Jan Kacper Bednarek (born 12 April 1996) is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Premier League club Aston Villa, on loan from Southampton, and the Poland national team.
![]() Bednarek lining up for Poland at the 2018 FIFA World Cup | |||
Personal information | |||
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Full name | Jan Kacper Bednarek[1] | ||
Date of birth | (1996-04-12) 12 April 1996 (age 26)[1] | ||
Place of birth | Słupca, Poland | ||
Height | 1.89 m (6 ft 2 in)[2] | ||
Position(s) | Centre-back | ||
Club information | |||
Current team | Aston Villa (on loan from Southampton) | ||
Number | 20 | ||
Youth career | |||
0000–2011 | Sokół Kleczew | ||
2011–2012 | MSP Szamotuły | ||
2012–2013 | Lech Poznań | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
2013–2015 | Lech Poznań II | 20 | (2) |
2013–2017 | Lech Poznań | 31 | (1) |
2015–2016 | → Górnik Łęczna (loan) | 17 | (0) |
2017– | Southampton | 132 | (7) |
2022– | → Aston Villa (loan) | 2 | (0) |
National team‡ | |||
2010 | Poland U16 | 1 | (0) |
2012–2013 | Poland U17 | 8 | (0) |
2013–2014 | Poland U18 | 8 | (0) |
2014–2015 | Poland U19 | 6 | (0) |
2015–2016 | Poland U20 | 4 | (0) |
2016–2017 | Poland U21 | 8 | (0) |
2017– | Poland | 44 | (1) |
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 23:33, 20 October 2022 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 23:31, 25 September 2022 (UTC) |
In 2013, Bednarek made his Ekstraklasa debut, at the age of 17 years old, for Lech Poznań against Piast Gliwice, in an eventual 2–0 win for the home side. The Polish under-21 international became an integral member of the squad, featuring 31 times and scoring once as Poznań narrowly missed out on the Polish Cup to Arka Gdynia 2–1 after extra time.[citation needed]
He was loaned to Górnik Łęczna for the 2015–16 season, where he managed a total of 17 league appearances before returning to his parent club.
On 1 July 2017, Bednarek joined Southampton on a five-year deal,[3][4] for a reported fee of £5 million.[5] On 23 August 2017, Bednarek made his debut for Southampton against Wolves in the EFL Cup which ended in a 2–0 defeat.[6] Bednarek did not feature again until 8 January 2018 in a FA Cup match against Fulham which ended in a 1–0 victory before being substituted for Maya Yoshida in the second half.[7] Bednarek played out of position at right-back during the game, but was able to help keep a clean sheet.[7][8]
Virgil Van Dijk left in January, and Mauricio Pellegrino was replaced by Mark Hughes who switched to a back three in April.[8] He made his Premier League debut on 14 April 2018 against Chelsea, and scored Southampton’s second goal in a 3–2 defeat.[9] Bednarek ended the season with five league appearances and eight in all competitions.[10]
On 28 August 2018, Bednarek made his first appearance of the season in the EFL Cup against Brighton which ended in a 1–0 victory.[11] On 22 September 2018, Bednarek made his first Premier League appearance of the season against Liverpool which ended in a 3–0 defeat after replacing Oriol Romeu in the second half.[12] On 3 December 2018, Mark Hughes was sacked by Southampton.[13] Under Hughes, Bednarek only made two league appearances so far that season.[14] The arrival of Ralph Hasenhüttl saw a change in fortune for Bednarek, who ended the season with 25 league appearances.[15][14]
On 10 August 2019, Bednarek made his first appearance of the season in the league in a 3–0 defeat against Burnley.[16] On 25 October 2019, Bednarek featured in Southampton’s 0–9 defeat to Leicester.[17] On 28 January 2020, Bednarek scored his first and only goal of the season in a 3–2 defeat to Wolves.[18] Following Southampton’s 1–0 defeat against Newcastle on 7 March 2020, English football was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[19][20]
Southampton and Bednarek would not play again until 19 June 2020 against Norwich which ended in a 3–0 victory.[21] Bednarek ended the season with 39 appearances in all competitions.[22]
On 12 September 2020, Bednarek made his first appearance of the season in the league in a 1–0 defeat to Crystal Palace.[23] On 6 November 2020, Bednarek featured in Southampton’s 2–0 win over Newcastle which saw ‘the Saints’ go top of the English top flight for the first time since 1988.[24] His only goal of the season came during a 3–2 defeat to Manchester United on 29 November 2020.[25] On 3 December 2020, Bednarek signed a new four-and-a-half year contract.[26]
