Ronaldo Wilkins (born 30 December 1999) is a

Ni-Vanuatu Ni-Vanuatu (informally abbreviated Ni-Van) is a large group of closely related Melanesians, Melanesian ethnic groups native to the island country of Vanuatu. As such, ''Ni-Vanuatu'' are a mixed ethnolinguistic group with a shared ethnogenesis tha ...

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

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Erakor Golden Star Erakor Golden Star F.C. is a Vanuatuan football team based in Port Vila. Their motto is 'Yesu Iwi' which means God is good. They play in the Port Vila Premier League, the Port Vila`s top football competition. In 2016 they became champions, which ...

in the

Port Vila Football League Port Vila Football League, also known as the Digicel League or more simply, the Digicel Premier League is the main football competition in Port Vila, Vanuatu. It consists of 3 competitions: Port Vila Premier League, Port Vila First Division and ...

and the

Vanuatu national football team The Vanuatu national football team is the national team of Vanuatu and is controlled by the Vanuatu Football Federation. History It was known as the New Hebrides national football team until the New Hebrides became Republic of Vanuatu in 1980. ...

Club career

Wilkins grew up in Tagabe, an area in

Port Vila Port Vila (french: Port-Vila), or simply Vila (; french: Vila; bi, Vila ), is the capital and largest city of Vanuatu. It is located on the island of Efate. Its population in the last census (2009) was 44,040, an increase of 35% on the pr ...

, the capital of

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...

. When he was 6-years-old he start playing at Wan Smol Bag Futsal. After a few years he moved to

New Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...

when he joined the Zimako Football Academy. In 2014 he returned to Vanuatu to start his senior career with Shepherds United. After he had played at the

2014 Summer Youth Olympics The 2014 Summer Youth Olympics (), officially known as the II Summer Youth Olympic Games , and commonly known as Nanjing 2014 ( zh, c=南京2014, p=Nánjīng Èr Líng yī sì), were the second Summer Youth Olympic Games, an international sports ...

he joined the academy of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

professional club

Wellington Phoenix Wellington Phoenix Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wellington, New Zealand. It competes in the Australian A-League, under licence from Football Federation Australia. Phoenix entered the competition in the ...

. After two years he returned to Vanuatu and went to play for Sia-Raga. On 16 October 2017 it was announced by

Vanuatu Football Federation The Vanuatu Football Federation (VFF) is the main governing body of all association football, football in Vanuatu. It is an association of Vanuatu Football team, football clubs, and it organises national competitions and international matches for ...

President

Lambert Maltock Lambert Maltock (born 15 May 1956) is a Vanuatan football administrator who has been the president of the Vanuatu Football Federation since 2008. He is currently serving his third term which commenced in December 2015. He is currently the presid ...

that Wilkins would have a two-week trial at the academy of Brazilian football giants

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

. The trial began on 4 November and was arranged by Giovani Fernandez who is a football developer for the

Oceania Football Confederation The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) is one of the six continental confederations of international association football. The OFC has 13 members, 11 of which are full members and two which are associate members not affiliated with FIFA. It ...

International career

U17

On 13 January 2015 Wilkins made his debut for the Vanuatu U17 National Team during the

2015 OFC U-17 Championship The 2015 OFC U-17 Championship was the 16th edition of the biennial international youth football tournament organized by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) for players aged 17 and below. The tournament was held in American Samoa and Samoa f ...

. He scored 4 goals in 6 matches, being instrumental in Vanuatu's road to the third place in this championship.

U20

In September 2016 he played the

2016 OFC U-20 Championship The 2016 OFC U-20 Championship was the 21st edition of the OFC U-20 Championship, the biennial international youth football tournament organized by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) for players aged 19 and below (despite the name remaining ...

helping Vanuatu to qualify for the

2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 21st edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its inception in 1977 as ...

First Team

Wilkins debuted for

on 2 December 2017.

Honours

National Team

OFC U-20 Championship The OFC U-19 Championship is a tournament held once every two years to decide the under-19 champions of Oceania and also decides who will represent Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) at the biennial FIFA U-20 World Cup. Between 1974 and 2012, ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

References

External links

* Living people 1999 births Men's association football midfielders Vanuatu men's international footballers Vanuatuan men's footballers People from Tafea Province Erakor Golden Star F.C. players Vanuatu men's youth international footballers Vanuatu men's under-20 international footballers Sia-Raga F.C. players {{Vanuatu-footy-bio-stub