The first squad members have been announced as West Ham United’s famous Claret and Blue heads for Stateside this summer to enter inaugural competition The Soccer Tournament (TST), a $1million, winner-takes-all, 7v7 world championship event.
Taking place from 1-4 June at the WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina, TST aims to become the defining world championship for 7v7 soccer, in an annual, highly-intense format that follows the World Cup structure, pitting 32 teams against each other in groups before moving into the knockout stages.
West Ham will be managed by Apprentice and Celebrity MasterChef star, TV personality and Hammers supporter Tom Skinner. Here are the first five players to be announced as part of his all-star squad…
Marlon Harewood
Striker Marlon Harewood had a goal-filled career that spanned nearly two decades. Signed for West Ham from Nottingham Forest in 2003, Harewood played on 167 occasions for the east Londoners, scoring 56 goals – a figure he did not better at any other Club across his career.
The centre-forward scored 22 goals as the Hammers won promotion under Alan Pardew in 2005, before netting 14 more as the Irons established themselves back in the Premier League, including a hat-trick in a 4-0 win over Aston Villa in September 2005.
Having drawn inspiration from that treble at the Boleyn Ground, it was the single goal he scored against Middlesborough to send the Hammers to the 2006 FA Cup final eight months later that made him a Claret and Blue hero for the rest of his life.
Zavon Hines
The 2009/10 Young Hammer of the Year signed for the Academy of Football at the age of fifteen and progressed through the ranks, eventually achieving his dream of playing and scoring in the Premier League. Hines made his senior debut in August 2008 at 19 years old.
His most notable moment in east London was a dramatic 93rd-minute winner against Aston Villa in 2009. The talented striker left the club in 2011, and had further spells at Burnley and Bournemouth, before finishing his career with Bromley in 2019.
Hines currently works as an Academy coach at West Ham.
Carlton Cole
With a West Ham United career that spanned almost nine years, featured 293 appearances in Claret and Blue, and saw 68 goals scored in all competitions, Carlton Cole is a modern icon in east London.
Capped by England at full international level, Cole's career flourished during his time at West Ham United, with the striker bagging the opening goal as the Hammers gained promotion back to the Premier League by beating Blackpool at Wembley in the 2012 Championship Play-Off final.
The former Chelsea striker joined West Ham United on a four-year contract for an undisclosed fee on 5 July 2006. Cole was later called up by England for the first time for the friendly with Spain in Seville on 11 February 2009, making his debut as a 75th-minute substitute.
He too works as an Academy coach, as well as a popular media pundit on radio and TV.
Jimmy Walker
Aged 29 – and after eleven years and 475 appearances at Walsall – Jimmy Walker signed for West Ham in July 2004.
The former Hammers stopper was part of the squad that secured a return to the Premier League in 2005 and reached the FA Cup final in 2006. He made 20 appearances in Claret and Blue.
Walker’s playing career came to an end in 2013 and he has since earned extensive coaching experience with Peterborough United, Sunderland, Lincoln City, Ipswich Town and the Hammers U18s side, where he was a goalkeeping consultant for a period in 2021/22.
Earlier this season, West Ham United Women confirmed the appointment of Walker as assistant manager, having previously held the position of goalkeeping coach.
Matt Jarvis
Matt Jarvis signed for West Ham United for a then-Club record transfer from Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2012.
Known for his crossing ability from wide left, Jarvis would go on to play 90 times in Claret and Blue, scoring six times, but it was a certain rainy night at White Hart Lane that lays most vividly in Hammers history.
West Ham made the short trip to north London in December 2013 for a League Cup quarter-final, and despite finding themselves a goal down in the second half, came roaring back to win with two late strikes – the equaliser coming from the boot of Jarvis.
