Ben Foster (footballer)

Ben Foster (born 3 April 1983) is an English footballer. He is a former England national team goalkeeper who has now retired . He holds the record for having done the most number of saves (1178) in premier league history.^[4][5]

Ben Foster

Foster playing for West Bromwich Albion in 2017
Personal information
Full name	Ben Anthony Foster[1]
Date of birth	(1983-04-03) 3 April 1983 (age 42)[2]
Place of birth	Leamington Spa, England
Height	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)[3]
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Youth career
0000–2000	Racing Club Warwick
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2000–2001	Racing Club Warwick
2001–2005	Stoke City	0	(0)
2002	→ Bristol City (loan)	0	(0)
2002–2003	→ Tiverton Town (loan)	16	(0)
2004	→ Stafford Rangers (loan)	1	(0)
2004	→ Kidderminster Harriers (loan)	2	(0)
2005	→ Wrexham (loan)	17	(0)
2005–2010	Manchester United	12	(0)
2005–2006	→ Watford (loan)	44	(0)
2006–2007	→ Watford (loan)	29	(0)
2010–2012	Birmingham City	38	(0)
2011–2012	→ West Bromwich Albion (loan)	37	(0)
2012–2018	West Bromwich Albion	172	(0)
2018–2022	Watford	93	(0)
2023	Wrexham
International career‡
2007–	England	8	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 21:38, 8 December 2020 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 20:47, 8 November 2019 (UTC)

Foster started his football career at Racing Club Warwick and in 2001, secured his first transfer to Stoke City. Although considered promising, Foster struggled and could not get regular game-time in his youth days.^[6]

In 2005, he departed, without playing a single match, from Stoke City after a series of loan spells and joined Manchester United where he played as a back-up to Edwin van der Sar. He was loaned twice, consecutively, for the years 2005-06 and 2006-07 to Watford before spending three more seasons at Manchester United as a substitute goalkeeper. He finally left Manchester United for Birmingham City in 2010.^[7]

It was from this time that Foster started to get regular starts in all the teams he played till now. At Birmingham City, he instantly established himself in the main eleven for the 2010-11 season. The next season, West Bromwich Albion successfully managed to seal a loan deal with Birmingham City for Foster before finalising the transfer in 2012. He spent a total of seasons at West Brom before leaving the club for Watford in 2018. Since joining Watford, he has been praised several times by analysts for his calm presence in the goal behind a considerably weak Watford defense and has won back-to-back Premier league goalkeeper of the year awards at the London Football Awards.^[8]

Personal life

Born in Leamington Spa, Ben Foster used to work as a chef before he started his career as a footballer. He is currently married to Kate Foster with whom he has 2 children's. The family lives in a self-designed house at Tiddington, Warwickshire.^[9] Besides football, Foster has deep interest in cycling and has taken part in various cycling tours.^[10][11]

Career statistics

Club

As of 20 June 2020.^{[12][13][14][15]}

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		League Cup		Europe		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Stoke City	2001–02[16]	Second Division	0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0	0	0
	2002–03[17]	First Division	0	0	—		0	0	—		—		0	0
	2003–04[18]	First Division	0	0	0	0	0	0	—		—		0	0
	2004–05[19]	Championship	0	0	0	0	0	0	—		—		0	0
	Total		0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0	0	0
Bristol City (loan)	2002–03[17]	Second Division	0	0	0	0	—		—		0	0	0	0
Tiverton Town (loan)	2002–03[20]	Southern League Premier Division	16	0	—		—		—		—		16	0
Stafford Rangers (loan)	2003–04[21]	Southern League Premier Division	1	0	—		—		—		—		1	0
Kidderminster Harriers (loan)	2004–05[19]	League Two	2	0	—		—		—		—		2	0
Wrexham (loan)	2004–05[19]	League One	17	0	—		—		—		4[a]	0	21	0
Manchester United	2007–08[22]	Premier League	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	2008–09[23]	Premier League	2	0	3	0	3	0	1[b]	0	0	0	9	0
	2009–10[24]	Premier League	9	0	0	0	1	0	2[b]	0	1[c]	0	13	0
	Total		12	0	3	0	4	0	3	0	1	0	23	0
Watford (loan)	2005–06[25]	Championship	44	0	1	0	0	0	—		3[d]	0	48	0
	2006–07[26]	Premier League	29	0	3	0	1	0	—		—		33	0
	Total		73	0	4	0	1	0	—		3	0	81	0
Birmingham City	2010–11[27]	Premier League	38	0	1	0	4	0	—		—		43	0
West Bromwich Albion (loan)	2011–12[28]	Premier League	37	0	2	0	0	0	—		—		39	0
West Bromwich Albion	2012–13[29]	Premier League	30	0	0	0	1	0	—		—		31	0
	2013–14[30]	Premier League	24	0	1	0	0	0	—		—		25	0
	2014–15[31]	Premier League	28	0	2	0	0	0	—		—		30	0
	2015–16[32]	Premier League	15	0	4	0	0	0	—		—		19	0
	2016–17[33]	Premier League	38	0	0	0	0	0	—		—		38	0
	2017–18[34]	Premier League	37	0	3	0	1	0	—		—		41	0
	Total		209	0	13	0	2	0	—		—		224	0
Watford	2018–19[35]	Premier League	38	0	0	0	0	0	—		—		38	0
	2019–20[36]	Premier League	38	0	0	0	0	0	—		—		38	0
	Total		76	0	0	0	0	0	—		—		76	0
Career total			444	0	20	0	11	0	3	0	8	0	486	0

1. Appearances in Football League Trophy
2. Appearance(s) in UEFA Champions League
3. Appearance in FA Community Shield
4. Appearances in Championship play-offs

International

As of match played 24 June 2014

Source:^[37][38][39]

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
England	2007	1	0
	2009	3	0
	2010	1	0
	2013	1	0
	2014	2	0
Total		8	0

Honours

Wrexham

• Football League Trophy: 2004–05^[40]

Watford

• Football League Championship play-offs: 2006^[41]
• FA Cup runner-up: 2018–19^[42]

Manchester United

• Football League Cup: 2008–09, 2009–10^[43]

Birmingham City

• Football League Cup: 2010–11^[44]

Individual

• Watford Player of the Season: 2006–07^[45]
• Alan Hardaker Trophy: 2009, 2011^[46]
• Birmingham City Player of the Season: 2010–11^[47]
• Birmingham City Players' Player of the Season: 2010–11^[48]
• West Bromwich Albion Supporters' Player of the Season: 2011–12, 2013–14^[49]
• West Bromwich Albion Players' Player of the Season: 2011–12, 2013–14^[49][50]
• London Football Awards Goalkeeper of the Year: 2018,^[51] 2019^[52]