Will Grigg

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Will Grigg
Grigg, Will.jpg
Will Grigg (2011)
Personnel
Surname William Donald Grigg
birthday 3rd July 1991
place of birth Solihull ,  England
size 180 cm
position striker
Juniors
Years station
1998-2007 Birmingham City
2007 Solihull Moors
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
2007-2008 Stratford Town
2008-2013 Walsall FC 99 (27)
2013-2014 Brentford FC 34 0(5)
2014-2015 →  Milton Keynes Dons  (loan) 44 (20)
2015-2019 Wigan Athletic 133 (53)
2019– Sunderland AFC 39 0(5)
National team
Years selection Games (goals) 2
2009-2010 Northern Ireland U-19 17 0(2)
2010–2012 Northern Ireland U-21 10 0(1)
2012– Northern Ireland 13 0(2)
1 Only league games are given.
As of December 14, 2019

2 As of January 31, 2019

William Donald "Will" Grigg (born July 3, 1991 in Solihull , England ) is a Northern Irish football player who is under contract with AFC Sunderland and is active for the Northern Irish national team . Grigg achieved international fame during the 2016 European Championships in France with the song "Will Grigg's on Fire" .

Career

societies

Grigg, at the time still a fan of Aston Villa , began playing football at the age of seven at the football academy of city rivals Birmingham City . He went through the club's various youth teams but broke his leg at the age of 15. In 2007 he began studying at Solihull College in his birthplace and played for Solihull Moors .

After a season at Stratford Town , he got a professional contract with third division club Walsall in 2008 . In the first two seasons he came only to a league use when he was substituted on December 20, 2008 at the age of 17 at 0-0 against Cheltenham Town in the 90th minute. In the following two seasons he scored four goals in 28 and 29 league games respectively, and 19 goals in 41 games in the 2012/2013 season , making him the second top scorer in the league together with two other players.

In July 2013, he moved to league rivals FC Brentford , who had missed promotion to the second division in the promotion play of finals , on a free transfer . Here he only scored five goals in 34 games. Nevertheless, at the end of the season, Brentford FC rose as runners-up in the second division. For the 2014/15 season Grigg was awarded to the Milton Keynes Dons , for which he scored 20 goals in 44 games. So he had a share in the fact that the Dons rose as runners-up in the second division.

In July 2015, he moved to the second division Wigan Athletic , where he scored 25 goals in 40 games and thus contributed to the direct resurgence as a third division champion as the top scorer . In the EFL Championship 2016/17 he only scored five goals in 33 games and Wigan was relegated second to last. With 19 goals in 43 games, making him the third-best scorer in EFL League One 2017/18 , he played a key role in the renewed third division championship and the return to the EFL Championship 2018/19 . Here he scored four goals in 17 games in the first half of the season, but then moved to the third division AFC Sunderland in the second half of the season . With Sunderland he failed in the promotion play-off final at Charlton Athletic .

Northern Ireland national team

Grigg played in the last two qualifying games for the 2011 U-21 European Championship . He scored on September 3, 2009 19 minutes after his substitution in the final minute with his first goal the 4-0 final score against San Marino, but lost the second game against Germany with 0-3, where he also met Mario Götze . The Northern Irish were eliminated as well as the German team. In qualifying for the U-21 European Championship in 2013 , he then made six appearances, but remained without a goal and the Northern Irish were eliminated again as the penultimate.

After the sixth qualifier, he became the senior team invited and had the friendly match against the Netherlands on 2 June 2012, an 90-minute appearance as a lone striker. For Grigg it was the only 90-minute event to date. The Dutch used the game to warm up with six unsuccessful goals for the European Championship finals, which began a week later . For the last two games in the U-21 European Championship qualification in September, he was then just as neglected as for the next international matches of the senior national team. It was only in February 2013 that he played his second international match against Malta . In August, he made his first competitive appearance in the 1-0 win in the World Cup qualifier against Russia , when he was substituted on four minutes before the end of the game. The next qualifying game then took place again without his active participation, in the subsequent 2: 3 against Luxembourg he was substituted on when the score was 1: 2 ten minutes before the end of the game. At that point, both teams had no chance to qualify for the World Cup, but for the Luxembourgers it was the only victory in the qualification. After that, Grigg also played a six-minute short mission in the defeat against Azerbaijan - also the only victory for the Azerbaijanis in qualifying. In total, he sat on the bench in nine World Cup qualifiers, then had to wait 18 months for his next appearance in a friendly match and only made eight appearances as a bench press in qualifying for the 2016 European Championship . But his teammates managed to qualify for the European Championship finals for the first time even without his active participation.

On May 18, 2016, he was appointed by team manager Michael O'Neill , although he had not played an international match since May 2015, in the provisional squad with 28 players for the European Championship finals.

In the first test match in preparation for the European Championship, he was substituted on for the last half hour in the 3-0 win against the Belarusians who were not qualified for the European Championship and scored the last goal two minutes before the end of the game, which was his first international goal. A day later, Grigg was nominated for the final EM squad. Although he, like two other field players in the squad, was not used in the tournament, he gained international fame because the fans in the stands vocalized "Will Grigg's on Fire".

In the qualification for the 2018 World Cup , which began after the EM , he only had one use. The Northern Irish failed in the play-off games of the third group against Switzerland. In the UEFA Nations League 2018/19 he came in two of the six games was used, and he in the 1: 2 defeat to Bosnia and Herzegovina scored the goal for the Ulsterman. The qualification for the European Football Championship 2020 took place without him.

successes

National team

society

Wigan Athletic

Personal awards

"Will Grigg's on Fire"

After becoming the top scorer in England's third division in Wigan, Will Grigg became an internet hit. Wigan fan Sean Kennedy wrote "Will Grigg's on Fire" to the melody of the song Freed from Desire by the singer Gala from 1996. Thanks to the house duo Blonde , the new version stormed the UK download charts. Shortly after its release at the end of May 2016, “Will Grigg's on fire” landed in the top ten of the iTunes best list. The proceeds go to a foundation. The song is now also sung at international matches for the Northern Irish national team. During the 2016 European Championships in France , the song gained international fame.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Solihull College
  2. ↑ Cheltenham Town FC vs. Walsall FC 0-0
  3. ↑ Northern Ireland (U21) - San Marino (U21) 4: 0
  4. ↑ Germany (U21) - Northern Ireland (U21) 3: 0
  5. ↑ birminghammail.co: "Walsall youngster Will Grigg gets a German lesson in big-time football"
  6. ^ Luxembourg - North. Ireland 3-2
  7. ↑ irishfa.com: "Northern Ireland squad to play Belarus"
  8. ^ North. Ireland 3-0 Belarus
  9. ↑ bbc.com: "Euro 2016: NI boss O'Neill names final 23-man squad"
  10. ↑ Will Grigg receives votes as Europe's Footballer of the Year , kicker.de, accessed on February 12, 2017
  11. ↑ faz.net: "How Will Grigg became an Internet hit"
  12. ↑ welt.de: "Striker from Germany's opponent becomes a chart hit"
  13. ↑ EM song "Will Grigg's on fire" becomes a cult , June 22, 2016, accessed on June 24, 2016.
personal data
SURNAME Grigg, Will
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Grigg, William Donald (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Northern Irish soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH 3rd July 1991
PLACE OF BIRTH Solihull , England