he made his debut in an

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Motors, Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English association football, football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and ...

defeat against

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1887, ...

coming on as an 81st minute substitute for Brandon Mason. McCallum broke through into the Coventry first team and made a total of 35 appearances and scoring three goals.

Norwich City

On 31 January 2020, McCallum signed for

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 ...

for a reported fee of £3,500,000 and was immediately loaned back to Coventry until the end of the season. Norwich signed McCallum amid interest from other

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 ...

teams such as

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

and

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 ...

. On 20 September 2020, McCallum was loaned to Coventry for the

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 ...

season for his third spell with the club. On 12 July 2021, McCallum again returned to the Championship, joining

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English f ...

on loan for the duration of the 2021–22 season. He scored his first goal for QPR against

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

on 14 September 2021.

Sheffield United

On the 11th of July 2024, it was announced that Sam had signed for Championship rivals and recently relegated

Career statistics

References

External links

Profile
at the Norwich City F.C. website 2000 births Living people Sportspeople from Canterbury People educated at Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys Footballers from Kent English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Herne Bay F.C. players V9 Academy players Coventry City F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players English Football League players 21st-century English sportsmen {{England-footy-defender-2000s-stub