Maximilian William Kilman (born 23 May 1997) 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, rugb ...

who plays as a defender for

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 Fo ...

club

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club' ...

Early life

Kilman was born in

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness Greatness is a concept of a state of superiority affecting a person or object in a particular place or area. Greatness can also be attributed to individuals who possess a natural ability to be better than al ...

, to a Ukrainian father, an arts dealer, and a Ukrainian mother, who worked as a catwalk model. His father was from

Odesa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrati ...

, and his mother is from

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Ky ...

. Kilman speaks Russian in addition to English.

Club career

Early career

Kilman began his career in the academy at

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandswor ...

. As a teenager, he joined

futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is ...

club Genesis Futsal Club while continuing to play the 11-a-side game. He later joined the academy at Gillingham before signing for

Maidenhead United Maidenhead United Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Maidenhead, Berkshire, England. They are currently members of and have played at York Road since 1871, making it the 'oldest senior football ground continuously use ...

in 2015, after making a single

London Senior Cup The London Senior Cup is the County Senior Cup of the London FA. The London Senior Cup was first won by Upton Park in 1882. Although the leading professional sides in London no longer compete, the Cup has been won in the past by the likes of Ar ...

appearance for Welling United against

Cockfosters Cockfosters is a suburb of north London to the east of Chipping Barnet, lying partly in the London Borough of Enfield and partly in the London Borough of Barnet. Before 1965, it was in the counties of Middlesex and Hertfordshire. Origins ...

in October 2014. Kilman was loaned out to Southern Football League side Marlow for the 2016–17 season. Kilman returned the following season and made his debut for the Magpies on the opening day of the 2017–18 season against Maidstone United, while continuing his futsal career, signing for

Helvécia Helvécia is a large village in Bács-Kiskun county, in the Southern Great Plain region of southern Hungary. History Helvécia was founded in 1892 by Swiss-born teacher Heinrich Eduard Weber (Wéber Ede in Hungarian). After the great phyllox ...

. He went on to make 39 appearances for Maidenhead before signing for

for an undisclosed fee on transfer deadline day in August 2018.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Kilman spent the season with the club's under-23 side, helping them to win promotion from the second tier of the Premier League reserve competition. In April 2019, head coach

Nuno Espírito Santo Nuno Herlander Simões Espírito Santo (born 25 January 1974), often referred to as simply Nuno, is a Portuguese football manager and former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is currently the manager of Saudi Professional League club Al- ...

stated that "Max is 100 per cent integrated into the (first team) squad... I just see him as a very good football player, a centre-half with quality. He's big, aggressive. He has to improve like all young players, but we're really, really happy with Max." Kilman was first included in a senior matchday squad in December 2018, and was an unused substitute on five occasions before he made his senior debut on 4 May 2019, coming on as a last-minute substitute in a 1–0 win against

in the Premier League. In doing so, he became the first player to go directly from non-League to the Premier League, with no loans in between, since

Chris Smalling Christopher Lloyd Smalling (born 22 November 1989) is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Serie A club Roma. Smalling represented the England national team from 2011 to 2017. During his youth, Smalling played f ...

moved from Maidstone United to

in 2008. Kilman made his full senior debut for Wolves in a 4–0 home win against FC Pyunik of

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ' ...

in the

2019–20 UEFA Europa League The 2019–20 UEFA Europa League was the 49th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 11th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. Sevilla defeated Inter Milan in the fin ...

Qualifying Third Round, 2nd Leg, on 15 August. On 21 April 2020, Wolverhampton's ''

Express & Star The ''Express & Star'' is a regional evening newspaper in Britain. Founded in 1889, it is based in Wolverhampton, England, and covers the West Midlands county and Staffordshire. Currently edited by Martin Wright, the ''Express & Star'' publish ...

'' announced that Kilman's contract with Wolves had been extended until the summer of 2022. On 21 October, Wolves announced that Kilman had extended his contract with the club until the summer of 2025. On 1 November 2021, Kilman scored the opening goal in Wolves's 2–1 win over Everton at Molineux. The goal, a well-taken header, following a corner from the left from Rayan Aït-Nouri, was Kilman's first for Wolves (in his 44th appearance for the club at senior level) and his first in the Premier League. Four days later, Kilman signed a new long-term deal with Wolves until 2026.

International career

Kilman made his debut for the England national futsal team at the age of 18. He went on to accumulate 25 caps for the Three Lions. Kilman's futsal career was put on hiatus when he signed for Wolves in August 2018. He was also eligible to play international football for

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

through his parents. In March 2021, Ukraine coach Andriy Shevchenko announced that he had formally asked FIFA to switch Kilman's national allegiance to Ukraine, but also enquired of them as to whether his appearances for the England futsal team would make him ineligible for Ukraine. On 7 April 2021, FIFA rejected the application, confirming that his appearances for England in competitive futsal matches ties him to playing for England in any form of football.

Career statistics

References

External links

Profile
at the Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kilman, Max 1997 births Living people Footballers from Chelsea, London English footballers Association football defenders Fulham F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players Welling United F.C. players Maidenhead United F.C. players Marlow F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Southern Football League players National League (English football) players Premier League players English men's futsal players Futsal defenders English people of Ukrainian descent