Jamie Richard Vardy (born 11 January 1987) is an English professional footballer who plays for Leicester City as a striker. He is one of the most sucessful strikers in Premier league.

Vardy won the Premier League title with Leicester in 2016.
He has played for the England national team, but has retired from international play to protect his body from wear and tear. His club contract is by far his main source of income.

Vardy is very unusual, because he was a third division player who made it big when transferred to a Premier League club quite late in his career.

He started his footballing career at the age of sixteen, playing for Stockbridge Park Steels youth system. On his debut for Halifax Town in 2010, Vardy scored the winning goal against Buxton. He was their top scorer for the season, with 25 goals in 37 appearances. After leaving Halifax for Fleetwood Town, he became the season's top scorer with 31 league goals. 

In May 2012, Vardy signed for Championship side Leicester City. In 2013-14 season, Vardy got the Leicester's player of the season award, with 16 league goals. The following season, Leicester was promoted to the Premier league. Vardy won his first Premier League Player of the Month award for the month of October in 2015 and won it again in  November.  

The sports' highlight of the year was when Leicester won the 2015-16 season of the Premier League, one season after promotion. Vardy won the Premier League Player of the Season award and was one of the four Leicester players selected in the PFA Team of the Year. He scored his first UEFA Champions League goal on 22 February 2017. He is the only player in Premier league history to have scored goals in 11 consecutive (one after the other) matches. On 5 July, 2020, Vardy scored 2 goals against Crystal Palace to complete a century of goals in Premier League.

International career
Vardy was selected for the England squad for UEFA Euro 2016. He made his international debut for England on 7th June, coming as a substitute for Wayne Rooney against the Republic of Ireland. He scored his first goal for England against Germany on 26 March 2016. He was also selected in England's squad for the World Cup 2018.

On 28 August 2018, Vardy "stepped aside" from the England national team. He told manager Gareth Southgate that he did not want to be considered for selection unless there was an injury crisis.

Career statistics

Club

International

Source:

International goals
As of match played 11 July 2018. England score listed first, score column indicates score after each Vardy goal.
Source:

Honours
FC Halifax Town
Northern Premier League Premier Division: 2010–11

Fleetwood Town
Conference Premier: 2011–12

Leicester City
Premier League: 2015–16
Football League Championship: 2013–14

Individual
Premier League Player of the Season: 2015–16
FWA Footballer of the Year: 2015–16
PFA Team of the Year: 2015–16
FIFA FIFPro World11 5th team: 2016
Premier League Player of the Month (4): October 2015, November 2015, April 2019, October 2019
Premier League Goal of the Month: March 2018
Premier League Golden Boot: 2019–20
Conference Premier Player of the Month: November 2011
Conference Premier Top Goalscorer: 2011–12
Leicester City Player of the Season: 2019–20
Leicester City Players' Player of the Season (2): 2013–14, 2019–20

Comparison 
Despite his record, Vardy is not the most prolific goal-scorer in the history of Leicester City. That record is held by Arthur Chandler, who scored 273 goals for Leicester City in the 1920s and 1930s. Vardy is one of three L.C. players who have been nominated for the Ballon d'Or (the others were Gordon Banks and Riyad Mahrez).

References

Other websites

Profile at the Leicester City F.C. website

1987 births
2018 FIFA World Cup players
English footballers
Living people
Premier League players
UEFA Euro 2016 players
Sportspeople from Sheffield