Joe Champness

{{Infobox football biography

| name = Joe Champness

| image =

| caption =

| full_name = Joseph William Champness

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1997|4|27|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Auckland, New Zealand

| height = 1.89 m

| position = Winger

| currentclub = Havadar

| clubnumber =

| youthyears1 = 2013–2015

| youthclubs1 = Moreton Bay United

| years1 = 2015

| clubs1 = Moreton Bay United

| caps1 = 17

| goals1 = 3

| years2 = 2016

| clubs2 = Brisbane Roar

| caps2 = 0

| goals2 = 0

| years3 = 2017–2021

| clubs3 = Newcastle Jets

| caps3 = 36

| goals3 = 8

| years4 = 2017

| clubs4 = → Académica de Coimbra (loan)

| caps4 = 9

| goals4 = 0

| years5 = 2020–2021

| clubs5 = → Brisbane Roar (loan)

| caps5 = 24

| goals5 = 2

| years6 = 2021–2022

| clubs6 = Giresunspor

| caps6 = 11

| goals6 = 2

| years7 = 2023–2024

| clubs7 = Adanaspor

| caps7 = 10

| goals7 = 1

| years8 = 2024

| clubs8 = Auckland FC

| caps8 = 0

| goals8 = 0

| years9 = 2025–

| clubs9 = Havadar Tehran

| caps9 = 10

| goals9 = 0

| nationalyears1 = 2016–2017

| nationalteam1 = Australia U20

| nationalcaps1 = 7

| nationalgoals1 = 2

| nationalyears2 = 2018–2019

| nationalteam2 = Australia U23

| nationalcaps2 = 3

| nationalgoals2 = 2

| nationalyears3 = 2021

| nationalteam3 = New Zealand U23

| nationalcaps3 = 5

| nationalgoals3 = 0

| nationalyears4 = 2021–

| nationalteam4 = New Zealand

| nationalcaps4 = 6

| nationalgoals4 = 0

| club-update = 14 May 2025

| nationalteam-update = 25 March 2022

| medaltemplates = {{MedalSport|Men's football}}

{{MedalCountry|{{fb|AUS}}}}

}}

Joseph William Champness (born 27 April 1997) is a New Zealand professional footballer and rapper who plays as a winger for Persian Gulf Pro League club Havadar Tehran and the New Zealand national team.{{cite web|date=2 November 2020|title=Confirmed: Champness secures loan move to Roar|url=https://www.a-league.com.au/news/squad-update-joe-champness-joins-loan|access-date=3 December 2020|website=A-League|language=en}} Born in New Zealand but raised in Australia, Champness represents New Zealand in international competition after switching from Australia in 2021.{{cite news|url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/nz-teams/125425276/australian-agegroup-international-joe-champness-now-eligible-for-new-zealand|title=Australian age-group international Joe Champness now eligible for New Zealand|first1=Andrew|last1=Voerman|website=stuff.co.nz|date=14 June 2021}}

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.{{Cite web|date=2 November 2020|title=Squad Update: Joe Champness joins on loan|url=https://www.brisbaneroar.com.au/news/squad-update-joe-champness-joins-loan|access-date=28 July 2021|website=Brisbane Roar FC|language=en}}

Club 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-Gilroy signed a loan deal with Portuguese second division club Académica 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.{{Cite web|date=30 May 2020|title='No regrets': The rising star who gave up football to become a rapper in LA|url=https://www.foxsports.com.au/football/a-league/world-star-news-aleague-hiphop-joe-champness-video-rapper-newcastle-jets/news-story/8e99757f80abb6394e2985d4f14d2b6f|access-date=28 July 2021|website=Fox Sports|language=en}}

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 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.{{Cite web|title=Joe Champness Olympics 2021 {{!}} Joe Champness Olympic Medals List, Records, Stats, Age, Appearances - myKhel.com|url=https://www.mykhel.com/joe-champness-olympics-p1723115/|access-date=28 July 2021|website=mykhelcom|language=en}}

