Sam Vokes

Club

International

Wales score listed first, score column indicates score after each Vokes goal.

Born and brought up in England, Vokes is eligible to represent Wales through a grandfather born in Colwyn Bay. He did not know he was eligible for Wales until manager Brian Flynn called him up to the Welsh under-21 team, and he made his debut against Northern Ireland on 6 February 2007. The seventeen-year-old made an instant impression by scoring after 36 seconds, a team record, in a 4–0 victory. He remained in the team and featured in their European U-21 Championship qualifying campaign. He was soon called up to the senior squad and made his debut in a 1–0 friendly win over Iceland on 28 May 2008, coming on as a substitute for Freddy Eastwood early into the second half. Vokes scored his first senior international goal when he netted the winner in a 1–0 win over Azerbaijan in their opening 2010 World Cup qualifier on 6 September 2008, striking seven minutes before the end at the Millennium Stadium. In May 2016, Vokes was listed for the 29-man squad for a pre-Euro 2016 training camp, and was retained for the tournament final squad. On 1 July, he came on as a substitute and scored for Wales in a 3–1 win over Belgium at the finals, sealing the victory to take Wales to their first ever semi-final appearance at a major tournament. At the 2018 China Cup, where Wales finished as runners-up, Vokes scored twice in a 6–0 win over the hosts in the semi-finals on 22 March.

AFC Bournemouth

Vokes stepped up into AFC Bournemouth's first team on 5 December 2006 in a 2–0 victory over Nottingham Forest. His first senior goal came in a 1–1 draw at Gillingham on 16 December. The club gave him a three-and-a-half-year professional contract during the following month. He made 14 appearances and scored four goals in his debut season as the Cherries finished in 18th spot. Vokes remained at Bournemouth during the 2007–08 season, despite being linked to several other clubs, including Newcastle United, Aston Villa, Everton and Celtic. He also turned down Crewe Alexandra in January 2008 who had made a £200,000 bid. Vokes was a bright spark in an otherwise tumultuous season for the Cherries as they were embroiled in a club ownership saga. His 12-goal tally could not prevent Bournemouth from being relegated to League Two.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

He eventually signed a four-year contract with Championship side Wolverhampton Wanderers on 23 May 2008. Vokes marked his debut for the club by coming off the bench to equalise in a 2–2 draw away to Plymouth Argyle on the opening day of the 2008–09 season. With the goal-scoring form of Chris Iwelumo and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake firing the club to the top of the table – that they led for almost the entire season – Vokes was mostly only employed as a substitute. Nonetheless he contributed to eight goals to help the team win promotion to the Premier League as champions. To gain playing time, Vokes moved to…

Vokes was born in Southampton and raised in Lymington, and attended Priestlands School in Pennington. Vokes began playing in the Southampton Academy but was released when he was ten-years-old. Vokes took a BTEC at Brockenhurst College and was taken on by Bournemouth's Academy.