Matthew Upson

Luton Town

Originally at the Ipswich Town Centre of Excellence, he joined Luton Town as a trainee after Ipswich youth coach Terry Westley moved there. Upson signed professional forms in April 1996, and made his sole Football League appearance for the team as an 88th-minute substitute against Rotherham United in August 1996.

Arsenal

He joined Arsenal in May 1997 in a £2 million deal. However, faced with the longevity of Arsenal's existing centre backs, Tony Adams, Steve Bould and Martin Keown, and struck by injury problems of his own, Upson rarely had a chance to break into the first team. He played only five matches in the 1997–98 Premier League season as Arsenal won the title, so did not qualify for a winners' medal. After spending a year out of the game recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament injury sustained in 1999, Upson made a handful of first-team appearance for Arsenal, in between loan spells at Nottingham Forest in 2000 and Crystal Palace in 2001. In 2001–02, his final full season at Arsenal, Upson made 22 appearances. These included 14 in the league, which earned him a Premier League winners' medal, but a broken leg in February 2002 ruled him out for the rest of the season and Arsenal's FA Cup-winning run as they won the Double. After recovering from the injury, Upson joined Reading in September 2002 on a three-month loan. It was for Reading that he scored his first professional career goal, in a 3–1 loss away to Cambridge United in the…

Upson played for England at youth level before being capped twelve times for the under-21 team, for whom he scored two goals. Regular Premier League football for Birmingham City in the 2002–03 season led to his selection for the senior squad, and he made his debut for England against South Africa in May 2003. He won seven full caps while a Birmingham player. Upson was named in Fabio Capello's first provisional England squad for the February 2008 friendly against Switzerland at Wembley. He was named in the starting line-up to partner Rio Ferdinand, winning his eighth England cap more than three years after his last appearance. He also started against Kazakhstan in October after John Terry picked up an injury. Upson scored his first goal for England on 19 November 2008 in a friendly match against Germany. The match finished 2–1 to England and Upson picked up ITV's man of the match award. He was included in England's squad for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. On 23 June, making his World Cup debut, he played in the third match of the group stage, against Slovenia after being an unused substitute in the first two matches. He scored England's goal in the 4–1 defeat against Germany in the round of 16 – his second goal for England and his second against Germany. It made him England's joint top scorer for the 2010 World Cup, tying with Steven Gerrard and Jermain Defoe on one goal each. The match was a defensive fiasco for Upson, who, along with Terry was caught out by a goal-kick…

Club

International

England score listed first, score column indicates score after each Upson goal.

Upson was born in Eye, Suffolk, and attended Diss High School in Norfolk. Upson and British runner Ellie Darby have a son named Elijah who came through the Tottenham Hotspur's academy. In July 2026, Elijah signed for Matthew's former club Arsenal. Upson has appeared as a football pundit for the BBC's Match of the Day and during their 2018 World Cup and 2022 World Cup coverage.