Declan Rice
Active- Current or last club
- Arsenal
- Country (nationality)
- England
- League or competition
- Premier League
- Position
- Midfielder
- How is the religion known?
- Reported by reputable media
- Last checked
- 9 October 2026
We list a player’s religion only where they have spoken about it publicly or it has been reliably reported, and we link our sources. If something is wrong, or a player’s views have changed, please tell us and we will review it.
Table of Contents
What religion is Declan Rice?
Declan Rice is an English professional footballer who is a Christian, specifically identifying as a Roman Catholic. While he is widely known for keeping his spiritual life private and rarely addressing his beliefs in media interviews or on his social media accounts, his faith is rooted in his childhood and family upbringing.
Rice was raised by a practicing Catholic mother, and his paternal grandparents come from County Cork, Ireland, deeply tying his early life to traditional Irish Catholic culture. He has also demonstrated a quiet openness to faith and reliance on prayer behind the scenes during major career milestones.
Declan Rice is a midfielder for Arsenal as well as the England national team. He previously played for West Ham United, where he served as club captain, and represented the Republic of Ireland at the youth and senior friendly level before switching his international allegiance to England in 2019. In July 2023, Rice signed for Arsenal from West Ham for a reported £105 million, a British transfer record at the time. He won the UEFA Europa Conference League with West Ham in 2023 and was named the competition’s Player of the Season. Rice has represented England at UEFA Euro 2020, the 2022 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2024, and the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Contracts & Salary
Rice signed his first professional contract with West Ham United in 2016 and a new long-term deal with the club in December 2018 that ran through 2024, with an option for a further year. Reported figures for his West Ham earnings put his weekly wage at £60,000, or roughly £3.1 million annually, during the bulk of his time at the club.
In July 2023, he committed to a five-year contract with Arsenal that runs through June 30, 2028. This agreement significantly elevated his earnings, providing a gross annual salary of approximately £12.48 million, or roughly £240,000 per week. Adidas has been reported as his primary sponsor, with additional reported endorsement ties to brands including Oura and Burberry.
Early life
Declan Rice was born on 14 January 1999 in Kingston upon Thames, in southwest London, where he was also raised. His paternal grandparents, Jack and Margaret, were from Douglas, Cork, in Ireland, before relocating to England. He attended Grey Court School in Richmond and, later, Robert Clack School in Barking and Dagenham while enrolled at West Ham’s academy.
Rice joined Chelsea’s youth academy in 2006, at age seven, where he first met future England teammate Mason Mount. Chelsea released Rice in 2013, at age 14, after academy coaches judged his physical development insufficient at the time. He had a successful trial with West Ham United shortly afterward and joined the club’s academy that year.
West Ham United
Rice progressed through West Ham’s academy, initially playing as a center-back before moving into his eventual role as a defensive midfielder. He made his senior debut for West Ham in 2017, at age 18, in a Premier League match against Burnley, and scored his first senior goal for the club on 12 January 2019. He signed a new long-term contract with West Ham in December 2018.
The 2017–18 season marked his breakthrough as a regular first-team fixture. He was named to the UEFA Europa League Team of the Season for 2021–22, and in 2022, following Mark Noble’s retirement, Rice was made West Ham captain. In 2023, he captained West Ham to victory in the UEFA Europa Conference League, the club’s first major trophy in decades, and was named the competition’s Player of the Season. He made 245 appearances for West Ham United across all competitions before his departure.
Arsenal
Arsenal signed Rice from West Ham on 15 July 2023 for a reported fee of £105 million, a club-record signing for Arsenal and a British transfer record at the time, alongside Manchester City’s signing of Jack Grealish. Both Manchester City and Bayern Munich had also made offers before Arsenal won the negotiations. At Arsenal, Rice became a key figure in Mikel Arteta’s midfield, known for combining defensive discipline with progressive passing and pressing intensity.
During the 2024–25 Champions League knockout stages, Rice became the first player to score two direct free-kick goals in a single game, doing so against Real Madrid in the quarter-finals at the Emirates Stadium, a tie Arsenal won 5–1 on aggregate before being eliminated by Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-finals.
In the 2025–26 season, Rice scored against his former club West Ham in a 2–0 win and was named Man of the Match in a 2–0 away win over Burnley the following month. Arsenal finished the 2025–26 season as Premier League champions, their first title in 22 years.
International career
Rice represented the Republic of Ireland at various youth levels through his paternal grandparents’ Cork heritage and earned three senior caps for Ireland in friendly matches, including appearances against France and the United States in 2018. Because those caps came in non-competitive fixtures, Rice remained eligible to switch allegiance, and in February 2019 he declared for England, with FIFA approving the switch for the following month.
He received his first England call-up for Euro 2020 qualifiers against the Czech Republic and Montenegro in March 2019. He went on to represent England at UEFA Euro 2020, the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, UEFA Euro 2024, and the 2026 FIFA World Cup, establishing himself as a first-choice midfielder for the national team across that span.
Personal life
Rice has been in a relationship with Lauren Fryer since they were 17 years old, having met at school. The couple has a son together, Jude, born in August 2022. In 2024, Fryer removed all photos and content from her Instagram account following body-shaming comments directed at the couple online.
