Early career Born in London, Campbell started his career at
Aston Villa as a trainee, In August 2002 Campbell was placed on the transfer list at his own request in order to gain regular first-team football, with club chairman Phill Wallace saying, "He's a very talented lad, and has every chance of playing higher so we won't let him go unless the terms are right for us." In September 2002 he was loaned to
Billericay Town of the Isthmian League Premier Division, In two years at Stevenage, Campbell made 23 league appearances, scoring three goals. On 4 February 2003 he moved to
Yeading, who were then in the
Isthmian League Division One North, on a free transfer. He helped the club win promotion as champions of Division One North in the 2002–03 season. His skills were showcased in the
2004–05 FA Cup against
Newcastle United on 9 January 2005, a game which was televised on
BBC One. Later that season he won the Isthmian League Premier Division championship with Yeading.
Brentford At the end of the season, on 7 June 2005,
Brentford manager
Martin Allen signed him for the
League One club for £5,000 on a one-year contract, with an option to extend it. He scored on his debut, a 2–0 home win over
Scunthorpe United on 6 August 2005. He made a total of 28 appearances for Brentford, scoring twelve times in his seven months at the club.
Birmingham City On 31 January 2006, Campbell was sold to Premier League club
Birmingham City for £500,000, the fee potentially doubling depending on the player's appearances and achievements with the club. He signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with
The Blues. He made his Premier League debut as a substitute on 4 February 2006, playing the final twenty minutes in a 2–0 defeat to
Arsenal. The club were relegated at the end of the season, and Campbell scored his first goal for them in a 2–1 win over
Colchester United on 5 August 2006 in
the Championship. On 25 November he scored with his first touch of the ball after coming on as an 82nd-minute substitute to give
The Blues a 2–1 win over
Burnley at
Turf Moor. On 1 April 2007, after being included in the squad due to an injury to the club's new loan signing
Andy Cole, he scored twice as a substitute as they beat local rivals
Coventry City 3–0. Manager
Steve Bruce stated, "I made a big mistake by leaving him out of the 16 and I had to admit that to him and apologise to him for that. He keeps knocking on the door and I'm obviously going to have to put him right in my thoughts again." Campbell started 25 games for
The Blues that season, scoring 12 goals in all competitions as they were promoted back to the Premier League.
Leicester City On 20 July 2007, Campbell signed a four-year contract with Championship club
Leicester City for an initial fee of £1.6 million, In his column on
BBC Sport,
Ian Holloway, then-manager of
Plymouth Argyle, described the fee as "absolute madness". Three months later, he went on to manage Campbell at Leicester, and again at Blackpool. Leicester were relegated at the end of the season after Campbell had made a total of 32 league appearances, He was sidelined through injury in November 2007, suffering from
osteitis pubis for three months.
Loan deals After struggling to get a regular place in the first team in
League One, He scored on his debut, in a 2–1 away defeat to
Coventry City on 17 January. He scored again on his home debut on 24 January against his former club Birmingham City in a 2–0 win at
Bloomfield Road. After the match, Campbell said, "I'd be lying if I said it didn't mean a lot more scoring against Birmingham. I love Birmingham. They are in my heart. I played for them for two years and had good times there. As you saw, their fans (who chanted Campbell's name at one point) haven't forgotten me which means a lot to me. But right now I am at Blackpool and I am delighted that we got the three points and I'm happy for the club because we deserved it." After scoring his sixth goal for
The Seasiders in a 1–1 home draw with
Southampton on 21 March, Campbell was named in
the Football League's Championship "Team Of The Week". He finished the season as Blackpool's top overall goalscorer with 9 goals. Campbell attracted the attention of Coventry City,
Queens Park Rangers and Blackpool, who were keen to re-sign him. However, no deal was agreed with any club following the close of the
transfer window. Stripped of his squad number at the start of the
2009–10 season, Prior to making his return, Campbell had told the
Blackpool Gazette that he did not want to go back to Leicester. He later strenuously denied he ever meant to cause any offence, saying, "All I said was I had no future." Campbell joined
Derby County on a month-long loan on 26 November 2009. He marked his debut for
The Rams by coming off the bench to score a 94th-minute equaliser in a 2–2 home draw against
West Bromwich Albion. On 1 February, Campbell re-joined Blackpool, on loan until the end of the
2009–10 season. He would again be managed by Ian Holloway. He described the move as fate saying, '"It's odd but I was watching the
Beeb's
show last Saturday night, and the bit where the lady was reading out the e-mails. For some reason my mate said 'just go back to Blackpool', and then I said I wanted to. Then at that exact moment, the lady on the TV said they had just had an e-mail from a guy in Blackpool saying 'sign DJ Campbell'. The way that happened was crazy really — fate, I guess. But the people in
Blackpool know I love the club." He added: "You just realise when you come to places like this and see good people, you realise how much you do love the game and it makes everything so much easier." Two days later he made his return to action for
The Tangerines in a 2–3 home defeat to
West Bromwich Albion. His first goal came on 16 February, in a 2–0 home win over
Middlesbrough. On 11 May 2010, Campbell hit his first career hat trick, in a 4–3 away win in the second leg of the play-off semi-final against
Nottingham Forest within the space of 25 minutes. The hat-trick helped Blackpool to a 6–4 aggregate victory and secured
The Seasiders position in the
play-off final. After Blackpool beat
Cardiff City in the final, Campbell expressed his desire to make his move to the seaside permanent. "What happens next? I can't answer that yet but I had a little word with the gaffer after Saturday's game and he wants to sign me. I want to come so it is just a case of hoping Leicester don't do something silly. But everyone in Blackpool knows how much I love the club – I wouldn't have come back otherwise. We'll see what happens during the summer but I have been so happy to be at Blackpool during the second half of the season. I love the club. I love everybody, all the players and the gaffer. I am speechless and just delighted for everyone that we've actually managed to win promotion."
