Jayson Leutwiler

Jayson William Leutwiler (born 25 April 1989) is a professional soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper for club Port Vale.

He was capped by Switzerland up to under-20 level.

Jayson William Leutwiler was born on 25 April 1989 in Neuchâtel, Switzerland.

His parents, Jean-Marc and Pascale, were both born in Neuchâtel.

He speaks French, German, and English.

He holds dual Swiss/Canadian citizenship.

Leutwiler started his youth soccer with the local amateur club in Cornaux at the age of five.

In 2002, he moved to the youth system of Neuchâtel Xamax and stayed there until 2005.

He was scouted by FC Basel in a match that Neuchâtel Xamax under-16s had lost 6–0.

In the summer of 2005, Leutwiler joined the youth department at FC Basel.

He played in their U-18 team during the 2005–06 season, under coach Patrick Rahmen and his assistant Marco Walker, and with them won both the Swiss U-18 championship and the U-19/18 national cup that season.

Leutwiler also played with the U-18 team in the 2006–07 season and they were able to defend their championship title.

Leutwiler advanced to the U-21 team, but with future Switzerland and Borussia Mönchengladbach goalkeeper Yann Sommer also in this age class, Leutwiler needed loan spells to gain playing experience.

A beginning of the 2007–08 season he was loaned out to Challenge League club Concordia Basel in exchange for their goalkeeper Riccardo Meili.

But this experiment was broken off just a few weeks later as Sommer was loaned out to Vaduz, which led to Meili and Leutwiler returning to their parent clubs.

Leutwiler then joined Basel's first-team under head coach Christian Gross for their 2007–08 season]as third goalkeeper behind Franco Costanzo and Oliver Stöckli.

He attended training with them but because he was not going to obtain the required playing experience with them, he played in the U-21 team, in the third tier, under coach Patrick Rahmen.

The team became division (group2) winners in the 2007–08 season and became Swiss champions at U-21 level.

Because he was also in the first-team squad, he was also Swiss champion at senior level.

For the 2008–09 season, Basel had Costanzo as number one, Stöckli as number two and Sommer out on loan, leaving Leutwiler as the third-choice goalkeeper for FCB and again playing in the U-21 team, who in the 2008–09 season became division (group2) winners and again Swiss champions at the U-21 level.

For the 2009–10 Challenge League season Leutwiler was loaned out to Yverdon-Sport, making his team debut for them in a 5–3 defeat at Thun on 26 July.

He played 30 games during his time at the Stade Municipal.

Then he spent the first half of the 2010–11 season out on loan at Wohlen, but was unable to hold the first-choice goalkeeper position, and returned to Basel early to again play in the U-21 team.

He signed with English Championship club Middlesbrough in August 2012, where he would play five games in two seasons before joining Shrewsbury Town in June 2014.

He also played the beginning of the 2011–12 season, but on 27 January 2012, he joined 1. Liga club Schaffhausen on loan until the end of the 2011–12 season.

By now in the Basel first-team, Sommer was number one, Costanzo was forced to leave, Stöckli retired, but youngster Mirko Salvi was up and coming.

So Leutwiler decided to move on.

On 14 August 2012, Leutwiler signed with English Championship club Middlesbrough following a trial spell.

He had been scouted by Gary Gill, who arranged a trial through agent Gaetano Giallanza whilst Leutwiler was with Schaffhausen.

He was allowed a run of games in pre-season friendlies whilst established number one Jason Steele was with the Great Britain Olympic team.

He made his competitive debut in a 3–1 win away at Preston North End in the League Cup third round on 25 September.

He made his league debut for the club on 10 August 2013, in a 1–0 win over Charlton Athletic at The Valley, replacing Steele for the last 12 minutes shortly after Lukas Jutkiewicz had scored the only goal of the game.

He immediately established himself as the club's first-choice goalkeeper, playing every league game as Shrewsbury secured promotion out of League Two at the end of the 2014–15 season, keeping a club record 23 clean sheets.

He later transferred his national allegiance to Canada, receiving his first call-up to the national team in October 2016.

He was chosen for their squads at the CONCACAF Gold Cup in 2017, 2019 and 2021.

A product of the Basel academy, Leutwiler never played a first-team game for the club, and instead spent time on loan at Concordia Basel, Yverdon-Sport, Wohlen, and Schaffhausen.

He was signed by Blackburn Rovers for an undisclosed fee in August 2017, having made 140 appearances in three seasons with Shrewsbury.

Blackburn secured promotion out of League One at the end of the 2017–18 campaign, though Leutwiler made just thirteen appearances in his three seasons at the club.

He spent September 2020 to January 2021 at Fleetwood Town and then ended the 2020–21 season as a back-up goalkeeper at Huddersfield Town.

He joined Oldham Athletic in June 2021, where he featured 31 times in two seasons, before joining Port Vale in June 2023.