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Jake Brown (footballer)
Jake Brown (born c. 1996) is an English television personality and former association football and CP football player. As a footballer, he represented England, including at the 2015 IFCPF CP Football World Championships where they recorded a best-ever fifth-place finish. On television, he won the third series of reality game show The Traitors. FootballThough born with cerebral palsy, Brown had always insisted on participating in non-adjusted sports as a child, and this included playing football on teams with able-bodied peers. He began playing football at four years old, before being approached by a scout for the England national cerebral palsy football team in 2013; Brown initially had reservations, thinking the quality of such a squad would be low and not wanting to be primarily associated with his disability. After playing with them – and ultimately being selected to represent England – Brown discovered that the level of CP football was better than expected, and that being part of a team with other disabled athletes gave him a different perspective on embracing his cerebral palsy.[2] Nominally a midfielder, Brown played as part of the attack for England.[3][4][5] He played his first match for England CP against the United States in 2013.[2] He then took part in the 9th International Trophy of 7-aside Football in Barcelona,[6] which England won,[7] before being selected for the squad to compete in the 2014 European Championships.[8] England played hosts Portugal in the opening match, with Brown subbed on at half time in the 5–0 victory.[1] After a draw against Ukraine, England went directly into the quarter-finals, losing 5–1 to Russia, though Brown did not play in either game.[9][10] The team then competed for placement, with Brown starting and scoring in their 7–1 victory over Northern Ireland.[11] England placed fifth, their best result at the tournament in over twenty years.[8] Brown won the Cumbria Sports Award for Disability Performance of 2014.[12] By 2015, Brown was playing for Askam United in the Furness Premier League, a mainstream football team.[8][13] In the 2015–16 season, he played two games for Askam United and twelve games for their reserves side, scoring one goal.[14] Brown then represented England at the 2015 World Championships, where he was one of the top scorers.[12] He scored a brace in England's opening game against Japan, a 14–0 victory[15] in which he was particularly influential.[16] England lost 1–0 to European champions Ukraine in their other group stage match, in which Brown was subbed on, which set them up against world champions Russia in their first knock-out game.[17][18] Brown started again as England lost 5–0 to Russia, relegating them to the bottom half for final placement matches; their best possible result would be fifth, something they had not achieved before.[19][20] Brown then scored England's first two goals in their 10–0 defeat of the United States, qualifying England for the fifth-place play-off.[20] In the play-off against the Republic of Ireland, Brown almost scored England's second but Irish goalkeeper Simon Lestrange "[pulled] off an amazing reaction" to save his shot; England won the match 2–0[21] to place a best-ever fifth. This finish also qualified Great Britain to the 2016 Summer Paralympics,[12][15] though Brown was not selected for the Great Britain squad.[22] For his performances, he won regional awards for disability sport, including being named Barrow's best adult sportsperson for 2015 (fellow footballer Georgia Stanway took the youth award)[12] and nominated for Cumbria Sports Personality of the Year.[23] Brown continued playing for Askam United through the 2022–23 season, in this time making 65 league appearances (scoring two goals); eight cup appearances; and two other competitive appearances.[24] TelevisionIn January 2025, Brown appeared on the third series of reality game show The Traitors (which sees Faithful contestants contribute to a joint prize pot and secret Traitor contestants create discord and remove others from the game), ultimately winning the series along with Leanne Quigley.[25][26] Brown said that he wanted to appear on the show to "represent the cerebral palsy and disability community", and that the prize money would allow him to give back to his family who had supported him. Speaking before the final, he said that he felt lucky to have made it so far, "but it helps when you spot a Traitor early on";[27] Brown had noticed contestant Linda Rands apparently react to the word "traitor" at the very start of the show, and focused on banishing her.[28][29] Brown said one of his favourite moments was seeing Rands banished, after he had hunted her for so long,[30] and Rands suggested Brown should win the show because of his gameplay and for never blindsiding her.[29] As the show went on, he was chosen as the "biggest threat" and "leader of the pack" by fellow contestants.[31] In the final, Brown and the other Faithful contestants managed to banish the final Traitor before, not knowing they were all Faithful, they turned on each other and eliminated two more contestants. Brown and Quigley ended up as the final two.[25][32] Brown decided to create one last twist in the final after Quigley revealed she was Faithful: knowing that he was also Faithful and so they would both win, he took a long pause before telling Quigley, feeling this "added a bit more spice to it".[26] The show was watched live by over 9 million people, making it one of the most popular on British television.[32] Personal lifeBrown was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at nine months old.[8] He trained as an accountant[2] and works as a project manager. He is from Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria,[30] and attended the Dowdales School.[33] He is married.[27] HonoursEngland CP
Individual
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