Kevin Ball (born 12 November 1964) is an English former 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 lea ...

who played for

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

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

and

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

. Since his retirement, he has held a number of positions at Sunderland, including twice being

caretaker manager In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular manager is dismissed or leaves for a different club. However, a caret ...

, and was most recently a club ambassador.

Playing career

Born in

Hastings Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...

, Ball began his career in central defence but eventually moved into central midfield. He played 389 games for Sunderland in all competitions, scoring 27 goals. His career took off with a spell at

and, after leaving Sunderland, he had spells at

and

. Whilst at Sunderland, he played in the 1992 FA Cup Final where they lost 2–0 to

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

. Ball, a former club

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

, was named Sunderland Player of the Year for the 1990–91 season, and again in 1996–97, the year they were relegated from the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

. He was part of the Sunderland sides that won First Division titles in 1996 and 1999.

Managerial career

Between 6 March and 8 May 2006 Ball acted as Sunderland

for the last ten games of the 2005–06 season following the sacking of

Mick McCarthy Michael Joseph McCarthy (born 7 February 1959) is a professional Manager (association football), football manager, pundit and former Association football, footballer. He was most recently the head coach of Blackpool F.C., Blackpool. McCarthy b ...

, taking five points from these games. Although Ball expressed his interest in the manager's job on a full-time basis, incoming chairman

Niall Quinn Niall John Quinn (honorary Order of the British Empire, MBE; born 6 October 1966) is an Irish former professional Association football, footballer, manager, businessman and sports television pundit. As a player, he was a Striker (association f ...

was keen for the club to appoint a 'world-class manager' following the club's takeover by the Drumaville Consortium, ruling Ball out of the running. Ball remained at Sunderland under the new regime, returning to his former post of assistant

academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

manager. Manager

Martin O'Neill Martin Hugh Michael O'Neill, (born 1 March 1952) is a Northern Irish professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Association football, player who played as a midfielder. After a brief early career in the Irish Leag ...

promoted Ball to become the club's senior professional development coach in July 2012, which included being responsible for the club's reserve team and the club's under-21 players. In 2013, he again became caretaker manager following the sacking of Paolo Di Canio. Ball's first game in charge resulted in a 2–0 home win over Peterborough in the League Cup. He oversaw a further two games, before

Gus Poyet Gustavo Augusto Poyet Domínguez (; born 15 November 1967) is a Uruguayan professional football manager and former footballer who is the manager of K League 1 club Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors. Poyet played as a midfielder and began his career with s ...

was appointed to the role. After a long spell as a Club Ambassador at Sunderland he was made redundant in 2022.

Honours and awards

As a player

Sunderland *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was the top division of the Football League in England from 1888 until the end of the 1991–92 season, when its teams broke away to form the Premier League. From 1992 to 2004, the name First Division was g ...

winner: 1995–96, 1998–99 *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

runner up: 1991–92 Individual *Sunderland Player of the Year: 1996/97 *Sunderland Solid Gold XI

References

External links

* *
Kevin Ball: A profileBall named caretaker manager
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ball, Kevin 1964 births Living people Footballers from Hastings English men's footballers Coventry City F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Fulham F.C. players Burnley F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players English football managers Sunderland A.F.C. managers Premier League managers Sunderland A.F.C. non-playing staff Men's association football central defenders Men's association football midfielders