Manjrekar James

Manjrekar James joined the Wellington Phoenix in late August as the men’s fifth and final visa player for the 2025-26 Isuzu UTE A-League.

The imposing Canadian centre back has been a professional for 13 years and has been part of title-winning sides in Europe, North America and Central America.

James was born on the small Caribbean island of Dominica in a cricket-mad family and was named after former Indian batsman Sanjay Manjrekar.

His family moved to Canada when he was eight and he started playing football in North York, Ontario a year later.

James started his professional career in 2012 when he moved to Europe as an 18-year-old.

He spent the best part of six years in Hungary before moving to FC Midtjylland, who won the Danish Cup in 2019 and the league in 2020.

James spent time on loan at Danish rivals Vejle BK, with PAS Lamia in Greece and Chornomorets in Ukraine in 2021 and 2022 before making a permanent move to Chornomorets.

He returned home in 2023 to join Forge FC, who he helped win the Canadian league.

After a successful season in Canada James secured a move to Costa Rica, signing with LD Alajuelense.

The 1.93m tall defender has also been capped 17 times by Canada since making his senior bow as a 21-year-old in 2015.

> 2024-25 season

Manjrekar James was a regular for LD Alajuelense in 2024, during which time the club won the CONCACAF Central American Cup and the Costa Rican Recopa.

James made 50 appearances for the Costa Rica giants before being loaned to rivals Santos FC at the start of 2025.

He had limited gametime at Santos but can’t wait to join the Phoenix.

“When I heard Wellington was interested I messaged my agent really quickly,” James said.
“I was very, very excited.

“One of my old teammates at Midtjylland, Bozhidar Kraev, used to play for Wellington so I’ve heard a lot of good things about the Phoenix and the A-League.

“And I also spoke to one of my friends, Awer Mabil (Socceroos forward), and he told me very good things about the A-League so I was very open to the opportunity.”