Photo: Dan Farrimond / CC BY 2.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Goalkeeping is a thankless trade, and Chris Kirkland's career reads like a meditation on resilience. Once hailed as one of England's brightest young keepers at Coventry City, the 191cm shot-stopper from Barwell strung together an 18-year run of 321 appearances despite the injuries that quietly haunt so many keepers. He earned just one England cap in 2006, which sounds slight, but I read it differently: longevity at the top demands a kind of stubborn nerve most players never develop. His shift into coaching feels like the natural extension of a man who spent two decades thinking under pressure.
Overview
Christopher Edmund Kirkland (born 2 May 1981) is an English football coach and former professional goalkeeper. As a player, he made 321 league and cup appearances in an 18-year professional career from 1998 to 2016 and won one cap for the England national team in 2006. Kirkland started his career at Coventry City, where he was regarded as one of the country's most promising young goalkeepers.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Chris Kirkland
- Name (Japanese)
- クリス・カークランド
- Reading
- くりす・かーくらんど
- Born
- May 2, 1981 (age 45)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Taurus / Rooster
- Origin
- Barwell, United Kingdom
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- 191 cm
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- association football player / association football coach
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- Henley College, Coventry
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Association football player — see all → · Association football coach — see all → · More people from United Kingdom →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.