James Michael Edward Ward-Prowse (born 1 November 1994) is an English professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Premier League club West Ham United.

[6] Ward-Prowse was first called up to the Southampton first team in October 2011, when he made his debut at the age of 16 in the Football League Cup against Crystal Palace.

[11][12] In his second starting appearance for the team, Ward-Prowse scored Southampton's first goal in a 2–1 win over Coventry City to help his side through to the fourth round of the FA Cup.

[7][13] Following the club's promotion to the top flight in May 2012, Ward-Prowse was one of four youth players offered a professional contract for their return to the Premier League, along with Jack Stephens, Luke Shaw, and Calum Chambers.

[14] Ward-Prowse made his Premier League debut for Southampton on the opening day of the 2012–13 season, playing the first 65 minutes of a 3–2 loss against reigning champions Manchester City.

[16] After a substitute appearance against Wigan Athletic,[17] the 17-year-old returned to the starting line-up for the third match of the campaign against Manchester United, continuing to draw praise from commentators.

[18] In November, shortly after his 18th birthday, Ward-Prowse signed a five-year contract with Southampton, amidst speculation that he might leave the club in the near future.

[22] The midfielder did, however, win the Scholar of the Season accolade at the Southampton club awards ceremony in May, beating academy teammates Luke Shaw and Dominic Gape to the title.

[28] He was given a straight red card on 2 May for a foul on Sunderland's Jermain Defoe, conceding a penalty from which Jordi Gómez scored the winning goal.

[31] Ward-Prowse was praised by manager Ronald Koeman after scoring two goals in a 3–0 home win against West Bromwich Albion on 16 January 2016: a free kick and a penalty.

[38] In June 2020, Ward-Prowse replaced Pierre-Emile Højbjerg as Southampton captain, initially until the end of the 2019–20 season, after the Dane publicly expressed a desire to leave the club.

[43] Ward-Prowse scored a penalty in Southampton's 3–1 loss to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on 2 October 2021, but he also got a red card after Martin Atkinson went to the VAR monitor to review a late challenge he made on Jorginho.

[52] On 14 August 2023, Ward-Prowse signed for Premier League club West Ham United on a four-year contract,[53][54] for a reported transfer fee of £30 million.

[64] In August 2013, at the age of 18, Ward-Prowse received his first call-up to the England under-21 team, for the 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification matches against Moldova and Finland.

[72] Ward-Prowse was nominated for the Vauxhall England Under-21 Player of the Year award, but eventually lost out to Southampton teammate Nathan Redmond.

[73] In June 2017, he captained the under-21s at that year's edition of the European Under-21 Championship where England reached the semi-finals, eventually losing to Germany in a penalty shoot-out.

[75] Six days later, he made his senior debut along with teammate Nathan Redmond in a 1–0 away loss to Germany, replacing West Bromwich Albion's Jake Livermore after 82 minutes.