Chris Kirkland facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Chris Kirkland

Kirkland warming up with Wigan Athletic in 2010
Personal information
Full name	Christopher Edmund Kirkland
Date of birth	(1981-05-02) 2 May 1981 (age 44)
Place of birth	Barwell, England
Height	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club	Colne (Head Goalkeeping Coach)
Youth career
0000–1998	Coventry City
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1998–2001	Coventry City	24	(0)
2001–2006	Liverpool	25	(0)
2005–2006	→ West Bromwich Albion (loan)	10	(0)
2006	→ Wigan Athletic (loan)	9	(0)
2006–2012	Wigan Athletic	122	(0)
2010	→ Leicester City (loan)	3	(0)
2011	→ Doncaster Rovers (loan)	1	(0)
2012–2015	Sheffield Wednesday	85	(0)
2015–2016	Preston North End	5	(0)
2016	Bury	0	(0)
Total		284	(0)
National team
2001–2003	England U21	8	(0)
2006	England	1	(0)
Teams managed
2018	Liverpool Women (caretaker)
Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Chris Kirkland (born on May 2, 1981) is an English coach and former professional goalkeeper. He is currently the head goalkeeping coach at Colne. During his 18-year playing career from 1998 to 2016, he played in 321 league and cup games. He also played one game for the English national team in 2006.

Kirkland started his football journey at Coventry City. He was seen as one of the most promising young goalkeepers in the country. Later, he joined Premier League club Liverpool in 2001. After some time, he moved to Wigan Athletic in 2006. He also played for Sheffield Wednesday, Preston North End, and Bury before he stopped playing in 2016.

A year after retiring, Kirkland began coaching. He worked with Port Vale and later joined the coaching team for Liverpool Women.

Club Career: Chris Kirkland's Journey in Football

Early Days at Coventry City

Chris Kirkland was born in Barwell, England. He grew up there with his parents, Marie and Eddie. His father, Eddie, spent a lot of time helping him practice his goalkeeping skills. After trying out for Blackburn Rovers, he signed a contract with Coventry City in July 1998.

Chris made his first team debut for Coventry in a League Cup game in September 1999. His manager, Gordon Strachan, started picking him for Premier League matches. Chris was still very young, but he played well. At the end of the 2000–01 season, his teammates voted him Coventry's Players' Player of the Year. He was also chosen to play for the England under-21s. In August 2001, Liverpool bought him for £6 million. At 20 years old, he became the most expensive goalkeeper in British football history at that time.

Time at Liverpool F.C.

Chris Kirkland joined Liverpool in October 2001. He was often the backup goalkeeper to Jerzy Dudek. In the 2002–03 season, he got a chance to play more games. He played 14 matches in a row and kept six clean sheets, meaning the other team didn't score any goals. However, he got an ankle injury in January 2003, which kept him out for the rest of the season. This meant he missed the 2003 League Cup final, which Liverpool won.

He faced more injuries, including a torn groin and a fractured finger. At the start of the 2004–05 season, Chris became Liverpool's main goalkeeper. He played 14 games, including four in the UEFA Champions League. But he got a back injury in December. He couldn't be part of the squad for the 2005 Champions League final, which Liverpool famously won. Another player, Scott Carson, offered Chris his winner's medal, but Chris didn't accept it.

In July 2005, Chris went on loan to West Bromwich Albion to get more playing time. He kept a clean sheet in his first game there. However, another injury meant he was replaced by Tomasz Kuszczak. Liverpool's manager, Rafael Benítez, told Chris he needed to move if he wanted to play regularly.

Moving to Wigan Athletic

Kirkland warming up with Wigan Athletic in 2010

In July 2006, Chris Kirkland joined Wigan Athletic on a six-month loan. The manager, Paul Jewell, knew Chris had potential but also had a history of injuries. The move became permanent in October for £2.5 million. Chris did very well at Wigan. For the 2007–08 season, he won both the Players' Player of the Year and Media Player of the Year awards for the club. A great moment was saving a penalty kick against Blackburn Rovers. In May 2008, he signed a new contract to stay with Wigan until 2012.

In November 2009, Wigan had a tough game against Tottenham Hotspur. Despite this, his manager, Roberto Martínez, praised his consistent performances. At the start of the 2010–11 season, Chris was replaced by Ali Al-Habsi in the starting lineup. He then went on loan to Leicester City in November 2010. He played three games there before returning to Wigan due to a back injury. In October 2011, he joined Doncaster Rovers on loan, but another back spasm sent him back to Wigan quickly.

Playing for Sheffield Wednesday

In May 2012, Chris Kirkland signed a two-year contract with Sheffield Wednesday. He made his debut in a League Cup win in August 2012. In October, during a game against Leeds United, there was an unfortunate incident involving a fan on the pitch. Chris needed some treatment after it happened.

Chris was the main goalkeeper for most of the 2012–13 and 2013–14 seasons. However, in the 2014–15 season, he became the second-choice goalkeeper behind Keiren Westwood. He left Sheffield Wednesday in July 2015.

Later Career: Preston and Bury

On August 12, 2015, Chris Kirkland joined Preston North End on a one-year contract. He was signed as a backup goalkeeper. He left Preston when his contract ended in 2016.

In June 2016, Chris joined Bury on a one-year contract. However, he left the club for personal reasons before the season began in August.

International Career: Playing for England

Chris Kirkland played eight games for the England under-21 team. He was often chosen for the senior England squad from 2003. He finally made his first appearance for the senior team in August 2006. This happened when he came on as a substitute in a friendly game against Greece.

When Chris was eleven years old, his father and some family friends made a bet. They bet that he would play for England before he turned 30. When Chris played for England, they each won a lot of money from their bets!

Style of Play

From a young age, Chris Kirkland was known as a goalkeeper with a special mix of height, quickness, and bravery.

Coaching Career

Chris Kirkland started coaching goalkeepers at Port Vale in January 2017. He did this as a favor to his friend and former teammate, Michael Brown. He also started his own Chris Kirkland Goalkeeper Academy.

In July 2018, Chris went back to Liverpool to coach the goalkeepers for the women's team. He was briefly the caretaker manager of the team for about a month and a half. After a new permanent manager was appointed, he went back to his role as goalkeeping coach and also became an assistant manager. He left this role in March 2019 to focus more on his goalkeeping academy. In June 2020, he became the head goalkeeping coach at Colne.

Personal Life

Chris and his wife, Leeona, had a daughter named Lucy, who was born on November 14, 2006. Her birth meant Chris missed an international friendly match the next day.

In April 2008, Chris worked with other football players, Kevin Davies and Brett Emerton, to help launch the Get Started program. This program helps young people who have been in trouble get their lives back on track. Chris visited a Youth Offenders' Institution to support the program.

In July 2022, Chris Kirkland spoke openly about his past struggles and how he had thought about taking his own life. In July 2024, Edge Hill University gave him an honorary doctorate for his important work in mental health awareness.

Career Statistics

Club

International

Honours

Coventry City

• FA Youth Cup runner-up: 1998–99

Liverpool

• UEFA Champions League: 2004–05

Individual

• Coventry City Players' Player of the Year: 2000–01
• Wigan Athletic Players' Player of the Year: 2007–08

See also

In Spanish: Chris Kirkland para niños