Joe Champness

Joseph William Champness (born 27 April 1997) is a New Zealand professional footballer and rapper[1] who plays as a winger for Turkish club Adanaspor and the New Zealand national team.[2] Born in New Zealand but raised in Australia, Champness represents New Zealand in international competition after switching from Australia in 2021.[3]

Joe Champness
Personal information
Full name Joseph William Champness
Date of birth (1997-04-27) 27 April 1997
Place of birth Auckland, New Zealand
Height 1.89 m (6 ft 2+1⁄2 in)
Position(s) Right winger
Team information
Current team
 Adanaspor
Number 27
Youth career
2013–2015 Moreton Bay United
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2015 Moreton Bay United 17 (3)
2016 Brisbane Roar 0 (0)
2017–2021 Newcastle Jets 36 (8)
2017 → Académica de Coimbra (loan) 9 (0)
2020–2021 → Brisbane Roar (loan) 24 (2)
2021–2022 Giresunspor 11 (2)
2023– Adanaspor 5 (1)
International career‡
2016–2017 Australia U20 7 (2)
2018–2019 Australia U23 3 (2)
2021 New Zealand U23 5 (0)
2021– New Zealand 6 (0)
Medal record
Men's football
Representing  Australia
AFF U19 Youth Championship
First place2016 VietnamU20 Team
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 18 September 2023
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 25 March 2022

Early life

Champness attended St Patrick's College where he was college captain in 2014. His younger brother Daniel Francis Champness, who was also college captain, plays as a midfielder for Moreton Bay United.[4]

Football career

Newcastle Jets

Champness signed a scholarship contract with the Newcastle Jets along with three other emerging youngsters in January 2017 until the end of the 2017-18 season, but almost immediately after the deals were announced Champness and former emerging Jet Antonee Burke signed a loan deal with Portuguese 2nd Division club Academica de Coimbra through to mid-2017. Champness spent his time at Academica playing football for the reserve team and occasionally training with the first team.[5]

Champness had a successful pre-season in 2017 appearing regularly for the first team, scoring four goals and impressing new coach Ernie Merrick enough to reward him with a three-year deal until 2019/20 although he will still be playing under the scholarship contract for the 2017-18 season. Champness made his professional debut on the 7 October 2017 away to the Central Coast Mariners coming on late and scoring a goal in the 81st minute. Champness then started his first professional game in Round 5 at home against the Wellington Phoenix. Champness scored his second goal for Newcastle in round 8 starting the game and scoring in the 75th minute in the Jets 4-1 win over the Melbourne Victory.[6]

On 14 August 2019, prior to the season after spending most of the pre-season in the United States, Champness decided to quit playing soccer, so that he can follow his music dream. He made statements to the effect that if he decides to return to playing in the next three years, he would come back to Newcastle Jets.[7]

Brisbane Roar

Following his musical career break from football Champness joined Brisbane Roar on loan ahead of the 2020–21 A-League season, angering many in the Newcastle camp over his backing out of the alleged "deal" to return to the Jets.[8]

Giresunspor

Champness joined Giresunspor in the Turkish Super League on a 3 year contract with a possible one year extension into the 2024/25 season. Due to unpaid wages he left the club in March 2022 after 13 games, having scored 4 goals while coming on as a substitute in almost all of his matches. Champness terminated the contract and proceeded with a FIFA Dispute Resolution claim. FIFA found in favour of Champness and awarded him €790,000 Euros (1.33 million New Zealand Dollars) plus interest.[9]

International

Champness was born in New Zealand to a Kiwi father and a Filipino mother, making him eligible to represent New Zealand, Australia and Philippines at international level.[10]

He has represented Australia at youth level, and was a member of the Young Socceroos team in the 2016 AFC U-19 Championship in Bahrain.

It was reported on 14 June 2021 that Champness changed his international allegiance to New Zealand.[3] On 25 June, Champness was selected in the New Zealand squad competing in the Olympics. He made his debut for the New Zealand national football team on 12 October 2021 in a friendly against Bahrain.[11]

Club statistics
As of 21 June 2021[12]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
AAC Secção de Futebol 2016–17 Campeonato de Portugal 90000090
Newcastle Jets 2017–18 A-League 2750000275
2018–19 A-League 93000093
Brisbane Roar (loan) 2020–21 A-League 2420000242
Career totals 691000006910

    Honours

    International
    Australia

    Music career

    Outside from his football career, Champness releases music under the name JOWIC. He has released 5 singles as of May 2021. His biggest single, "My Plan" was released in February 2020, amassing over 3.5 million combined views over multiple platforms, and placements on the music TV stations BET Jams and VH1 Soul.[13]

    Critical response

    “My Plan” received a 3.5/5 rating from Triple J critic Dave Ruby Howe, who compared the style of the song to PartyNextDoor and Bryson Tiller.[14]

    In 2019, Champness left the Newcastle Jets to pursue a music career in Los Angeles.[7] Champness came back to Australia in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and signed on loan with the Brisbane Roar. This caused a backlash from the Jets, who claimed that Champness had signed a contract that said if he came back from Los Angeles within 3 years, he would only be able to play for them.[15]

    References
    1. "JOWIC". Spotify. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
    2. "Confirmed: Champness secures loan move to Roar". A-League. 2 November 2020. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
    3. Voerman, Andrew (14 June 2021). "Australian age-group international Joe Champness now eligible for New Zealand". stuff.co.nz.
    4. "Squad Update: Joe Champness joins on loan". Brisbane Roar FC. 2 November 2020. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
    5. "'No regrets': The rising star who gave up football to become a rapper in LA". Fox Sports. 30 May 2020. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
    6. "Joe Champness Olympics 2021 | Joe Champness Olympic Medals List, Records, Stats, Age, Appearances - myKhel.com". mykhelcom. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
    7. Rugari, Vince; Gardiner, James (14 August 2019). "'I know it's the right choice': Jets star to skip A-League season to pursue hip-hop career". The Sydney Morning Herald.
    8. "Rapper Champness' Roar deal hits sour note with Jets". The World Game. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
    9. de Weger, Frans (15 June 2022). "Decision of the Dispute Resolution Chamber" (PDF). digitalhub.fifa.com. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
    10. "Joe Champness". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
    11. "Bahrain v New Zealand game report". ESPN. 12 October 2021.
    12. Joe Champness at Soccerway. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
    13. Rayson, Zac (30 May 2020). "'No regrets': The rising star who gave up football to become a rapper in LA". Fox Sports. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
    14. "JOWIC". triple j Unearthed. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
    15. Rugari, Vince (11 October 2020). "Hip-hop beef: Jets, Roar in feud over Champness' comeback season". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
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