Jamie Carragher

By Craig · Published 9 November 2026

Jamie Carragher grew up in Bootle supporting Everton, then played 737 games for Liverpool, a total beaten only by Ian Callaghan. He never won the league, and he scored more Premier League own goals than goals. But in Istanbul in 2005 he defended through extra time with cramp in his legs, and Liverpool fans have never forgotten it.

Clubs

Liverpool

Premier League

508 appearances, 4 goals

Honours

Champions League 2005, UEFA Cup 2001, FA Cup 2001 and 2006, League Cup 2001, 2003 and 2012, UEFA Super Cup 2001 and 2005

International

38 England caps

Fantasy price

£5.0m in 1998/99

How he arrived

Carragher was born in Bootle on 28 January 1978 and grew up an Everton fan, like his dad. At 11 he spent a year at Everton's School of Excellence, then went back to Liverpool. He won the FA Youth Cup with them in 1996 and turned professional that October.

Three months later he was in the first team. His debut came on 8 January 1997, as a substitute for Rob Jones in a 2-1 League Cup defeat at Middlesbrough. Three days later he made his Premier League debut in a 0-0 draw with West Ham at Anfield.

A week after that, on 18 January, he was a last-minute replacement in central midfield against Aston Villa. He headed in a corner in a 3-0 win. It was the first of four Premier League goals in 508 games, so he made the most of it.

For the next few seasons he played wherever there was a gap: midfield, right-back, left-back. He was the club's player of the year in 1998/99, and in 2001 he won the League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup treble as a full-back.

The moment: Manchester United, 11 September 1999

A Saturday lunchtime kick-off at Anfield, and three minutes in Carragher had already put United ahead. He sent a sprawling diving header past his own goalkeeper, Sander Westerveld. As own goals go, it was a decent finish.

Andy Cole made it 2-0 after 18 minutes. Sami Hyypiä pulled one back with his first Liverpool goal, and then, a minute before half-time, Carragher bundled a United corner into his own net from close range. Patrik Berger scored in the second half, but United won 3-2.

The Premier League says he was the first player to score two own goals in one Premier League match. He was 21, and he still had more than 13 years at Anfield ahead of him.

The other moment: Istanbul, 25 May 2005

Rafael Benítez arrived in the summer of 2004 and moved Carragher to centre-back next to Hyypiä. He played 56 gamesthat season and was the club's player of the year again. The biggest of those games was the Champions League final against AC Milan.

Liverpool were 3-0 down at half-time. Steven Gerrard, Vladimír Šmicer and Xabi Alonso scored in six minutes to make it 3-3, and from then on Milan attacked and Carragher kept getting in the way. UEFA's match report picks out a last-ditch tackle to stop Kaká.

By extra time he had cramp in his legs. He kept going into challenges anyway, especially to stop Andriy Shevchenko, and he was photographed holding on to a goalpost to stretch the cramp out. Liverpool won 3-2 on penalties. The football writer Henry Winter called it "the greatest individual half-hour display I've ever seen".

Why the streets won't forget

Liverpool have had more gifted players, and Carragher knew it. "There may be more skilful players in the squad, but no one can ever say I don't give 100%," he said. That was the deal he offered for 17 seasons, and the fans took it.

He never won the league. The closest he came was 2008/09, when he played all 38 league games and Liverpool finished second, four points behind Manchester United. He was in the PFA Team of the Year in 2005/06, and he won 38 England caps. He gave up on international football in 2007 because he wasn't playing enough, then came back for the 2010 World Cup.

He also answers two good pub-quiz questions. Who was the first player to score two own goals in a Premier League game? And who has played more Premier League games for Liverpool than anyone else? Same man. His seven Premier League own goals put him joint second on the all-time list, behind Richard Dunne.

That makes him an interesting retro fantasy pick. A defender with four goals in 508 games won't win you many points on his own. But he played 33 or more league games in 11 of his 17 seasons, and in a fantasy squad turning up every week counts for a lot.

Where is he now

Carragher announced in February 2013 that he would retire at the end of the season. His last game was a 1-0 win over QPR at Anfield on 19 May 2013, his 737th for the club. He was substituted three minutes from the end.

He went straight into television with Sky Sports, and from 2013 to 2016 he andGary Neville did Monday Night Football together. In March 2018 Sky suspended him for the rest of the season after he was filmed spitting towards a father and his 14-year-old daughter in another car after a Manchester United v Liverpool game. He called it "a huge mistake in a moment of madness".

He is still a Sky pundit in 2026/27. Since 2020 he has also been part of CBS Sports' Champions League coverage in the United States, and he is back on the panel this season with Thierry Henry,Micah Richards and host Kate Scott. He also appears on the Stick to Football podcast, which got him into trouble in late October 2026: Aston Villa threatened legal action over his comments about their fans. He apologised, calling his language "clumsy and wrong", and Villa dropped it.

Away from the cameras there is the 23 Foundation, his charity for young people on Merseyside. He wore 23 for Liverpool.

Which seasons can you draft him in?

Fifteen. He isn't in the game's squads for his first two seasons, 1996/97 and 1997/98.

Want him at the back of your retro fantasy football team? Draft a squad from1998/99.