Jan Kacper Bednarek (Polish pronunciation: [ˈjan kat͡sˈpɛr bɛdˈnarɛk]; born 12 April 1996) is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Primeira Liga club Porto and the Poland national team.
Bednarek is a product of the Lech Poznań academy and made his professional debut for the club in September 2013. He spent the 2015–16 season on loan at Górnik Łęczna. In July 2017, Bednarek moved to Southampton. He spent the first part of the 2022–23 season on loan at Aston Villa. Bednarek made 254 appearances in all competitions for Southampton before he joined Porto in July 2025. Bednarek has represented Poland at youth and full international level.
On 23 September 2013, at the age of 17 years old, Bednarek made his Ekstraklasa debut for Lech Poznań in a 2–0 away win against Piast Gliwice.
After sporadic appearances and a loan spell at Górnik Łęczna, he became an integral member of Lech's line-up from the start of the 2016–17 season, featuring 31 times and scoring once as Lech narrowly missed out on the 2016–17 Polish Cup to Arka Gdynia 2–1 after extra time.
He was loaned to Górnik Łęczna for the 2015–16 season. He made his debut for Górnik on 29 August 2015 against Piast Gliwice. While at Górnik, he played a total of 17 league appearances before returning to his parent club.
On 1 July 2017, Bednarek joined Southampton on a five-year deal, for a reported fee of £5 million. On 23 August 2017, he made his debut for Southampton against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the EFL Cup which ended in a 2–0 defeat.
Bednarek did not feature again until 8 January 2018 in a FA Cup match against Fulham which ended in a 1–0 victory before being substituted for Maya Yoshida in the second half. Bednarek played out of position at right-back during the game, but was able to help keep a clean sheet.
Virgil van Dijk left in January, and Mauricio Pellegrino was replaced by Mark Hughes who switched to a back three in April. He made his Premier League debut on 14 April 2018 against Chelsea, and scored Southampton's second goal in a 3–2 defeat. Bednarek ended the season with five league appearances and eight in all competitions.
On 28 August 2018, Bednarek made his first appearance of the season in the EFL Cup against Brighton & Hove Albion which ended in a 1–0 victory. On 22 September 2018, he made his first Premier League appearance of the season against Liverpool which ended in a 3–0 defeat after replacing Oriol Romeu in the second half.
On 3 December 2018, Mark Hughes was sacked by Southampton. Under Hughes, Bednarek only made two league appearances so far that season. The arrival of Ralph Hasenhüttl saw a change in fortune for Bednarek, who ended the season with 25 league appearances.
On 10 August 2019, he made his first appearance of the season in the league in a 3–0 defeat against Burnley. On 25 October 2019, Bednarek featured in Southampton's 0–9 defeat to Leicester City. On 28 January 2020, he scored his first and only goal of the season in a 3–2 defeat to Wolves.
Following Southampton's 1–0 defeat against Newcastle United on 7 March 2020, English football was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Southampton and Bednarek would not play again until 19 June 2020 against Norwich City which ended in a 3–0 victory. He ended the season with 39 appearances in all competitions.
On 12 September 2020, Bednarek made his first appearance of the season in the league in a 1–0 defeat to Crystal Palace. On 6 November 2020, he featured in Southampton's 2–0 win over Newcastle which saw the Saints go top of the English top flight for the first time since 1988. His only goal of the season came during a 3–2 defeat to Manchester United on 29 November 2020. On 3 December 2020, Bednarek signed a new four-and-a-half-year contract.
On 2 February 2021, Bednarek scored an own goal, conceded a penalty and was given a red card after a foul on Anthony Martial in his team's record-equalling 9–0 defeat to Manchester United after Mike Dean checked the pitchside monitor. Despite this, the red card was controversial and Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær believed that Bednarek should not have been sent off. The red card issued was subsequently rescinded following an appeal by the club. He ended the season with 41 appearances in all competitions.
On 22 August 2021, he made his first appearance of the season in a 1–1 draw against Manchester United after replacing Theo Walcott at half time. Three days later, Bednarek made his first start of the season in an 8–0 victory in the EFL Cup against Newport County, which is Southampton's biggest away win in their history. On 18 September 2021, after not starting the opening four games, he made his first league start of the season in a 0–0 draw with Manchester City. In that game, Southampton defender Jack Stephens had played every minute in all competitions up until he suffered a knee injury. Following the injury to Stephens, Bednarek returned to being a regular starter.
On 1 December 2021, he scored his first league goal of the season in a 2–2 draw against Leicester City. On 26 December 2021, Bednarek scored his second goal in three games after he netted the winner in Southampton's 2–3 victory against West Ham. On 11 January 2022, he scored again in Southampton's 4–1 victory against Brentford. On 16 April 2022, Bednarek's final goal of the season came in a 1–0 victory against Arsenal, which took his total goals for the season to four and he ended the season with 34 appearances in all competitions.
2022–23 season: Loan to Aston Villa
On 6 August 2022, Bednarek made his first appearance of the season for Southampton in a 4–1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur. On 1 September 2022, Bednarek joined Aston Villa on a season-long loan. Bednarek made his debut for Aston Villa on 2 October 2022 in a 0–0 draw with Leeds United, replacing the injured Ludwig Augustinsson before half-time.