Richard Stearman

Leicester City

Stearman was born in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, and raised in Leicestershire. He joined the Leicester City youth academy in 1998 having been spotted playing for his local side Harborough Town. Equally adept at playing at right-back or centre-back, he signed his first professional contract in 2004, shortly after having won Leicester's Young Player of the Year award in 2003–04. Stearman made his senior debut, aged 17, on 30 October 2004 in a goalless draw at Cardiff City. He scored his first senior goal in Leicester's 3–1 home victory over Millwall on 2 April 2005 and finished his first season with eight appearances. He became a first team regular in 2005–06, and attracted a bid from Sunderland, rejected by then-manager Rob Kelly, who said he was unwilling to part with one of his players he considered a hot prospect. He remained with the club for two more seasons, and won both Player of the Year and Player's Player of the Year awards in 2007–08.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

After Leicester were relegated to League One, Stearman signed for Championship side Wolverhampton Wanderers on 25 June 2008 in a four-year deal. He made his debut for Wolves in a 2–2 draw at Plymouth Argyle on 9 August 2008. Towards the latter end of 2008 saw Stearman partnering England under-21s teammate Michael Mancienne in defence. On 3 May, he scored his first goal for the club, an injury time winner against Doncaster Rovers, and received a championship winners medal.…

Stearman has represented England at Under-17 level in the 2004 European Championships and also at the Under-18 level. He was first called up by the England under-21 squad in November 2007 for the 2009 European Championship qualifiers, however he was an unused substitute in the games. He later received a second call-up from the under-21s when he was selected for a European Championship qualifier against Portugal in September 2008. However, he was again an unused substitute in the game, and again in the qualifying play-offs against Wales in October 2008. Stearman made his debut in a 2–0 friendly win over the Czech Republic under-21s on 18 November 2008, and a 3–2 defeat to Ecuador on 11 February 2009. Stuart Pearce included him in the squad for the 2009 UEFA U21 championships when centre half and captain Steven Taylor withdrew due to injury. On 12 March 2011, the Football Association of Ireland confirmed that they had contacted Stearman to play for the Republic of Ireland as he has an Irish grandparent on his mother's side of the family. In November 2012, Stephen Hunt said that Stearman had acquired an Irish passport.

Following his retirement in July 2024, Stearman remained with National League side Solihull Moors as first-team coach. On 26 March 2025, Stearman joined Championship side Swansea City as assistant coach until the end of the season.

As of match played 8 January 2023