On 2 February 2021, Bednarek scored an own goal, conceded a penalty and was given a red card after a foul on Anthony Martial in his team's record-equalling 9–0 defeat to Manchester United after Mike Dean checked the pitchside monitor.[27] Despite this, the red card was controversial and Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær believed that Bednarek should not have been sent off.[28] The red card issued was subsequently rescinded following an appeal by the club.[29]
Bednarek ended the season with 41 appearances in all competitions.[30]
On 22 August 2021, Bednarek made his first appearance of the season in a 1–1 draw against Manchester United after replacing Theo Walcott at half time.[31] Three days later, Bednarek made his first start of the season in a narrow 0–8 victory in the EFL Cup against Newport City, which is Southampton’s biggest away win in their history.[32] On 18 September 2021, after not starting the opening four games, Bednarek made his first league start of the season in a 0–0 draw with Manchester City.[33] In that game, Southampton defender Jack Stephens had played every minute in all competitions up until he suffered a knee injury.[34] Following the injury to Stephens, Bednarek returned to being a regular starter.[35]
On 1 December 2021, Bednarek scored his first league goal of the season in a 2–2 draw against Leicester City.[36] On 26 December 2021, Bednarek scored his second goal in three games after he netted the winner in Southampton’s 2–3 victory against West Ham.[37] On 11 January 2022, Bednarek scored again in Southampton’s 4–1 victory against Brentford.[38] On 16 April 2022, Bednarek’s final goal of the season came in a 1–0 victory against Arsenal, which took his total goals for the season to four and he ended the season with 34 appearances in all competitions.[39][35]
On 1 September 2022, Bednarek joined Aston Villa on a season-long loan.[40]
On 4 September 2017, Bednarek made his international debut for Poland in a 3–0 victory over Kazakhstan.[41]
In May 2018, he was named in Poland’s preliminary 35-man squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.[42]
On 28 June 2018, he scored his first goal for Poland, the only goal in a 1–0 victory over Japan at the World Cup.[43]
His brother Filip is also a footballer, who currently plays as a goalkeeper for the Polish club Lech Poznań.[44]
Club | Season | League | National Cup | League Cup | Europe | Other | Total | |||||||
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Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
Lech Poznań II | 2013–14[45] | III liga | 14 | 2 | — | — | — | — | 14 | 2 | ||||
2014–15[46] | III liga | 6 | 0 | — | — | — | — | 6 | 0 | |||||
Total | 20 | 2 | — | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 2 | ||||
Lech Poznań | 2013–14[45] | Ekstraklasa | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 2 | 0 | ||
2014–15[46] | Ekstraklasa | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 4 | 0 | |||
2016–17[47] | Ekstraklasa | 27 | 1 | 7 | 0 | — | — | 0 | 0 | 34 | 1 | |||
Total | 31 | 1 | 9 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 1 | |||
Górnik Łęczna (loan) | 2015–16[48] | Ekstraklasa | 17 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 18 | 0 | |||
Southampton | 2017–18[10] | Premier League | 5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 8 | 1 | ||
2018–19[14] | Premier League | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | — | 27 | 0 | |||
2019–20[22] | Premier League | 34 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | — | 39 | 1 | |||
2020–21[30] | Premier League | 35 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 41 | 1 | |||
2021–22[35] | Premier League | 31 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | — | 34 | 4 | |||
2022–23[49] | Premier League | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 3 | 0 | |||
Total | 132 | 7 | 10 | 0 | 10 | 0 | — | — | 152 | 7 | ||||
Aston Villa (loan) | 2022–23[49] | Premier League | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 2 | 0 | ||
Career total | 202 | 9 | 20 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 231 | 10 |
National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
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Poland | 2017 | 1 | 0 |
2018 | 11 | 1 | |
2019 | 9 | 0 | |
2020 | 6 | 0 | |
2021 | 10 | 0 | |
2022 | 7 | 0 | |
Total | 44 | 1 |
No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition | Ref. |
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1 | 28 June 2018 | Volgograd Arena, Volgograd, Russia | ![]() | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2018 FIFA World Cup | [43] |
Aston Villa F.C. – current squad | |
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Poland squads | |||||||||||||||||||
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Polish Newcomer of the Year | |
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