Thomas Kaminski (born 23 October 1992) is a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

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 ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for club

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

Club career

Germinal Beerschot

Kaminski debuted in the Belgian top league for Germinal Beerschot in May 2009. He became the starting goalkeeper in the 2010–11 season.

OH Leuven

In August 2011, Kaminski signed a one-year contract with

Oud-Heverlee Leuven Oud-Heverlee Leuven (), also called OH Leuven or OHL, is a Belgian football club from the city of Leuven. It was created in 2002 from the merger of three clubs, '' F.C. Zwarte Duivels Oud-Heverlee'', whose registration number it inherited, '' ...

Anderlecht

He also signed an agreement which tied him to Anderlecht at the end of that season. He played his first match for Anderlecht on 25 August 2012 against

. In summer 2015 Kaminski was loaned by F.C. Copenhagen.

Blackburn Rovers

On 26 August 2020, Kaminski joined EFL Championship side

for an undisclosed fee. Kaminski signed a two-year-deal with the club, with the option of a further year. After his move to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, Kaminski was required to go into quarantine as part of the UK's COVID-19 measures at the time. He went on to make his Championship debut for Blackburn on 12 September, in the club's 3–2 defeat by Bournemouth. By the end of Blackburn's 2020–21 season, Kaminski appeared for the club competitively on 44 occasions, with Kaminski's impressive performances during the season seeing him become a fan-favourite of the Rovers supporters and being named as Player of the Season. In February 2022 he signed a contract extension until the end of the 2024–25 season.

International career

Whilst Kaminski has represented Belgium's youth teams at its U15, U16, U17, U19 and U21 levels, Kaminski is also eligible to play for

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

due to his father being of

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

descent. In May 2014, prior to the start of Belgium's 2014 FIFA World Cup campaign, Kaminski was called up to the national team's senior side for the first time after

Thibaut Courtois Thibaut Nicolas Marc Courtois (born 11 May 1992) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for La Liga club Real Madrid and the Belgium national team. He is considered one of the best goalkeepers in world football. Courto ...

was rested following his appearance in the

2014 UEFA Champions League Final The 2014 UEFA Champions League Final was the final match of the 2013–14 UEFA Champions League, the 59th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 22nd season since it was renamed from the European Champio ...

and injuries to

Koen Casteels Koen Casteels (born 25 June 1992) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg and the Belgium national team. Formed at Genk, he spent most of his professional career in Germany with 1899 Hof ...

, Silvio Proto and Simon Mignolet left the side with no other available options. Kaminski made the bench for Belgium's 5-1 defeat of

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

in a friendly on 26 May, but the record of the match was dismissed by FIFA due to the side making seven substitutes instead of the maximum six substitutes permitted. Following the return of Courtois and Mignolet to the side, Kaminski's stint with the national team came to an end. On 9 October 2020, Kaminski was called up by Belgium manager

Roberto Martínez Roberto Martínez Montoliu (born 13 July 1973) is a Spanish football coach and former professional player, currently as head coach of the Portugal national team. Martínez played as a defensive midfielder and began his career at Real Zaragoza ...

for the side's

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is a biennial international football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The first tournament began in September 2018. The ...

games against

and

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

. It was the first time Kaminski had been called by his national side in more than six years. He was then called up a month later on 9 November due to an injury to Anderlecht goalkeeper Hendrik Van Crombrugge, although he was forced to withdraw two days later due to testing positive for COVID-19. On 19 March 2021, Kaminski was called up yet again by Martínez, for the nation's

2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualificationAlso the "FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Qualifiers". was the qualifying process which decided the 31 teams that would join hosts Qatar, who received an automatic spot, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Parallel tour ...

against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

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 ...

and

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

. In June, Kaminski was called up for friendly games against

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

and

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

ahead of its

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

campaign, although Kaminski didn't initially make the squad for the tournament, until he was called up as a replacement for the injured Mignolet on 28 June. It was the first time that Kaminski had been called up by Belgium for a major tournament. His link-up with the squad didn't last long, however, as Belgium were defeated 2-1 by

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

in the quarter-finals. Kaminski was called up for the sixth time in under a year as he was named as part of Martínez's squad for the national's teams upcoming World Cup qualifiers against

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

and the Czech Republic in August. He was called up, yet again, on 15 November for Belgium's World Cup qualifier against Wales. Despite having been called up by Belgium on 7 occasions by this point, Kaminski is yet to make his senior national team debut.

Personal life

Kaminski is of

descent through his mother and

descent through his father.

Career statistics

Honours

Anderlecht *

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 tea ...

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, 2013–14 *

Belgian Super Cup The Belgian Super Cup ( nl, Belgische Supercup, ; french: Supercoupe de Belgique; german: Belgischer Fußball-Super Cup), ''Pro League Supercup'', is a Belgian club competition played as a single match between the Belgian First Division A champio ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

Copenhagen *

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga ( da, Superligaen, ) is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each ye ...

: 2015–16 *

Danish Cup The Danish Cup ( da, Landspokalturneringen; often referred to as Pokalen) is the official "knockout" cup competition in Danish football, run by the Danish Football Association. The cup has been contested annually since 1955. The winner will quali ...

: 2015–16 Individual * Blackburn Rovers Player of the Season: 2020–21

References

Thomas Kaminski verkast van Anderlecht naar Kortrijk
nieuwsblad.be, 13 June 2016

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kaminski, Thomas 1992 births Living people People from Dendermonde Footballers from East Flanders Association football goalkeepers Belgian footballers Belgium youth international footballers Belgium under-21 international footballers Belgian people of Polish descent A.F.C. Tubize players K.A.A. Gent players Beerschot A.C. players Oud-Heverlee Leuven players R.S.C. Anderlecht players Anorthosis Famagusta F.C. players F.C. Copenhagen players K.V. Kortrijk players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Belgian First Division A players Cypriot First Division players Danish Superliga players English Football League players UEFA Euro 2020 players Belgian expatriate footballers Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Expatriate footballers in Denmark Belgian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England