James Tarkowski

Oldham Athletic

Early years

Tarkowski joined League One club Oldham Athletic on a two-year scholarship in May 2009. He made his reserve-team debut in October 2009. A centre-back, Tarkowski was called up to the first team for the first time for a league match versus Plymouth Argyle on 15 January 2011. His senior debut came on 22 January, coming on as an 80th-minute substitute for the injured Neal Trotman in a 2–1 home win over Brentford. Tarkowski made his first Latics start in a 1–0 defeat to Leyton Orient on 12 March and played the full 90 minutes. He was awarded a two-year professional contract by the club in May 2011. He made 9 appearances during the second half of the 2010–11 season. Tarkowski had to wait until 10 December 2011 to make his first appearance of the 2011–12 season, when he came on as a 61st-minute substitute for Jean-Yves Mvoto in a 2–0 home defeat to Sheffield Wednesday. A half time substitute appearance in Oldham's 2–1 Football League Trophy Northern Area final first leg defeat to Chesterfield on 30 January 2012 kicked off a run which saw Tarkowski included in almost all of Oldham's first-team squads until the end of the season. Tarkowski crowned his run of appearances by scoring his first senior goal for the club on the final day of the season in a 2–1 win over Carlisle United. He made 18 appearances during the 2011–12 season and scored one goal.

Breakthrough

Tarkowski began the 2012–13 season as a first-choice…

Club

As of match played 19 September 2026

International

Tarkowski was eligible to play for Poland through his grandfather but preferred to play for England, stating "I've always seen myself as an English person so to play for Poland would be difficult." On 15 March 2018, he was named in the England squad for pre-2018 FIFA World Cup friendlies against the Netherlands and Italy in March. He made his debut on 27 March when starting in the 1–1 draw with Italy at Wembley Stadium. On 16 May 2018, he was one of five players named on standby for Gareth Southgate's 23-man England national team squad for the World Cup, but Tarkowski was reported to have withdrawn from the standby list later for a hernia operation.

James Alan Tarkowski was born on 19 November 1992 in Manchester and grew up in New Moston. He attended New Moston Primary School and Failsworth High School, which he left in 2009. He is of Polish descent through his grandfather, Boleslaw Tarkowski, who was born in Poland. Tarkowski began his career in the youth system at Blackburn Rovers, before being released at the age of 14. After his spell at Blackburn, Tarkowski had a stint playing senior football at Maine Road in the North West Counties League. He studied for a Diploma in Football Sport Directorship at the Professional Footballers' Association business school.