Christopher Lloyd Smalling is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Serie A club Roma, and the England national team. During his youth, Smalling played for Millwall academy before joining non-League club Maidstone United. He signed for Middlesbrough in May 2008, but had his contract cancelled after raising concerns over homesickness. In June 2008, he signed for Premier League club Fulham. He made his professional debut with them in May 2009 and helped them reach the 2010 UEFA Europa League Final the following season. Smalling signed for Manchester United in January 2010, and joined them officially in July 2010. He has appeared at the 2014 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2016.
About Chris Smalling in brief
Christopher Lloyd Smalling is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Serie A club Roma, and the England national team. During his youth, Smalling played for the Millwall academy before joining non-League club Maidstone United. He signed for Middlesbrough in May 2008, but had his contract cancelled after raising concerns over homesickness. In June 2008, he signed for Premier League club Fulham. He made his professional debut with them in May 2009 and helped them reach the 2010 UEFA Europa League Final the following season. Smalling signed for Manchester United in January 2010, and joined them officially in July 2010. He has appeared at the 2014 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2016. He is of Jamaican descent and his father Lloyd died when Chris was aged five. He was a schoolboy national Judo champion, and also finished second in an international competition. As a youngster he played for Walderslade Boys and Lordswood. He also represented the England Schools under-18 team in early 2008, before making his debut for the national under-20 and under-21 teams in 2009. He went on to make more than 300 appearances for the club, winning two Premier League titles, an FA Cup, a League Cup, and a UEFAEuro League and a further two Community Shields. He scored one goal for Maidstone United, in a 4–2 win at East Thurrock United on 24 March 2008, a match which was also his last appearance for the Club.
In December 2009, he made his first league start for Fulham, in an away tie with CSKA Sofia in the European Champions League. On 28 December 2009 he made a decisive goal in Fulham’s 2–1 final match against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. The player stayed at Fulham for the remainder of the 2009–10 season, with the player staying at the club for the beginning of the 2010–11 season for an undisclosed fee. On January 27 2010, Manchester United announced that they had signed Smalling, with Smalling staying at United for the rest of the season. Smalling made his senior international debut in September 2011 and has appeared in the 2014 World Cup, Euro 2016 and the 2014 European Championships. He played in the UEFA Champions League final against Real Madrid at the Estadio Olimpico in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on June 14, 2014. He started the match and scored a goal in the 75th minute of the match. He became the first Englishman to win a Champions League medal in the competition’s history. He won the award for his performance in the final match of the 2014 Champions League Final against Real. He helped Fulham reach the final of the Europa League, where they were beaten 2-1 by Atlético Madrid in extra time after extra time at the Volksparkstadion at the end of the game. In May 2009 he played the full 90 minutes in a 1–1 draw against Harlow Town.
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