Keyendrah Qwamalik Tegan Simmonds (born 31 May 2001) is an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for Prva NL club Vukovar 1991. Simmonds was at

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

from the age of eight until February 2021, when he signed for

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

. He spent the first half of the 2022–23 season

on loan In sports, a loan involves a particular player being able to temporarily play for a club other than the one to which they are currently contracted. Loan deals may last from a few weeks to a full season, sometimes persisting for multiple seasons ...

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

club Grimsby Town, and was released by Birmingham at the end of that season. He joined Vukovar 1991 in June 2024.

Club career

Manchester City

Simmonds was born in 2001 in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, and joined

at the age of eight; his older brother, Okera, was a member of Liverpool's academy. He took up a scholarship with Manchester City in 2017, and in his second year, played and scored regularly for City's under-18 team in the U18 Premier League 2 and appeared twice in the UEFA Youth League. Interviewed in September 2019, he said that

Ronaldinho Ronaldo de Assis Moreira (born 21 March 1980), commonly known as Ronaldinho Gaúcho () or simply Ronaldinho, is a Brazilian retired professional footballer who played mostly as an attacking midfielder, but was also deployed as a winger. Wide ...

was his childhood idol, that he looked up to and took advice from Raheem Sterling, that he had trained with City's first team, and that his progress had been interrupted by spells of injury. Simmonds made his debut in open-age football for Manchester City U21 in December 2019 in the

2019–20 EFL Trophy The 2019–20 EFL Trophy, known as the Leasing.com Trophy for sponsorship reasons, was the 37th season in the history of EFL Trophy, the competition, a knock-out tournament for Football in England, English football clubs in EFL League One, League ...

away to Shrewsbury Town. He came on as a 68th-minute

substitute (association football) In association football, a substitute is a player who is brought on to the pitch during a match in exchange for an existing player. Substitutions are generally made to replace a player who has become tired or injured, or who is performing poorly, ...

, missed chances to score the winning goal, and converted his

penalty Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

as City won the shootout 6–5. With one year left on his City contract, there was interest from

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

and Championship clubs in signing Simmonds, but no move took place. He scored a late goal against Lincoln City to confirm City as winners of their group in the 2020–21 EFL Trophy, but came no closer to first-team football.

Birmingham City

Simmonds signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with Championship club

on 1 February 2021. Manager Aitor Karanka said he would initially be a development squad player while training with the first team. He did not appear in the senior matchday squad until 8 May, when new manager Lee Bowyer selected numerous fringe players for the final match of the season, away to Blackburn Rovers. Birmingham lost 5–2, and Simmonds replaced

Amari Miller Amari Miquel Miller (born 4 November 2002) is an English professional footballer who plays as a winger for club Leeds United. A product of Birmingham City's academy, he made his senior debut for Birmingham in the EFL Championship in April 20 ...

after 78 minutes to make his

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

debut. He scored three goals from nine appearances for the under-23s, helped them finish as runners-up in the

Professional Development League The Professional Development League is a system of youth association football, football leagues that are managed, organised and controlled by the Premier League or by the Football League. It was introduced by the The Football Association, Footbal ...

Northern Section, and starred in the play-off final, as Birmingham beat Sheffield United U23 to win the overall title and gain promotion to

Premier League 2 The Professional Development League is a system of youth football leagues that are managed, organised and controlled by the Premier League or by the Football League. It was introduced by the Football Association via the Elite Player Performanc ...

for 2021–22. On 1 September 2022, Simmonds joined Grimsby Town on loan until January 2023. He made his debut two days later as a 71st-minute substitute in a 2–0 win away to Newport County; according to the '' Grimsby Telegraph'', he "got about the pitch well when he came on, but did not have a huge involvement." Simmonds scored Grimsby's only goal in a 1–1 draw with his former club, Manchester City U21, in the EFL Trophy group stage, which Grimsby won on penalties to progress to the

round of 32 A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

. He played eight times in the league, starting only once and without scoring, before returning to Birmingham in January 2023. Simmonds was one of 13 professionals released at the end of the 2022–23 season.

Vukovar 1991

Simmonds signed for Prva NL (Croatian second-tier) club Vukovar 1991 in June 2024.

International career

Simmonds represented England at under-15 level, and was called up for the under-18s in September 2018 for the Limoges Tournament. He played in all three matches, and scored in the second, a 3–0 win against

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. He kept his place for two matches against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

and the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

in October.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Simmonds, Keyendrah 2001 births Living people Footballers from Manchester English men's footballers England men's youth international footballers Men's association football forwards Manchester City F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players English Football League players Black British sportsmen HNK Vukovar 1991 players English expatriate men's footballers English expatriate sportspeople in Croatia Expatriate men's footballers in Croatia