Tyler Jay French (born 12 February 1999) 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

Solihull Moors Solihull Moors Football Club is a professional association football club based in Solihull, England. The club currently competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system, after achieving promotion from the Na ...

. He has played in English football for

AFC Sudbury Amalgamated Football Club Sudbury is a association football, football club based in Sudbury, Suffolk, England. The club was formed in 1999 by the merger of Sudbury Town F.C., Sudbury Town and Sudbury Wanderers F.C., Sudbury Wanderers, the proc ...

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The club competes in , the third tier of English football, and is managed by Graham Alexander. The club was founded in 1903 and ...

AFC Fylde AFC Fylde is a professional football club based in Wesham in the Borough of Fylde, Lancashire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Mill Farm. Originally known as Kirkham & Wesham following a merger of Kirkham Town and Wes ...

(on loan) and Welsh side

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

, and in Scottish football for

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

and

Greenock Morton Greenock Morton Football Club is a Scottish professional football club, which plays in the . The club was founded as Morton Football Club in 1874, making it one of the oldest Scottish clubs. Morton was renamed Greenock Morton in 1994 to celebr ...

(on loan).

Early and personal life

Born in

Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as ''Bury,'' is a cathedral as well as market town and civil parish in the West Suffolk District, West Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St. Edmunds an ...

, French attended Ormiston Sudbury Academy. He grew up supporting

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 ...

Career

French spent his early career in non-league football with

Long Melford Long Melford, colloquially and historically also referred to as Melford, is a large village and civil parish in the Babergh district, in the county of Suffolk, England. It is on Suffolk's border with Essex, which is marked by the River Stour ...

, Hadleigh United and

A.F.C. Sudbury Amalgamated Football Club Sudbury is a football club based in Sudbury, Suffolk, England. The club was formed in 1999 by the merger of Sudbury Town and Sudbury Wanderers, the process giving rise to the name Amalgamated Football Club Sudbury. ...

. He combined his non-league playing career with a part-time job building conservatory bases. In early 2019 he trialled with Football League clubs

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

and

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 ...

, and was transfer listed by Sudbury in an attempt to move up the league system. He also had trials at Crystal Palace, Leicester City, and Ipswich Town. Following a successful trial period, he signed a two-year professional contract with League Two club

in May 2019. French said that he would be spending the summer before the start of the 2019–20 season training, stating that "I won't have much time off because I want to get myself in the best shape possible for pre-season ..I've got an off-season

raining Rain is a form of precipitation where water drop (liquid), droplets that have condensation, condensed from Water vapor#In Earth's atmosphere, atmospheric water vapor fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is res ...

programme to help me but I'm quite naturally fit, so hopefully I'll be all right". He scored his first goal for Bradford when he scored 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 ...

tie against

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

on 12 November 2019. In February 2020 he moved on loan to

. He credited his time at Fyle for helping him getting used to a higher level of football. French was praised by club captain Richard O'Donnell after an impressive performance in the opening day of the 2020–21 season. On 31 January 2021 it was announced that he had left the club. On 1 February 2021, he signed for

. He was sent off on his debut for the club a day later. On 5 July 2022, French joined

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association footb ...

side

for an undisclosed fee on a two-year deal. He made his competitive debut for Dundee in an away

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup, also known as the Premier Sports Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League cup in ...

win over

Stranraer Stranraer ( , in Scotland also ; ), also known as The Toon or The Cleyhole, is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, on Loch Ryan and the northern side of the isthmus joining the Rhins of Galloway to the mainland. Stranraer is Dumfries ...

, starting the match. The following week, French scored his first goal for the club in a 5–1 win over

Forfar Athletic Forfar Athletic Football Club are a Scottish semi-professional football club from the town of Forfar, Angus. They are members of the Scottish Professional Football League and currently play in . They play their home games at Station Park, in t ...

. On 21 January 2023, French suffered a serious injury to his right leg during a

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,St Mirren, which would leave him out of action for the rest of the season. Despite his injury, French would win the Scottish Championship with Dundee at the end of the season. French would make his competitive return in August 2023 with Dundee's B team in a

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,East Fife. On 12 September 2023, French signed for Scottish Championship club

on a season-long loan. He made his debut in a draw away to

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish professional association football, football club based in the city of Dundee. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1923. United are nickname ...

. The following week, French again suffered an injury to his right leg and was stretchered off against

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently compete in the after winning the 2022–23 Scottish League One title. Dunfermline play at ...

. Fortunately, it was not a serious injury and French started for the ''Ton'' the following week. On 20 May 2024, Dundee confirmed that French would depart at the expiry of his contract. On 12 June 2024, French joined

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

club

Sutton United Sutton United Football Club is a professional association football club from Sutton, South London, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. Sutton started out playing in junior, ...

on a permanent contract. French made his debut on 10 August in the league opener against Tamworth. In June 2025, he joined fellow National League side

Career statistics

Honours

Dundee *

2022–23 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 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:French, Tyler 1999 births Living people Footballers from Bury St Edmunds English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Long Melford F.C. players Hadleigh United F.C. players A.F.C. Sudbury players Bradford City A.F.C. players AFC Fylde players Wrexham A.F.C. players Dundee F.C. players Greenock Morton F.C. players Sutton United F.C. players Solihull Moors F.C. players English Football League players Isthmian League players National League (English football) players Scottish Professional Football League players 21st-century English sportsmen