Aaron Ramsey

Cardiff City

After impressing in an Urdd tournament as a youngster he signed for Cardiff City, who fended off competition from Newcastle United, as a schoolboy at the age of eight, working his way through the club's youth system. After a few more years he eventually made his debut in the last home game of the 2006–07 Championship season, coming on to replace Paul Parry in the final minute of the 1–0 defeat to Hull City on 28 April 2007. In doing so, Ramsey became the youngest player to ever play for Cardiff City, aged just 16 years and 124 days, beating the previous record holder John Toshack. In June 2007, Cardiff turned down a bid of over £1 million for Ramsey from a London-based Premier League club. The club was not named, but it was widely believed that they continued to watch Ramsey at every available opportunity during the 2007–08 season. Cardiff also turned down a £1 million offer, although the deal was to start with a payment of £200,000 and rise depending on his future achievements, from Everton. Ramsey made his first league appearance of the 2007–08 season on 6 October, when he came on as a late substitute for Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink in the 2–1 home win over Burnley. Ramsey signed his first professional contract in December 2007 and went on to make his first full professional start for Cardiff on 5 January in the FA Cup against Chasetown replacing the suspended Stephen McPhail. An impressive performance from Ramsey saw him head in the second Cardiff goal…

Oxford United

On 23 June 2026, Ramsey was appointed head coach of EFL League One club Oxford United.

Ramsey had his first taste of international action when he was called up for the Wales U17s in 2005. A part of the new wave of young talents to emerge from the Wales youth teams, he debuted for the U21 side on 21 August 2007 in a 4–3 away win over Sweden U21s several months shy of his seventeenth birthday, breaking former club mate Chris Gunter's record. Youth coach Brian Flynn revealed that Ramsey had been purposely held back in the U21s to help qualify for the 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship but they lost a close contest to England U21s in the play-offs, where Ramsey himself scored a volley with his weaker foot in the second leg at Villa Park. Ramsey made his debut for the Wales national football team on 19 November 2008, aged 17, playing 88 minutes of a 1–0 away win in Denmark. On 14 October 2009, he scored his first senior goal in the 2010 World Cup qualifier away at Liechtenstein from a free kick awarded for a trip on Gareth Bale. As the World Cup qualification campaign came to an end, he and 11 other senior internationals were recalled to Flynn's preliminary U21 squad on 30 October for a qualifier but later withdrew. On 6 November, Toshack also called him up for 14 November friendly against Scotland. Wales won 3–0 and Ramsey was involved in all of them – assisting David Edwards' opener, setting up Joe Ledley to assist the second and then scoring a solo effort. Ramsey was awarded the FAW's Young Player of the Year award that same month. Manager Gary Speed…

As a child, Ramsey attended Ysgol Gyfun Cwm Rhymni (Rhymney Valley Comprehensive School) in Caerphilly County Borough. Ramsey's first introduction to football was at the age of nine, when he attended an Urdd training session at Caerphilly. Before turning to football, he was a keen rugby player and athlete. As a schoolboy, he played as a winger for Caerphilly RFC's youth development programme, where he was approached by scouts from rugby league side St. Helens after playing in a youth match against them, but had already been signed by Cardiff City's youth academy. Ramsey was Welsh Schools' Athletic Association pentathlon champion in 2005 and was ranked 4th in Great Britain in the under 17 age group in 2006. He lived with his parents, Marlene and Kevin, and his brother, Josh, until moving to London where he was housemates with former Cardiff City teammate, Chris Gunter, who was then playing for Tottenham Hotspur. Ramsey is a fluent Welsh language speaker.