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Kevin Kilbane

Kilbane playing in Jody Craddock's testimonial match, 2014
Personal information
Full name	Kevin Daniel Kilbane
Date of birth	(1977-02-01) 1 February 1977 (age 47)
Place of birth	Preston, England
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Position(s)	Left winger, full-back
Youth career
	Preston North End
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1995–1997	Preston North End	48	(3)
1997–1999	West Bromwich Albion	106	(15)
1999–2003	Sunderland	113	(8)
2003–2006	Everton	104	(4)
2006–2009	Wigan Athletic	76	(2)
2009–2012	Hull City	51	(2)
2011	→ Huddersfield Town (loan)	24	(2)
2011	→ Derby County (loan)	9	(1)
2012	Coventry City	9	(0)
Total		540	(37)
International career
1996–1997	Republic of Ireland U21	11	(1)
1997–2011	Republic of Ireland	110	(8)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Kevin Daniel Kilbane (born 1 February 1977) is a former professional footballer who played as a left winger or full back. born in England, Kilbane won 110 caps for the Republic of Ireland national team, fourth behind only Robbie Keane, Shay Given and John O'Shea as the most capped Irish player of all time.

Kilbane played for several English clubs, including Everton, West Bromwich Albion, Sunderland, Wigan Athletic, Huddersfield Town and Derby County (the last two on loan from Hull City) and Coventry City.

Towards the end of his career, Kilbane concentrated on forging a media career. He now works as an analyst for Virgin Media Television (Ireland), BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Match of the Day, Football Focus, Final Score, Ireland's Newstalk Radio Off The Ball football show and most recently for Canada's The Sports Network (TSN) and their coverage of FIFA World Cup 2022.

Club career

Early career

Born in Preston, Lancashire, Kilbane made his professional debut at his hometown club, Preston North End, after making his way through the youth system at Deepdale. It was not long before his performances began to attract attention from other clubs, and he was sold to West Bromwich Albion for a fee of £1 million in 1997. Kilbane was Albion's first £1 million player, breaking a club transfer record which had stood since 1979.

Sunderland

In December 1999, Peter Reid's Sunderland paid £2.5 million for the left winger, making him the third most expensive club signing at the time. His impact was immediate; coming off the bench on his debut against Southampton, Kilbane crossed for Kevin Phillips to score the match winner. However, this was to be Sunderland's last win until March 2000, a loss in form which came to be known as "The Curse of Kilbane".

In spite of his best efforts on the pitch, he soon became a target for the Black Cats fans to vent their frustrations, as the team's drop in form under Peter Reid continued and the team were relegated from the Premiership. In the summer of 2002, he gave the travelling Sunderland fans a two-fingered salute on a pre-season tour of France. His days at the Stadium of Light seemed numbered.

Everton

On the last day of the transfer window at the start of the 2003–04 season, Kilbane moved to Everton for just under £1 million, where he was reunited with David Moyes. The Goodison Park fans would appreciate his commitment and re-invigorate Kilbane as a player. In return, he displayed great versatility which resulted in him being deployed right across the midfield, at left back or even as a support striker, as well has his preferred left-wing position. On 26 August 2006, during his last game for Everton against Tottenham Hotspur, he was sent off by referee Mark Halsey for two bookable offences.

Wigan Athletic

On 31 August 2006, Kilbane signed a three-year deal with Wigan Athletic for an estimated fee of £2 million. On 15 April 2007, he scored his first goal for Wigan Athletic with a powerful header in the 3–3 draw against Tottenham Hotspur. This was his first goal at club level since October 2004. He then scored his second goal for Wigan with a looping header over Robert Green's head from Ryan Taylor's cross as Wigan went on to beat West Ham 1–0. Kilbane played most of his second season in the unfamiliar left back role, but still managed to win Wiganer.net's Player of The Season Award.

Hull City

With limited first team opportunities at Wigan due to the emergence of Maynor Figueroa and with his contract set to expire in the summer, Kilbane transferred to Hull City on 15 January 2009 for an undisclosed fee believed to be in the region of £500,000, signing a two-and-a-half-year deal with the Yorkshire club. He scored his first goal for the club against Burnley on 10 April 2010.