Return to Leicester in a pre-season
friendly, 24 July 2010
Leicester City's management and coaching staff had changed upon Campbell's return to the club. Impressing new manager
Paulo Sousa in pre-season by scoring in five of the six
friendly matches played, he described Campbell as "someone who is going to help us a lot this season." He was picked by the
BBC as the club's key player for the
2010–11 season. He scored in the opening game of the season, a 3–2 defeat to
Crystal Palace on 7 August 2010 but failed to score in his next three games, which proved to be his last for the club. He signed a two-year contract with an option of a further 12 months, claiming he had "unfinished business" at the club. His first game was a
friendly to open the new Zemgele Olympic Centre in
Jelgava,
Latvia against
Latvian Higher League side
FK Jelgava on 3 September. He scored in his first league match as a permanent Blackpool player, a 2–0 away win over
Newcastle United on 11 September. He went on to score the equaliser against
Aston Villa in an eventual 3–2 defeat, then notched another, his third of the campaign, at Stoke City on 11 December with the only goal of the game. Four days later, he was sent off for violent conduct in the first half of Blackpool's 4–0 defeat at
Wolves. Campbell ended the season with 13 goals to his name making him Blackpool's top Premier League scorer.
Queens Park Rangers On 29 July 2011, Blackpool accepted a bid for Campbell from
Queens Park Rangers. On 4 August, he signed a two-year deal with QPR, the club he had supported as a boy. The undisclosed fee was believed to be in the region of £1.2m. He scored his first goal for the club on 17 September, against
Woverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League. Campbell's first season for QPR was plagued with injury, resulting in his only being able to start two Premier League games as of 26 February 2012. At the end of the
2012–13 season, QPR confirmed that Campbell would leave the club when his contract expired on 30 June.
Ipswich Town (loan) Campbell was loaned to
Ipswich Town on 5 October 2012 for three months. In his first game, against
Cardiff City, Campbell scored in the 45th minute.
Blackburn Rovers (loan) On 8 February 2013, Campbell signed for Football League Championship side
Blackburn Rovers on a three-month loan, to run until 12 May. He then broke a bone in his foot and missed the final game of the season against Birmingham City and returned to QPR. On 9 December 2013, the club confirmed that Campbell was one of
six men arrested by the
National Crime Agency in connection with allegations of
spot-fixing. Campbell was not charged by the NCA and was released on bail until April 2014. The same day, Rovers and their lawyers started talks with Campbell's representatives over the player's future at the club. On 12 December, Campbell was granted time off from the club. Following his return a few days later, Rovers manager
Gary Bowyer confirmed that Campbell was available for selection for future matches on the same basis as any other player. He returned to Rovers' matchday squad on Boxing Day, as an unused substitute in a 0–0 draw against
Sheffield Wednesday. He was recalled to Blackburn's starting lineup for the visit to
Leeds United on 1 January 2014. Campbell left Blackburn Rovers by mutual consent on 1 July 2014. Campbell was released without charge in August 2014. He had seriously considered quitting football because of the allegations against him.
Millwall (loan) On 20 January 2014, Campbell joined
Championship side
Millwall on loan for the remainder of the
2013–14 season. The loan move reunited Campbell with manager
Ian Holloway, for whom Campbell previously played for at Blackpool. On 28 January, Campbell scored on his Millwall debut, helping his new team to a 1–1 draw with
Sheffield Wednesday.
Maidenhead United On 25 September 2014, Campbell joined
Conference South side
Maidenhead United. He signed for the club after being jokingly asked to by former mentor
Johnson Hippolyte, but Campbell took the offer seriously as he wanted to regain his love for football after being wrongly implicated in a match fixing ring. He was initially only training with the club, but went on to play for free. He made his debut for the club in the
FA Cup Second Qualifying Round against
Faversham Town, and scored as Maidenhead won the game 4–0. ==International career==