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.

Originally a member of Southampton's youth teams, Ward-Prowse made his first-team debut in October 2011, and signed his first professional contract in 2012.

[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.