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Jobi McAnuff is a former club and international footballer who has played for the likes of Cardiff, Crystal Palace, Reading, and Wimbledon, as well as for Jamaica.
Since retiring, he won the Sir Tom Finney award at the EFL Awards 2022 in recognition of his football career, and in December 2022, he was appointed to the FA Board as an Independent Non-Executive Director.
Jobi McAnuff made his professional debut for Wimbledon in the 2001-02 season, where he would go on to score 15 goals for the club. After the club went into administration in 2004, Jobi was signed to West Ham United, and then Cardiff City at the end of the year. The following year, he signed to Crystal Palace, staying until 2007 when he joined Watford. A slow start soon turned around, and he would go on to score two goals in two very important matches, giving the team two wins.
Since then, Jobi has played for Reading (who he captained in 2014), Leyton Orient, Stevenage, and the North American Soccer League team Minnesota United FC. It would be at Leyton Orient where Jobi would end his playing career, moving into a coaching role and becoming interim manager in 2021. He retired from playing and left his management role in May 2021.
Alongside his club career, Jobi has played internationally for Jamaica, through his Jamaican-born father. He made his debut in 2002 at the Unity Cub, and played intermittently over the years, until 2016. During his time here, he helped his squad win the 2014 Caribbean Cup, scoring in the penalty shootout.
Since leaving the professional playing and coaching sides of football, Jobi has become a familiar face on our TV screens and radio stations, and has worked for BBC Radio 5 Live, CVM, ITV Sport, Sky Sports, Sky Sports News, and talkSPORT.
In 2022 he was appointed an Independent Non-Executive Director for the FA Board, with a focus particularly around representation of black ex-players in roles including coaching and management.