Matthew Briggs

Matthew Anthony Briggs (born 6 March 1991) is an English-born Guyanese professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Horsham and captains the Guyana national football team.

Briggs began his career with Fulham, where he progressed through the club's academy from the age of ten.

He made his first-team debut in May 2007, becoming the youngest player to play in the Premier League, aged 16 years and 68 days.

He made 13 league appearances over eight years with the club, and 30 in all competitions.

He had loan spells with a number of Football League clubs, including Leyton Orient, Peterborough United, Bristol City and Watford.

He featured at reserve level before being called up to Lawrie Sanchez's first-team for a trip to Middlesbrough in May 2007.

He made his debut in the 3–1 defeat at the Riverside Stadium on 13 May, replacing Moritz Volz after 77 minutes to become the Premier League's youngest ever player at the age of 16 years and 65 days old.

Briggs held the record for 12 years, until Harvey Elliott made an appearance, also for Fulham.

After the match, the club's Head of Youth Development, John Murtough, said of Briggs:

Matthew's a good lad and a good athlete.

He's come in and hasn't been fazed by anything we've asked of him.

It's still early days but he's shown promise in the Reserves – Lawrie Sanchez saw him and rewarded him with an opportunity to travel with the first team.

Briggs later said of the experience:

Lawrie Sanchez said he wanted me to travel with the squad and there was a chance I'd get on.

I was buzzing.

Going back to school the day after, everyone was like 'oh my God' you've played in the Premier League.

Briggs returned to school the next day to take his GCSE exams.

On 16 January 2010, Briggs signed for League One club Leyton Orient in a one-month loan deal that would run until 13 February.

He made his first professional appearance in two-and-a-half years on 19 January when he played the full 90 minutes in Orient's 2–0 home win over Yeovil Town.

This was to be his only appearance of the season.

On his return to Fulham, Briggs was handed his full debut by manager Mark Hughes in Fulham's 6–0 win against Port Vale in the League Cup at Craven Cottage on 25 August 2010.

He played for 58 minutes before being replaced by Stephen Kelly.

In the same season, he made his first start in the Premier League during a 1–0 defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on 10 November.

He played in Fulham's 2–1 defeat to Arsenal on 4 December, but was replaced by Chris Baird after just 28 minutes through injury, after which he had an operation on his calf muscles which Mark Hughes hoped Briggs would have fully recovered from in early 2011.

A troublesome ankle injury kept Briggs out of action for longer than expected, but in March 2011, he signed a contract extension to keep him with the club until the summer of 2014.

Under new manager Martin Jol, Briggs believed that the 2011–12 season would be the year that he became a regular starter for the Fulham first-team.

With Jol placing an emphasis on a youthful side and Fulham competing in the UEFA Europa League through the Fair Play ranking, Briggs started in the 3–0 Europa League first qualifying round win over Faroese club NSÍ Runavík on 30 June 2011.

He scored his first goal on 14 July with the opening goal in Fulham's 3–1 win over Crusaders at Seaview in Belfast.

Immediately after making the switch, Briggs admitted that he hoped he would be able to remain with Peterborough until the end of the 2011–12 season.

He made his debut on 14 February in Peterborough's 3–1 defeat away to Cardiff City.

He played five games during his one-month spell at London Road.

On his return to Fulham, Briggs was told by Jol that he would have to wait his chance in the first-team owing to the form of regular left-back John Arne Riise.

After Martin Jol had made Briggs available for loan in late January 2012, he joined Championship side Peterborough United on a month's loan on 7 February 2012.

He was released by Fulham in 2014, and he joined Championship side Millwall.

He found opportunities limited at Millwall, and he was loaned out to League One club Colchester United during the latter half of the 2014–15 season.

He was released by Millwall at the end of that season, joining Colchester United on a permanent basis where he remained until May 2017, playing 47 games.

He joined Chesterfield in August 2017.

Eligible to represent both England and Guyana, Briggs has represented England at under-16, under-17, under-19, under-20 and under-21 levels, and has represented Guyana at full international level.

Born in Wandsworth, London, Briggs was spotted by Fulham scouts at the age of ten.

Able to play at left-back or the left of midfield, Briggs became a regular in the under-18 side despite still being registered with the under-16s, having put in some impressive performances in his age group.