 Bassett withAtlético Ottawa in 2024 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Oliver Jacob Bassett[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1998-03-06)6 March 1998 (age 27) | ||
| Place of birth | Packington, England[2] | ||
| Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)[2] | ||
| Position | Attacking midfielder | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Tampa Bay Rowdies | ||
| Number | 8 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| –2014 | Aston Villa | ||
| 2014–2015 | Southampton | ||
| 2015 | Yeovil Town | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2015–2017 | Yeovil Town | 2 | (0) |
| 2016–2017 | →Dorchester Town (loan) | 18 | (3) |
| 2017–2018 | Coalville Town | 13 | (0) |
| 2017–2018 | →Gresley (loan) | 15 | (4) |
| 2018–2019 | Waitakere United | 18 | (4) |
| 2019–2020 | Team Wellington | 10 | (6) |
| 2020 | St Albans Saints | 5 | (2) |
| 2020 | Nuneaton Borough | 4 | (1) |
| 2021 | Pacific FC | 20 | (2) |
| 2022–2024 | Atlético Ottawa | 81 | (22) |
| 2025– | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 19 | (1) |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2016 | Northern Ireland U19 | 1 | (0) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 17:44, 27 October 2025 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals as of 11:33, 6 October 2016 (UTC) | |||
Oliver Jacob Bassett (born 6 March 1998) is a professionalfootball player who plays as anattacking midfielder for theTampa Bay Rowdies in theUSL Championship. Born in England, he represented Northern Ireland at youth level.
Born inPackington,Leicestershire,[2] Bassett started his football career as a youngster in theAston Villa Academy and as a teenager playedfutsal[3] before signing a scholarship atSouthampton in the summer of 2014.[4]
On 19 September 2015, Bassett made hisFootball League debut forYeovil Town in a 1–0 victory againstCrawley Town,[5] at the age of just 17 years, 6 months and 13 days he broke the record for the youngest Yeovil player in the Football League.[6] On 3 December 2015, Bassett was awarded his first professional contract with Yeovil Town, committing him to the club until June 2017.[7]
On 13 September 2016, Bassett joinedSouthern League Premier Division sideDorchester Town on an initial one-month loan deal.[8] Bassett made his debut the following day as a second-half substitute in Dorchester's 4–0 victory againstFrome Town, with Bassett providing the assist for the fourth goal.[9] Having made four appearances in his first loan spell with Dorchester, Bassett returned on loan to the Southern League club on 28 October 2016.[10]
On 3 February 2017, Bassett joined Dorchester for a third loan spell.[11]
At the end of the 2016–17 season, Bassett was released by Yeovil having only made two appearances for the club.[12]
On 9 August 2017, Bassett signed forNorthern Premier League Premier Division clubCoalville Town on a one-year contract.[13]
Following his release from Coalville, Bassett secured a contract withNew Zealand Football Championship sideWaitakere United.[14]
Following a stint withNuneaton Borough, Bassett signed withCanadian Premier League sidePacific FC on 29 April 2021.[15] In his season with the Tridents, Bassett contributed with 2 goals and 3 assists as Pacific won the league. After a strong start to the season, Bassett started to see his minutes decrease as the season progressed, and did not play a single minute in the playoffs. Despite interest from the club to trigger his club option for next season, Bassett preferred to move on and find an opportunity to play more regular minutes elsewhere.[16] In January 2022, Pacific confirmed that Bassett had left the club.[17]
In January 2022, Bassett switched toCanadian Premier League sideAtlético Ottawa signing a two-year contract with an option for a third year.[18] On Jun 9, 2022, capping off a hot start to the season, Bassett was named the CPL's Player of the Month for the month of May 2022.[19] Bassett played a crucial role for Ottawa, and led to the team to finish as regular season champions, but they ultimately lost in the final to Forge FC. On October 28, 2022, he was awarded the CPL's Player of the Year and Player's Player of the Year awards.[20][21] In 2023, Bassett, along withCavalry'sMyer Bevan, led the league in scoring with 11 goals.[22] After the 2024 season, he announced his departure from the club.[23]
On 27 November 2024, theTampa Bay Rowdies announced that they had signed Bassett as their first new player ahead of the 2025 season.[24]
In August 2016, Bassett was called up to theNorthern Ireland under-19 side for a training camp.[25] Bassett did enough to impress the Northern Ireland coaching staff to receive a call-up for their2017 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualification matches in October 2016.[26][27] On 6 October 2016, Bassett made his debut for Northern Ireland under-19s againstSlovakia in a 1–0 defeat.[28]
| Club | Season | League | National Cup[a] | League Cup | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Yeovil Town | 2015–16[29] | League Two | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 2016–17[30] | League Two | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||
| Dorchester Town (loan) | 2016–17[31] | Southern League Premier Division | 18 | 3 | 0 | 0 | — | 3[b] | 1 | 21 | 4 | |
| Coalville Town | 2017–18 | NPL Premier Division | 13 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 3[c] | 0 | 17 | 0 | |
| Gresley (loan) | 2017–18 | NPL Division One South | 15 | 4 | — | — | 1[d] | 0 | 16 | 4 | ||
| Waitakere United | 2018–19[32] | New Zealand Football Championship | 18 | 4 | — | — | — | 18 | 4 | |||
| Team Wellington | 2019–20[32] | New Zealand Football Championship | 10 | 6 | — | — | — | 10 | 6 | |||
| St Albans Saints | 2020[33] | National Premier Leagues Victoria | 5 | 2 | — | — | — | 5 | 2 | |||
| Nuneaton Borough | 2020–21[31] | Southern League Premier Division Central | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | — | 2[e] | 0 | 8 | 2 | |
| Pacific FC | 2021[32] | Canadian Premier League | 20 | 2 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 20 | 2 | |
| Atlético Ottawa | 2022[32] | Canadian Premier League | 27 | 8 | 1 | 0 | — | 3[f] | 0 | 31 | 8 | |
| 2023[32] | Canadian Premier League | 27 | 11 | 2 | 1 | — | — | 29 | 12 | |||
| 2024[32] | Canadian Premier League | 27 | 3 | 3 | 2 | — | 2[f] | 1 | 32 | 6 | ||
| Total | 81 | 22 | 6 | 3 | — | 5 | 1 | 92 | 26 | |||
| Tampa Bay Rowdies | 2025[32] | USL Championship | 10 | 1 | 2 | 0 | — | 1[g] | 0 | 13 | 1 | |
| Career total | 196 | 45 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 2 | 222 | 51 | ||
Pacific FC
Atlético Ottawa
