Josef Bursik (footballer)

Josef John Bursik (born 12 July 2000) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for side Hibernian, on loan from Belgian Pro League side Club Brugge.

Stoke City
Bursik began his career at the youth academy at AFC Wimbledon, where he spent eight years before joining Stoke City on 1 July 2017. Bursik spent time on loan at Hednesford Town and AFC Telford United. On 2 August 2019, Bursik joined EFL League One side Accrington Stanley on loan for the 2019–20 season. Bursik made his Accrington Stanley debut on 29 October 2019 in the EFL Trophy. He made his League debut on 14 December 2019 in a 4–1 victory against Portsmouth. Bursik signed a new three-and-a-half-year contract with Stoke in January 2020. Bursik played 20 matches for Stanley in 2019–20 until the season was ended early due to the COVID-19 pandemic at the time Accrington were in 17th position.

In August 2020 Bursik joined Doncaster Rovers on loan for the 2020–21 season. After making 11 appearances for Doncaster, he was recalled by Stoke on 19 November 2020 following injuries to Adam Davies and Angus Gunn. Bursik made his Stoke debut on 21 November 2020 in a 4–3 win against Huddersfield Town. Bursik made 16 appearances for Stoke from November 2020 until January 2021 and kept seven clean sheets. Bursik joined Peterborough United on 8 April 2021 in an emergency loan deal following a season ending injury to Christy Pym. He made six appearances for Peterborough, helping them to gain promotion to the Championship. On 18 May 2021 Bursik joined Lincoln City on an emergency loan for their League One play-offs following a head injury to Alex Palmer. He played in the first leg a 2–0 win against Sunderland before Palmer was cleared to return. Bursik began the 2021–22 season as Stoke's first choice goalkeeper until he suffered a quad muscle injury with England U21s in November 2021. His place was taken by Jack Bonham until he returned to the team towards the end of the season.

Club Brugge
On 14 January 2023, Bursik signed for Belgian Pro League club Club Brugge for an undisclosed fee. After failing to break into the first team at Club Brugge, only appearing for their reserve team, Club NXT in the Challenger Pro League, Bursik joined Scottish Premiership side Hibernian on loan for the 2024–25 season.

International career
Bursik was the starting goalkeeper for the England Under-17 team that lost to Spain on a penalty shoot-out in the final of the 2017 UEFA European Under-17 Championship. He was also a member of the squad that won the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup.

Having gone on to represent England at U18, U19 and U20 level, Bursik made his U21 debut during a 5–0 win over Albania at Molineux Stadium on 17 November 2020.

Personal life
Bursik is named after his grandfather Josef Buršík, a Czech war hero. Bursik's father, Alex, died in September 2022.

Honours
England U17
 * FIFA U-17 World Cup: 2017
 * UEFA European Under-17 Championship runner-up: 2017