Julian Ward

As a youth player, Ward joined the academy of current EFL League Two side Morecambe, where he started his senior playing career. In 2002, he signed for English side Hyde United. One year later, he signed for English side Kidsgrove Athletic. In 2005, Ward moved to Belfast and signed for Northern Irish Premier League side Larne Football Club managed by Kenny Shiels .^[2] Ward spent two seasons with Larne Football Club before signing for Paul Kirk’s Northern Irish Premier League side Lisburn Distillery in 2007.^[3]

In July 2008 Ward left Northern Ireland to become part of Carlos Queiroz’s technical team,^[4] when he was appointed Head of Technical Scouting for the Portugal national football team. During his time with the Portugal national football team, he lived in Lisbon and learnt Portuguese.^[5] After the 2010 FIFA World Cup Finals in South Africa, Carlos Queiroz was replaced by Paulo Bento and Ward returned to England, accepting a position within the scouting department of English Premier League side Manchester City.

In September 2012, following Manchester City’s first Premier League title, Ward left the Champions to take the role of European scouting manager and later loan player manager for English Premier League side Liverpool Football Club. By 2020, after establishing the club's loan player department, he was promoted to assistant sporting director, working alongside Michael Edwards for two seasons. Upon promotion to Liverpool FC's sporting director in 2022, Ward led on the signings of a number of players, including Colombian international Luis Díaz,^[6][7] Uruguayan forward Darwin Nunez,^[8] Dutch winger Cody Gakpo^[9] and Argentina’s 2022 FIFA World Cup winner Alexis Mac Allister.^[10]

Ward was heavily linked with Sporting Director roles at Ajax and Manchester United but returned to Liverpool Football Club in May 2024 as technical director for its owners Fenway Sports Group.^{[11][12][13][14]}