Oliver Kay

Oliver Kay is a senior football writer for The Athletic, which he joined on its UK launch in 2019 after ten years as chief football correspondent for The Times.

Previously he was northern football correspondent for The Times, primarily reporting on Manchester and Merseyside. His job takes him around the country and around Europe, reporting on the biggest matches, living out the ambition that took hold once it dawned on him at a young age that these were the only football dreams he would be able to realise.

The award-winning Forever Young: The Story of Adrian Doherty, Football’s Lost Genius (Quercus, May 2016) was his first book. It took more than five years to research and write, but he said it was a joy and a privilege to uncover and publish Adrian's story. Forever Young won both the Football Book of the Year and Sports Book of the Year awards at the British Sports Book Awards in 2017. It was also shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year.

He has also collaborated on Ask A Footballer (by James Milner), At the End of the Storm: Stories from Liverpool's Historic Title Win and Standing Alone: Stories of Heroism and Heartbreak from Manchester City's 2020/21 Title-Winning Season.

Originally from Cheshire, Oliver now lives in Gloucestershire with his wife and two daughters.