Joe Ralls

Cardiff City

Ralls began his career at Badshot Lea, before later joining Aldershot Town, where he played one game for the first-team in an Aldershot Senior Cup tie against Bagshot at the age of just 15 after a number of senior players were rested, before joining Farnborough under-16s. After he was spotted by Cardiff City scouts along with Jordan Carter, a small compensation was paid by Cardiff to sign the two players. He had previously agreed to play in a trial match for Premier League club Fulham, although this was postponed before he joined Cardiff. He also attracted interest from Everton and Notts County. Then Cardiff academy manager Neal Ardley has stated that he had to convince other staff at the club about Ralls after he declared his intention to offer him a contract. Following his departure from the club, Farnborough youth coach Aidan Whelan commented "We realised from when he first joined us that he has a real talent. He was head and shoulders above players at the same age level". After Cardiff were left with a depleted squad due to international call-ups prior to a Football League Cup tie against Oxford United on 10 August 2011, manager Malky Mackay approached Ardley to enquire which players in the academy set-up would be ready to step into the first-team for the match. Ardley recommended Ralls, Deji Oshilaja and Mamadou Diallo to Mackay and Ralls and Oshilaja were eventually named on the substitutes bench for the match. Mackay later revealed that he knew…

Ralls received his first international call for the England Under-19s to replace the injured Robert Hall to play Czech Republic in February 2012. Ralls came on in the games to make his English debut.

Primarily a central midfielder, Ralls featured frequently at left midfield and left-back during the early stages of his career at Cardiff City and Yeovil, commenting that, although not a natural in either position, he can "do a job there" but admitted that he does "naturally tend to drift inside" when playing out of position. Ralls has described himself as a box-to-box midfielder that "likes to get forward as much as possible".

As of 24 January 2026