Huddersfield Town (loan)

On 1 January 2011, as the transfer window reopened, Kilbane joined Football League One side Huddersfield Town on loan until the end of the season, mainly as a replacement for the injured Damien Johnson. He made his debut the same day in the 2–2 draw against Carlisle United at Brunton Park. He scored his first goal for the club in the 4–2 win over Walsall at the Bescot Stadium on 15 January. After signing for Huddersfield, he helped the team to a club record 26 league games unbeaten, before their eventual 3–0 defeat in the playoff final to Peterborough.

Derby County (loan)

On 2 August 2011, Kilbane joined Derby County on a six-month loan deal from Hull. Kilbane played 10 times for Derby, scoring one goal in a 3–0 win against Doncaster Rovers on 20 August. However, Kilbane's loan was cut short on 29 November, due to a back injury.

Coventry City

On 2 July 2012, Kilbane joined Coventry City on an initial one-year deal. On his debut against Dagenham & Redbridge in the League Cup on 14 August, he scored a late winner from the penalty spot. On 16 August, Kilbane was named captain for the 2012–13 season. He made his final professional appearance as a substitute in a 2–1 defeat at Brentford on 24 October, before announcing his immediate retirement on 8 December.

International career

While still a youth player at Preston, Kilbane was called up to the England u-18 squad, but declined as he had always wished to represent Ireland. Kilbane is an Irish citizen since birth, as both his parents are Irish, and he made his international debut against Iceland on 6 September 1997. He was chosen as part of Mick McCarthy's squad for the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Japan and South Korea. The team did relatively well at the tournament, progressing to the knockout stage. They lost to Spain in a penalty shootout when Iker Casillas saved Kilbane and David Connolly's penalties.

Kilbane scored his first international goal in nearly four years with a magnificent strike against the Czech Republic on 11 October 2006. He scored his 8th international goal on 7 September 2010 against Andorra, the first competitive goal for the Republic of Ireland at the new Aviva Stadium.

Kilbane won his 100th cap against Montenegro on 14 November 2009, and on 2 March 2010, he and Shay Given became the joint most-capped players for the Republic of Ireland, both earning their 103rd caps in a 2-0 friendly defeat to Brazil. As of 4 June 2011, Kilbane played his 66th consecutive competitive international game (a run stretching back to 1999); only England's Billy Wright has achieved a longer unbroken run in competitive international football. Kilbane was only four games away from equalling Wright's record of 70 consecutive competitive international starts. However, this run ended after he was not selected for Ireland's crunch UEFA Euro 2012 qualification tie against Slovakia due to a back operation. He never played for Ireland again, and announced his retirement as a footballer in December 2012.

Media career

Kilbane obtained a degree in Professional Sports Writing and Broadcasting at Staffordshire University. Kilbane was enlisted by RTÉ Sport for their squad of pundits ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. From 2012, he has been a studio analyst for UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League coverage on TV3 and 3e in Ireland, and is also a regular on Setanta Sports. On 7 April 2013, he made his first appearance as a studio pundit on the BBC One's Match of the Day 2. On 9 May 2013, he made his first appearance on the Guardian Football Weekly Extra podcast.

In 2014, Kilbane was part of the commentary team for the BBC at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

Since August 2016, Kilbane has had the role of co-presenter on the Off the Ball show on Newstalk radio in Ireland. Kilbane also provides commentary for the station's Premier League coverage. In 2020, Kilbane competed in the twelfth series of Dancing on Ice, alongside partner Brianne Delcourt; the couple were eliminated in Week 5. After relocating to Canada with Delcourt, Kilbane took up a role as professional analyst on The Sports Network (TSN) during the COVID-delayed UEFA Euro 2020.

He is a patron of the Down's Syndrome Association, and in February 2015, sent a complaint to the FA over allegations that West Ham United supporters had sung a chant mocking the condition.