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 career. He made statements to the effect that if he decided to return to playing in the next three years, he would come back to Newcastle Jets.{{cite news|url=https://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/i-know-it-s-the-right-choice-jets-star-to-skip-a-league-season-to-pursue-hip-hop-career-20190814-p52h53.html|title='I know it's the right choice': Jets star to skip A-League season to pursue hip-hop career|first1=Vince|last1=Rugari|first2=James|last2=Gardiner|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=14 August 2019}}

=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.{{Cite web|title=Rapper Champness' Roar deal hits sour note with Jets|url=https://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/rapper-champness-roar-deal-hits-sour-note-with-jets|access-date=10 October 2020|website=The World Game|date=10 October 2020 |language=en}}

=Giresunspor=

Champness joined Turkish club Giresunspor of the Süper Lig on a three-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 (1.33 million New Zealand Dollars) plus interest.{{Cite web |last=de Weger |first=Frans |date=15 June 2022 |title=Decision of the Dispute Resolution Chamber |url=https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/1ab39f6cec8999ce/original/Champness_15062022.pdf |access-date=4 May 2023 |website=digitalhub.fifa.com}}

=Havadar=

Champness joined Persian Gulf Pro League club Havadar in January 2025.{{cite news |title=Havadar complete signing of Joe Champness |url=https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/508615/Havadar-complete-signing-of-Joe-Champness |access-date=14 January 2025 |work=Tehran Times |date=13 January 2025}}

International career

Champness was born in New Zealand to a Filipino mother, making him eligible to represent New Zealand, Australia and Philippines at international level.{{Cite web|title=Joe Champness|url=https://www.worldfootball.net/player_summary/joe-champness/|access-date=28 July 2021|website=worldfootball.net|language=en}}{{better source needed|date=March 2024}}

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.

On 25 June 2021, Champness was called up to the New Zealand squad for the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics.{{cite web| url= https://www.nzfootball.co.nz/newsarticle/105080?newsfeedId=1275622| title= Squads named for Tokyo 2020| date= 25 June 2021| publisher= New Zealand Football| language= en| access-date= 25 June 2021| archive-date= 25 June 2021| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210625021412/https://www.nzfootball.co.nz/newsarticle/105080?newsfeedId=1275622| url-status= dead}}

He made his debut for the New Zealand national team on 12 October 2021 in a friendly against Bahrain.{{cite web|publisher=ESPN|url=https://www.espn.com/soccer/match/_/gameId/620709|title=Bahrain v New Zealand game report|date=12 October 2021}}

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.{{cite web|last=Rayson|first=Zac|date=30 May 2020|title='No regrets': The rising star who gave up football to become a rapper in LA|url=https://www.foxsports.com.au/football/a-league/world-star-news-aleague-hiphop-joe-champness-video-rapper-newcastle-jets/news-story/8e99757f80abb6394e2985d4f14d2b6f|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=23 July 2020|website=Fox Sports|language=en-AU}}

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.{{cite web|title=JOWIC|url=https://www.triplejunearthed.com/artist/jowic|access-date=4 May 2021|website=triple j Unearthed|date=19 February 2020 |language=en}}

In 2019, Champness left the Newcastle Jets to pursue a music career in Los Angeles. 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 three years, he would only be able to play for them.{{cite web|last=Rugari|first=Vince|date=11 October 2020|title=Hip-hop beef: Jets, Roar in feud over Champness' comeback season|url=https://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/hip-hop-beef-jets-roar-in-feud-over-champness-comeback-season-20201011-p5641j.html|access-date=4 May 2021|website=The Sydney Morning Herald|language=en}}

Career statistics

rowspan="2"\|Club !rowspan="2"\|Season !colspan="3"\|League !colspan="2"\|Cup !colspan="2"\|Other !colspan="2"\|Total
class="wikitable" style="text-align: center" \|+Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
AAC Secção de Futebol \|2016–17 \|Campeonato de Portugal \|9	0	0	0	0	0	9	0
rowspan="2"\|Newcastle Jets \|2017–18 \|A-League \|27	5	0	0	0	0	27	5
2018–19 \|A-League \|9	3	0	0	0	0	9	3
Brisbane Roar (loan) \|2020–21 \|A-League \|24	2	0	0	0	0	24	2
colspan="3"\|Career total !69	10	0	0	0	0	69	10