Giles Barnes

Derby County

Barnes was born in Barking, London. His professional career began on his 17th birthday when he signed a professional contract with Derby County after being a trainee. He made his first-team debut under Phil Brown aged 17 as an 84th-minute substitute for Paul Peschisolido in a 1–0 defeat at home to Grimsby Town in the 2005–06 League Cup, with his league debut coming in a 1–1 draw away to Crewe two weeks later as a 73rd minute replacement for Marcus Tudgay. Barnes intermittently made first-team appearances as Derby struggled but began to command a regular place when Phil Brown was replaced by Derby's academy manager Terry Westley in January 2006. Westley was familiar with Barnes from his time as a youngster at Derby and made him an integral part of the team as Derby managed to avoid relegation to League One. Barnes played a role in 16 matches under Westley, with his first start coming in Westley's first match in charge (a narrow 1–0 home defeat to Sheffield United) and his first professional goal coming in a 2–2 draw away to Watford. His performances during the end of the 2005–06 season drew interest from the Premier League during the close season, but with the appointment of Billy Davies as manager and new investment, Barnes signed a four-year extension to his current contract. Barnes became a regular in the Derby team that won promotion to the Premier League, playing in 46 matches (with 34 of those starts) putting him behind only the club's player of…

Barnes represented England at under-19 level in several friendly matches during 2006 and 2007. Barnes was also eligible to represent Jamaica internationally through his paternal grandparents and in March 2014, he announced his intention to represent Jamaica at senior international level. In February 2015, Barnes announced his FIFA paperwork had been submitted to play for Jamaica. He could be included in the squad as soon as late March. Barnes was called up to Jamaica's squad for friendly matches against Venezuela and Cuba, scoring on his senior international debut against the former on 28 May 2015, the equaliser in a 2–1 win in Montego Bay. Later that day, he was included in Jamaica's 23-man squad for the 2015 Copa América held in Chile, and featured in all of their matches in a group-stage exit. At the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup, Barnes scored his second international goal to defeat Haiti 1–0 at the quarter-final stage. He then went on to score the decisive goal in the 2–1 semi-final defeat of hosts the United States at the Georgia Dome, as Jamaica qualified for their first ever Gold Cup final, which they eventually lost to Mexico.

On 15 February 2023, it was announced Barnes had been appointed assistant head coach to Seb Hines at National Women's Soccer League club Orlando Pride. He had been brought in during the previous season while Hines had assumed the role on an interim basis. In July 2026, Barnes departed from Orlando.

He is the older brother of the footballer Marcus Barnes. Barnes holds a U.S. green card which qualifies him as a domestic player for MLS roster purposes.