Personal life

Kilbane entered into a relationship with professional figure skater Brianne Delcourt, his skating partner on the twelfth series of Dancing on Ice. They got engaged in February 2020, and were married in September 2020 in Haliburton, Ontario. The couple have two daughters together, while Kilbane is stepfather to Delcourt's daughter from a previous relationship. He had been married to his first wife Laura Harrison until 2011, with whom he also has two daughters.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Preston North End

• Football League Third Division: 1995–96

Individual

• FAI Senior International Player of the Year: 2004

See also

• List of Republic of Ireland international footballers born outside the Republic of Ireland
• List of men's footballers with 100 or more international caps

References

1. "Kevin Kilbane: Profile". worldfootball.net. HEIM:SPIEL. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
2. "Kevin Kilbane". ESPN. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
3. "Kevin Kilbane: Overview". Premier League. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
4. "Kevin Kilbane". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
5. "Ireland's International Players". FAI. 17 February 2010. Retrieved 17 February 2010.
6. "Kevin Kilbane". 11v11.com. AFS Enterprises. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
7. "Kevin Kilbane". ESPN Soccernet. Archived from the original on 27 June 2006. Retrieved 31 August 2006..
8. "Everton capture Kilbane". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 1 September 2003. Retrieved 5 April 2012.
9. McNulty, Phil (26 August 2006). "Tottenham 0–2 Everton". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 5 April 2012.
10. "Wigan sign Kilbane from Everton". BBC Sport. BBC. 31 August 2006. Retrieved 31 August 2006..
11. "Wigan 3–3 Tottenham". BBC Sport. BBC. 15 April 2007. Retrieved 15 September 2009.
12. Wyatt, Ben (2 February 2008). "Wigan 1–0 West Ham". BBC Sport. BBC. Retrieved 15 September 2009.
13. "WIGANS Player of the Season 2008". Wiganer.net. Archived from the original on 26 May 2008. Retrieved 17 May 2008.
14. "Kilbane fit and raring to go". Hull Daily Mail. 16 January 2009. Retrieved 16 January 2009.
15. "Kilbane seals Tigers switch". Sky Sports. 15 January 2009. Retrieved 15 January 2009.
16. Hassan, Nabil (10 April 2010). "Hull 1–4 Burnley". BBC Sport. BBC Sport. Retrieved 11 April 2010.
17. "Huddersfield Town snap up Hull City's Kevin Kilbane". BBC Sport. BBC. 1 January 2011. Retrieved 4 January 2011.
18. "Walsall 2–4 Huddersfield". BBC Sport. BBC. 15 January 2011. Retrieved 16 January 2011.
19. "Derby Move To Sign Kilbane". Derby County. Derby County. 2 August 2011. Archived from the original on 30 July 2012. Retrieved 2 August 2011.
20. "Derby County 3–0 Doncaster". Derby County. Derby County. 20 August 2011. Archived from the original on 4 January 2012. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
21. "Tigers take look at crocked Kilbane". Eurosport.com. Yahoo! Sport UK & Ireland. 29 November 2011. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
22. "Coventry City sign Kevin Kilbane on one-year deal". BBC Sport. BBC. 5 July 2012. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
23. "Da & Red 0 – 1 Coventry". BBC Sport. BBC. 14 August 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
24. "Kilbane 'honoured' to be captain". CCFC Official Site. 16 August 2012.
25. "Kevin Kilbane: Coventry City captain retires". BBC Sport. BBC. 8 December 2012. Retrieved 8 December 2012.
26. Section 7(1) of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Acts 1956 to 2004.
27. Murphy, Ronan (10 December 2012). "Farewell Kevin Kilbane, one of Ireland's greatest-ever professionals". Goal.com. Retrieved 14 December 2012.
28. "Republic of Ireland:Squad Profile". FAI.ie. Archived from the original on 5 October 2006. Retrieved 31 August 2006..
29. "Spain break Irish hearts". BBC. 1 June 2002. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
30. "Ireland 3–1 Andorra". ESPN Soccernet. 7 September 2010. Archived from the original on 14 September 2010. Retrieved 8 September 2010.
31. "Rep of Ireland 0-2 Brazil". 2 March 2010.
32. "Former West Bromwich Albion star Kevin Kilbane celebrates Ireland achievement". Sunday Mercury. 10 September 2008. Retrieved 12 September 2008.
33. "Coventry captain Kilbane retires". BBC Sport.
34. Earle, Robbie (23 June 2011). "Robbie Earle: Career after football can be daunting prospect". The Sentinel. Archived from the original on 30 September 2012. Retrieved 23 June 2011.
35. "Ardiles and Hamann join RTÉ for World Cup". RTÉ Sport. 1 June 2010. Archived from the original on 4 June 2010. Retrieved 1 June 2010.
36. Black, Fergus (2 June 2010). "RTÉ hopes Ossie and squad will spur fans to back home team". Irish Independent. Retrieved 2 June 2010.
37. O'Malley, Carl (2 June 2010). "RTÉ roll out big guns for their 56 live games". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 21 October 2012. Retrieved 2 June 2010.
38. Marioni, Massimo (15 June 2014). "Looks like Kilbane is taking full advantage of his position in Brazil..." Metro.co.uk.
39. Connolly, Amanda (9 August 2016). "Kevin Kilbane joins Off The Ball team as new co-presenter". offtheball.com.
40. "Caprice completes Dancing on Ice line-up". BBC. 1 October 2019. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
41. "Kevin Kilbane complains over West Ham chant". BBC Sport. 24 February 2015. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
42. Darvill, Josh (5 February 2020). "Dancing On Ice's Kevin Kilbane and Brianne Delcourt are engaged". TellyMix. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
43. "Dancing on air: Kevin Kilbane marries Brianne Delcourt". rte.ie. 6 September 2020. Retrieved 1 February 2024.
44. "Baby joy for former Irish footballer Kevin Kilbane and Brianne Delcourt". rte.ie. 4 February 2021. Retrieved 1 February 2024.
45. "Kevin Kilbane and Brianne Delcourt share baby joy". rte.ie. 30 April 2022. Retrieved 1 February 2024.
46. Scullard, Vickie; Lavender, Jane (13 January 2020). "Dancing On Ice's Kevin Kilbane secretly split from wife for a very relatable reason". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 1 February 2024.
47. "Kevin Kilbane Stats". Soccerbase. 7 January 2011. Archived from the original on 7 February 2010. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
48. "Kilbane, Kevin". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 11 October 2010.
49. "Kevin Daniel Kilbane – Century of International Appearances". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 11 October 2010.

