Stephy Alvaro Mavididi (born 31 May 1998) 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

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 ...

or winger for club

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 ...

Early and personal life

Born in

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

, Mavididi was raised in

East London East London is the part of London, England, east of the ancient City of London and north of the River Thames as it begins to widen. East London developed as London Docklands, London's docklands and the primary industrial centre. The expansion of ...

. His younger brother Shaun is also a footballer.

Club career

Arsenal

He began his career at

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth level of English football. The team are known as "The Shrimpers", a reference ...

before joining

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

at the age of 13. He turned professional with Arsenal in July 2015. Mavididi joined

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

on loan on 31 January 2017 until the end of the season. However, following an injury in his fifth game for the club, he returned to Arsenal on 1 March 2017, having made three starts and two substitute appearances. He signed on loan for

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

in August 2017. On 3 January 2018, it was announced by Arsenal that Mavididi had returned to the club and was then subsequently sent on loan with

. In his first game of his second loan spell at Charlton he scored his first goal in professional football in a 1–0 win over

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional association football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. As of the 2025–26 EFL League Two, 2025–26 season, the team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the Eng ...

. In February 2018 he suffered a hamstring injury.

Juventus

After eight years with Arsenal, in August 2018, he signed for Italian club

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

. He was initially signed as a reserve player, having been scouted by

Giorgio Chiellini Giorgio Chiellini (; born 14 August 1984) is an Italian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football)#Centre-back, centre-back or Defender (association football)#Full-back, left-back. Consi ...

's brother, but soon began training with the first team. On 13 April 2019, Mavididi made his senior Juventus debut in a 2–1 away loss against

S.P.A.L. Società Polisportiva Ars et Labor, commonly referred to by the acronym SPAL (), is a professional football club based in Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. During the 2024–25 season the team played in Serie C, the third tier of the Italian foot ...

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

. In doing so he became the first English player since David Platt in 1992 to play for Juventus. Juventus won the Serie A title in his first season, but Mavididi did not receive a winner's medal as he had not played in enough matches. Shortly after the championship title was confirmed, Mavididi learned that his father had died. On 29 August 2019, he joined French club

Dijon Dijon (, ; ; in Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Digion'') is a city in and the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Côte-d'Or Departments of France, department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in eas ...

on loan.

Montpellier

On 30 June 2020, Mavididi joined French club

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

on a permanent deal worth €6.3 million. On 16 April 2023, Mavididi became the English player with the most appearances in the history of Ligue 1 after making his 108th appearance, overtaking the record of

Chris Waddle Christopher Roland Waddle (born 14 December 1960) is an English former professional football player and manager. He had a spell as Burnley manager during the 1997–98 season, but has not returned to coaching since. Largely since retiring he h ...

. He later described his time with Montpellier saying "Everyone just sees the charmed life, but it is really more than that. For me personally I have been to some dark places being far away from home. For example I have a little brother and I basically missed all his teenage years growing up - it's little things like that, that can really take a toll on you ..For me the dark times have made me 10 times stronger".

Leicester City

On 31 July 2023, Mavididi returned to England and joined

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

club

for an undisclosed fee reported to be around €7.5 million. On 6 August, he made his debut for Leicester, in which he assisted Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall's winning goal against

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 the club's first game of the season. On 12 August, he scored his first goal for Leicester in the league in the 73rd minute in a 1–0 away win against

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

. His form over the next few weeks was inconsistent. Following a run of five goals in seven games, Mavididi was awarded the

EFL Championship Player of the Month The EFL Championship Player of the Month is an association football award that recognises the player adjudged the best for each month of the season in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Originally named the Football L ...

award for December 2023.

International career

Mavididi was born in England and is of DR Congolese descent. Mavididi has played for England at under-17 youth level, representing them at the

2015 UEFA European Under-17 Championship The 2015 UEFA European Under-17 Championship was the 14th edition of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship (33rd edition if the Under-16 era was also included), the annual European youth football competition contested by the men's under-17 nation ...

, and the

2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the sixteenth tournament of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, held in Chile from 17 October to 8 November 2015. Host selection The following four countries bid to host the tournament: * * * * Venues Along with proposing ...

. He has also played for England at under-18 and under-19 levels. Although he is eligible to play for the

DR Congo national football team The DR Congo national football team ( French: ''Équipe nationale de football de la République démocratique du Congo''), recognised by FIFA as Congo DR, represents the Democratic Republic of the Congo in men's international football and it i ...

, Mavididi appeared to commit himself to England in December 2020, stating "my ultimate goal is to get into England's senior team, but for now the best pathway is the Under-21s so I want to try and get into that squad".

Career statistics

Honours

Leicester City *

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 ...

: 2023–24
Individual *

: December 2023

References

External links

Profile
at the Leicester City F.C. website {{DEFAULTSORT:Mavididi, Stephy 1998 births Living people Footballers from Derby Men's association football forwards English men's footballers England men's youth international footballers English people of Democratic Republic of the Congo descent Sportspeople of Democratic Republic of the Congo descent Southend United F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players Juventus Next Gen players Juventus FC players Dijon FCO players Montpellier HSC players Leicester City F.C. players English Football League players Serie A players Serie C players Ligue 1 players Premier League players English expatriate men's footballers English expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy English expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in France Men's association football wingers 21st-century English sportsmen