Jamie Vardy
Jamie Richard Vardy is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Cremonese.
After being released by Sheffield Wednesday at the age of 16, Vardy began his senior career with Stocksbridge Park Steels. He broke into the first team in 2007 and spent three seasons there before joining Northern Premier League Premier Division club FC Halifax Town in 2010. Scoring 25 goals in his debut season, he won the club's Players' Player of the Year award and then moved to Conference Premier club Fleetwood Town in August 2011 for an undisclosed fee. He scored 31 league goals in his first season at his new team, winning the team's Player of the Year award as they won the division.
Vardy signed for Leicester City in the Championship in May 2012 for a non-League record transfer fee of £1 million and helped the team win the Championship in 2014. In the 2015–16 Premier League season, he scored in eleven consecutive Premier League matches, breaking Ruud van Nistelrooy's record, and was voted the Premier League Player of the Season and FWA Footballer of the Year as outsiders Leicester won the title. He won the Premier League Golden Boot for the 2019–20 season, becoming the oldest player to win the award. Leicester won the 2021 FA Cup, allowing them to compete for and subsequently win the 2021 FA Community Shield. After relegation back to the Championship during the 2022–23 season, Vardy was named captain and led the club to promotion the following year by winning the league in 2024, only to get relegated again in 2025. Vardy played his final match with Leicester City exactly 13 years after first signing with them in May 2025, scoring a total of 200 goals in 500 appearances for the club.
Vardy made his international debut for the England national team in June 2015 and was selected for UEFA Euro 2016 and the 2018 FIFA World Cup. His last appearance for England was at the latter tournament, and later that summer, he asked not to be chosen for any more squads, unless there was an injury crisis.
Early life
Vardy was born in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, to Richard Gill and Lisa Clewes. His biological father walked out on the family when Vardy was still an infant. His mother later married Phil Vardy, and he took his stepfather's surname. Vardy grew up in the Hillsborough area of inner-city Sheffield. His stepfather was a crane worker and his mother worked at a solicitors' office. Growing up, he was a fan of Sheffield Wednesday where he idolised striker David Hirst. In the 1990s and 2000s, Vardy witnessed the intense rivalry in the city of Sheffield between fans of Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United that culminated in memorable Steel City derbies. On the rivalry, he notes: "It was always good when they were playing against each other. The atmospheres that you get were really good and people live for football. So games like this for Sheffield are massive and obviously bragging rights and everything that go with it." Being a lifelong Sheffield Wednesday fan, the rivalry led to Vardy performing some memorable celebrations against Sheffield United fans including Leicester City's 2–1 win against United where Vardy scored and celebrated in front of the home fans at Bramall Lane.Club career
Early career
Vardy was in the youth system at Sheffield Wednesday, but was released when he was 16. He then played at Stocksbridge Park Steels, earning £30 a week. After making his way through the reserve team, he made his first team league debut under manager Peter Rinkcavage in 2006. His real break out came under manager Gary Marrow during the 2007–08 season. After impressive displays, a number of Football League teams became interested and in 2009 he spent a week on trial with Crewe Alexandra. A move did not materialise and he later turned down a short-term contract with Rotherham United.Vardy scored a total of 55 goals for the club in all competitions. He helped the team win the Sheffield & Hallamshire Senior Cup and promotion to the Northern Premier League in 2008–09.
In June 2010, manager Neil Aspin, a longtime admirer of Vardy's talents, signed him for FC Halifax Town for a fee of £15,000. He made his debut on 21 August 2010 in the home match against Buxton, scoring the winning goal in a match that ended 2–1 to his new club. Vardy had a successful first season with "the Shaymen" finishing as the club's top goalscorer with 25 goals from 37 appearances and being voted the Player's Player of the Season. Towards the end of the season he came close to scoring a hat-trick of hat-tricks but failed to find a third goal in Halifax's 3–1 win over Nantwich Town. His goals helped secure the Northern Premier League Premier Division title for the 2010–11 season. Vardy started the 2011–12 season with Halifax and scored three goals in the opening four matches of the season.
Fleetwood Town
After just over a year with Halifax, Vardy signed for Conference Premier club Fleetwood Town for an undisclosed fee. He made his debut the same day in a 0–0 home draw with York City. He scored his first goals for the club in his third appearance, scoring twice in a 3–2 win away to Kettering Town on 3 September. The following week he scored another two goals against Gateshead at Highbury Stadium, including one in added time. He scored twice for a third consecutive match in the 3–1 away win against Ebbsfleet United, but did not score again for just over a month until he scored a hat-trick in the away match against Alfreton Town on 18 October. On 20 September, he was given a straight red card in a 5–2 home win over Kidderminster Harriers, a match in which each team played for over an hour with ten men. Four days after his hat-trick, Vardy scored two more goals in a 4–1 win over Bath City, a result which left Fleetwood two points behind leaders Wrexham.In the first round of the FA Cup on 12 November, Vardy scored the second goal in a 2–0 win over League One team Wycombe Wanderers. Fifteen days later, his goal in a 1–1 draw at Gateshead meant that he had recorded a goal in each of his last six appearances, totalling ten goals in that period; he won the Conference Premier Player of the Month award for November. On 13 December, Vardy confirmed a 2–0 win in added time as Fleetwood triumphed away to Yeovil Town in the Cup second round replay.
On 1 January 2012, Vardy scored twice in a 6–0 win over Southport, and six days later the team lost 5–1 at home to local rivals Blackpool in the third round of the Cup. After the match, Blackpool manager Ian Holloway made a £750,000 offer for him, which Fleetwood rejected, holding on for £1 million and a loan back to the club. He totalled six goals in his first four matches of the calendar year. On 21 February, he recorded a second hat-trick of the campaign, in a 6–2 win over Ebbsfleet United which left Fleetwood two points ahead of Wrexham at the top of the table. Vardy scored both Fleetwood goals in a 2–2 draw against Lincoln City on 13 April; Wrexham's draw against Grimsby Town the next day gave Fleetwood the Conference title and a first-ever promotion to the Football League. Vardy's 31 league goals saw him finish the season as the top scorer in the Conference Premier.
Leicester City
2012–14
On 18 May 2012, it was announced that Vardy would be signing for Championship club Leicester City ahead of the 2012–13 season, for a reported fee of £1 million, a non-League record, which could potentially be worth up to £1.7 million with add-ons. The next day, he signed on a three-year contract until June 2015. On 14 August, Vardy made his debut for Leicester against Torquay United in the first round of the League Cup, playing the entirety of the match at Plainmoor and heading the final goal in a 4–0 win. Four days later he made his Football League debut at the King Power Stadium, a 2–0 win over Peterborough United in which he set up a goal for Andy King. He scored his first league goal in a 2–1 away defeat to Blackburn Rovers on 25 August. In September, he scored the winner in two 2–1 comeback victories, against Burnley and Middlesbrough. Vardy's first season at the club was marred by his own loss of form, prompting criticism from some City supporters on social media, and he even considered leaving football until manager Nigel Pearson and assistant manager Craig Shakespeare convinced him to continue with the club.The following season brought a turn around in Vardy's fortunes as he established himself as a prolific scorer in the Leicester attack as the club took a commanding lead at the top of the table. Vardy scored and won a penalty kick in the local derby as Leicester beat high flying Derby County 4–1 on 10 January 2014 and reaffirmed their position at the top of the Championship. Vardy finished the season with 16 league goals as Leicester were promoted to the Premier League at the end of the season as champions, and was named Leicester's Players' Player of the season at the club's awards.