External links

• Kevin Kilbane at Soccerbase

v t e Republic of Ireland squad – 2002 FIFA World Cup
1 Given 2 Finnan 3 Harte 4 Cunningham 5 Staunton (c) 6 Roy Keane 7 McAteer 8 Holland 9 Duff 10 Robbie Keane 11 Kilbane 12 Kinsella 13 Connolly 14 Breen 15 Dunne 16 Kiely 17 Quinn 18 G. Kelly 19 Morrison 20 O'Brien 21 Reid 22 Carsley 23 A. Kelly Coach: McCarthy

• Republic of Ireland men's association footballers
• Republic of Ireland men's international footballers
• Republic of Ireland men's under-21 international footballers
• Men's association football midfielders
• Preston North End F.C. players
• West Bromwich Albion F.C. players
• Sunderland A.F.C. players
• Everton F.C. players
• Wigan Athletic F.C. players
• Hull City A.F.C. players
• Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players
• Derby County F.C. players
• Coventry City F.C. players
• Premier League players
• English Football League players
• 2002 FIFA World Cup players
• English men's footballers
• English people of Irish descent
• 1977 births
• Living people
• Men's association football utility players
• FIFA Men's Century Club
• Alumni of Staffordshire University
• English association football commentators
• Footballers from Preston, Lancashire
• Republic of Ireland expatriate men's association footballers