Ché Adams

Early career

Adams was born in Leicester, where he played football as a youngster for Highfield Rangers. He joined Coventry City's youth academy as a seven-year-old, and was released at fourteen. He then played youth football for Leicester club St Andrews before joining Oadby Town in 2012. Initially playing for their youth team, Adams soon moved into the first team; over the 2012–13 season, the sixteen-year-old made 33 appearances for Oadby in the United Counties League, of which 27 were in the starting eleven, and scored five goals. Adams took up a scholarship with Ilkeston's academy, and helped their team win their section of the Football Conference Youth Alliance and reach the second round proper of the 2013–14 FA Youth Cup. He was also playing first-team football in the Northern Premier League. Making his debut on 13 October as a very late substitute in a 3–2 win away to Stocksbridge Park Steels, Adams made his first league start in November, was sent off for elbowing an opponent on Boxing Day, scored his first senior goal for the club to complete a 3–1 win away to Ashton United on 5 April – he "picked up a loose ball and made a fine run through midfield and provided a left foot finish despite [the goalkeeper's] best effort to make the block" – and finished his season with the Derbyshire Senior Cup final, in which he was fouled for the penalty kick that made sure of Ilkeston's victory. After Adams began 2014–15 in impressive fashion – introduced after 64 minutes…

Adams was eligible to represent England, his country of birth, as well as Antigua and Barbuda – his father came from Antigua – and Scotland, via his maternal grandparents hailing from Edinburgh. His maternal grandmother moved to Leicester in her early thirties. He was invited to join the Antigua and Barbuda squad for Caribbean Cup qualifiers in October 2014, but declined. England C, the team that represents the country at semi-professional level, named Adams in the squad for an International Challenge Trophy fixture in November, but he became ineligible when he turned professional with Sheffield United. He was called up to the England U20 squad for two matches against the Czech Republic in early September 2015. He made his debut on 5 September in a 5–0 win at St George's Park, replacing Tyler Walker for the final 17 minutes, and started the second match, a 1–0 defeat. Adams was approached by the Scottish Football Association in 2017, initially to consider playing for Scotland U21, and later for a senior friendly in November, but was not willing to commit himself at that time. In March 2021, Adams committed his allegiance to Scotland, denying reports that the prospect of featuring at UEFA Euro 2020 was his sole motivation, and was called up for the 2022 World Cup qualifiers against Austria, Israel and the Faroe Islands. He made his debut as a second-half substitute on 25 March against Austria, and scored his first goal for Scotland six days later in a 4–0 victory over the…

Manager Kevin Wilson of Adams' former club Ilkeston described Adams as having "pace in abundance, but he's really powerful too" and said that "his biggest asset is that knack of changing games in the blink of an eye".

Adams was named after Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara.