Chris Gunter

Cardiff City

Gunter started his career as a striker when he played for local youth sides Durham Colts and Albion Rovers in Newport but switched to playing as a full back at a young age and signed for the Cardiff City youth side at the age of eight. He signed his first professional contract with the club on 1 August 2006 along with fellow Cardiff academy graduate Darcy Blake. Primarily a right-sided defender, Gunter made his senior debut for Cardiff on 22 August 2006 against Barnet in the League Cup first round, playing the full 90 minutes of a 2–0 loss at Ninian Park. After being included in the first team squad on several occasions, his league debut came in a 1–0 home loss to Queens Park Rangers on 17 November 2006. Gunter was praised for his performance by manager Dave Jones, who commented "Chris did the right things, let nobody down, and will only get stronger." Gunter would later describe his second league appearance, a 4–1 defeat to Hull City, as one of the lowest points of his career. However, he was able to maintain his place in the squad, competing with Kevin McNaughton and Kerrea Gilbert. In March 2007 he won the Football League's Apprentice of the Year award after impressing in the first team squad due to injuries to some regular players and during the summer of 2007, Gunter was the subject of two bids of £500,000 and £1 million from Premier League club Everton. Both, however, were rejected. At the end of the 2006–07 season, having made sixteen appearances…

Youth teams

Gunter started his Wales career during the 2003–04 season, making four appearances for the Schools' under-15 development squad before moving up to the Welsh Schools under-16 squad and played in a friendly against Republic of Ireland plus three Victory Shield internationals. He then made 11 appearances at Wales under-17 level during 2005–06, including captaining tue side, playing in two rounds of the UEFA Championships as Wales qualified from the opening group to reach the elite stage. His next step was playing for the Wales U19 squad in the Milk Cup. At age 16 years and 299 days, Gunter became the second youngest player to play for the Wales Under-21 team behind Lewin Nyatanga when he played against Cyprus Under-21 in 2006.

Senior team

Gunter received his first call up to the senior international side at the age of seventeen for a friendly match against New Zealand at the end of his first season of professional football, describing himself as being "absolutely staggered". He made his debut for Wales in the match on 26 May 2007 at the Racecourse Ground, Wrexham, featuring for the first half of a 2–2 draw. He was ever present at right back during 2010 World Cup qualifying and was the only player in the squad to have played in all ten matches. On 8 October 2010, Gunter received a straight red card in added time for a professional foul against Dimitar Rangelov in the 0–1 home loss against Bulgaria in a Euro 2012 qualifying match at the Cardiff City…

On 21 March 2023, Gunter was appointed as one of the coaches to the Wales national football team under team manager Rob Page. He managed the Wales under-19s at the 2026 UEFA European Under-19 Championship. In July 2026, he joined the coaching staff of Oxford United under new manager Aaron Ramsey. The following month, he was appointed manager of the Wales under-18s, a role he would undertake in addition to his duties with Oxford.

Gunter was born in Newport to Gerald and Sarah Gunter. As a youngster, he attended Durham Road Junior School before moving on to St Julian's High School as a teenager. He and his brother Marc support Cardiff City, beginning to follow the club from the age of nine, and he continued to go to away games that did not clash with his own youth team fixtures on supporters' coaches until 2006. Gunter also holds a BTEC National Diploma in Sports Studies.