Sil Laurentius Swinkels (born 6 January 2004) is a Dutch

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 currently plays as a defender for

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

Early life

Swinkels was born in Sint-Oedenrode.

Club career

Having played youth football for RKSV Rhode, Helmond Sport, Brabant United and Vitesse, he joined

's academy in summer 2020. Swinkels made an unexpected first team debut for Aston Villa when, due to a COVID-19 outbreak, Villa were forced to play an inexperienced squad in an FA Cup third-round tie against Liverpool on 8 January 2021. On 24 May 2021, Swinkels was part of the Aston Villa U18s team that won the

FA Youth Cup The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. It ...

, beating Liverpool U18s 2–1 in the final. On 10 August 2021, he signed his first professional contract with Aston Villa. In March 2023, Swinkels suffered a

torn ACL An anterior cruciate ligament injury occurs when the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is either stretched, partially torn, or completely torn. The most common injury is a complete tear. Symptoms include pain, an audible cracking sound during inju ...

in a

Premier League 2 The Professional Development League is a system of youth football leagues that are managed, organised and controlled by the Premier League or by the Football League. It was introduced by the Football Association via the Elite Player Performanc ...

match against Southampton B which he confirmed would result in an extended period on the sidelines. Swinkels eventually returned to football on 8 April 2024, in a 4–0 defeat for Villa U21s against Chelsea U21s. After coming back from injury and playing a part in Aston Villa U21s reaching the Premier League 2 play-offs and winning the Birmingham Senior Cup, on 17 May 2024, Swinkels signed a contract extension with Aston Villa.

International career

Swinkels played for Netherlands at the under-15 level. On 6 September 2021, Swinkels made his debut for Netherlands U18 in a 5–0 friendly victory over Italy. He scored his first goal at youth international level for Netherlands U18s, on 28 March 2022, in a 4–1 away victory over Germany.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Aston Villa U18s *

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

Aston Villa U21s * Birmingham Senior Cup: 2023-24

References

2004 births Living people Dutch men's footballers Netherlands men's youth international footballers Dutch expatriate men's footballers Men's association football defenders Helmond Sport players SBV Vitesse players Aston Villa F.C. players Dutch expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England {{Netherlands-footy-defender-stub