Ben Anthony Foster (born: April 3, 1983), also known online as Ben Foster - The Cycling GK, is an English professional footballer and YouTuber who used to play for then-Premier League club Watford and EFL League Two side Wrexham. His professional career began in 2001 with Stoke City, having joined from Racing Club Warwick.
On YouTube, he has an alter ego called 'The Cycling GK', which makes him not take football too seriously. He has stated that he wants to be a cyclist after football.
Career[]
Ben Foster started his career at Racing Club Warwick and joined Stoke City in 2001. He did not star in any games for Stoke but was sent out on loan to many other clubs, most notably Wrexham AFC, his current club. Manchester United later signed him, and he became their second-choice goalkeeper. Errors at Manchester United caused him to leave the club to join Birmingham City.
After two years at Birmingham City, Ben Foster joined West Bromwich Albion, the club he would play the most games for. He managed to save a penalty from Steven Gerrard from Liverpool, which helped West Brom win the game.
He started his YouTube channel two years after signing for Watford, and he was their first-choice keeper before retiring from football. He reportedly declined an offer from Newcastle United when announcing his intentions to retire.
He came out of retirement half a year later to sign for Wrexham AFC, who had just lost their goalkeeper to injury. He most notably saved a last-minute penalty that caused against Notts County, which caused Wrexham to win 3-2 and step closer to promotion. After speculation of him leaving, he announced that he would play one more year for Wrexham before retiring.
On August 19, 2023, Foster announced he would be retiring from professional football following a 5-5 draw against Swindon Town.
Content[]
Ben Foster would make videos about his daily routine as a professional goalkeeper along with cycling videos, podcasts and even doing football challenges with popular football YouTubers such as ChrisMD and Miniminter.
GoPro in goal[]
During Watford’s time in the EFL Championship (English 2nd Division) on the 2020/21 season, Foster would make a series where he would put a GoPro in Goal usually on the bottom right corner and record moments from the game whilst showing his pre-match routine at the beginning of the video.
This ended up being a popular series and he kept on making videos with this style for the rest of the season and for the games he wasn’t in the starting line-up for, he would make his usual videos but without the GoPro in Goal part.
Once the 2021/22 season started, Ben stopped having his GoPro in goal and would instead make videos with the pre-match routine but without the GoPro. He was eventually able to continue the GoPro in goal series when he played for Wrexham[1].
Subscriber milestones[]
Note: The following dates are according to NoxInfluencer. Dates may vary by one or two days due to differences in time zones.
Trivia[]
- Ben Foster played for England in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and got a clean sheet vs Costa Rica.
- Ben Foster owns a Tesla Model 3.
- He has made the most saves in the Premier League (1248) even getting more than David de Gea, Petr Cech and Joe Hart.
References[]
