Philip Billing

Philip Anyanwu Billing (born 11 June 1996) is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Championship club AFC Bournemouth and the Denmark national team.

Philip Billing
Personal information
Full name Philip Anyanwu Billing[1]
Date of birth (1996-06-11) 11 June 1996[2]
Place of birth Esbjerg Denmark
Height 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in)[3]
Position(s) Central midfielder
Club information
Current team
 AFC Bournemouth
Number 29
Youth career
Jerne IF
0000–2013 Esbjerg
2013–2014 Huddersfield Town
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2014–2019 Huddersfield Town 81 (5)
2019– AFC Bournemouth 52 (3)
National team‡
2014 Denmark U19 1 (0)
2017–2019 Denmark U21 7 (2)
2020– Denmark 1 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17:48, 6 February 2021 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 10 August 2019

Club career

Huddersfield Town

Billing was born in Lagos.[4] After signing for Esbjerg in his native Denmark, he joined Huddersfield Town in 2013 on a youth contract. Billing signed a four-year professional contract in October 2013.[5] After performing well for both the under-18s and under-21s, he made his first team debut for the club as a substitute in their 2–0 loss against Leicester City at the John Smith's Stadium on 26 April 2014.[6]

His first start for the Terriers came 18 months later in their 2–2 draw against Reading at the Madejski Stadium on 3 November 2015. His first goal for the club came from a 30-yard strike against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground in a 2–0 win for the Terriers on 13 February 2016.[7] On 19 November 2016, he scored his second goal for the club with a volley from 32 yards out in a 3–2 loss against Cardiff City.[8]

Billing got slowly more and more space in the squad. After 10 good matches in the 2015–16 season, Billing signed a contract extension in March 2016.[9] He got his breakthrough in the 2016–17 season. "In-form" Billing was linked with a transfer to Premier League club Crystal Palace.[10] He played 24 games and scored two goals in total in that season. After the season, Billing was named as the youth player of the season in Huddersfield and his goal against Cardiff City in November 2016 was voted goal of the season.[11]

In March 2019, Billing suffered racial abuse on social media; the matter was reported to police.[12]

AFC Bournemouth

On 29 July 2019, Billing signed for Premier League AFC Bournemouth on a long-term contract for a £15 million fee, being given the No. 29 jersey.[13][14] Billing made a strong start to his first season with Bournemouth, starting the first four Premier League games of the season and being nominated for the club's Player of the Month award for August.[15] Billing scored his first goals for the club in the FA Cup Third Round fixture against Luton Town, as Bournemouth won the game 4–0.[16] He then scored his first Premier League goal for the club, netting the opening goal against relegation rivals Aston Villa in a 2–1 win for the home side on 1 February.[17]

Billing was involved in a controversial Video assistant referee decision in a 3–0 away loss to Burnley in the Premier League on 22 February, when his knock-down from a corner to Joshua King was adjudged to be a handball by the VAR officials. This was one of two goals disallowed for handball for the away side in the game by VAR.[18]

International career

Billing was born in Nigeria to a Danish mother and a Nigerian father.[19] Billing is a Denmark youth international having represented the U19 and U21 teams.[20]

He made his single appearance for the U19s on 4 September 2014, as a substitute in their 2–1 win over Norway national under-19 football team in Lyngdal.[21] On 9 March 2017, he was called up to the Denmark under-20 team to face the Czech Republic under-20 team and the Romania national under-20 football team.[22] He earned his first cap for the U21 team in a qualifying match for the 2019 European Championship against the Faroe Islands on 31 August 2017; it ended in a 3–0 win. He again featured a week later in another qualifying match, which the team won 6–0 against Lithuania.[23]

In November 2018, Billing turned down an approach to switch his international allegiance to the Nigeria national team.[24] In March 2019, he received his first call-up to the Denmark national team.[25] He debuted for Denmark in a 4-0 friendly win over the Faroe Islands on 7 October 2020.[26]

Career statistics
As of match played 9 February 2021
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup EFL Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Huddersfield Town 2013–14[27] Championship 100000—10
2014–15[27] Championship 000000—00
2015–16[27] Championship 1310000—131
2016–17[27] Championship 242400000282
2017–18[27] Premier League 1604021—221
2018–19[27] Premier League 2720000—272
Total 815802100916
AFC Bournemouth 2019–20[28] Premier League 3411210—373
2020–21[27] Championship 182302000232
Total 523423000605
Career total 1338122510015111

Honours

Individual

References
  1. "Updated squads for 2017/18 Premier League confirmed". Premier League. 2 February 2018. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
  2. "Philip Billing: Overview". Premier League. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
  3. "Philip Billing". AFC Bournemouth. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  4. "Philip Billing". 11v11.com. AFS Enterprises. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
  5. bold.dk. "Prof-kontrakt til dansk Huddersfield-talent". bold.dk.
  6. "Huddersfield Town 0-2 Leicester City". BBC Sport. 26 April 2014. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
  7. "Nottingham Forest 0-2 Huddersfield Town". BBC Sport. 13 February 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
  8. "Cardiff City 3-2 Huddersfield Town". BBC Sport. 19 November 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
  9. Billing forlænger med Huddersfield‚ bold.dk, 31 March 2016
  10. PL-interesse for formstærk Billing‚ bold.dk, 31 January 2017
  11. Flere priser til Philip Billing ved Huddersfields prisuddeling, tipsbladet.dk, 1 May 2017, Danish
  12. "Philip Billing: Huddersfield contact police after midfielder racially abused on social media". BBC Sport. 13 March 2019.
  13. "Transfer roundup: Bournemouth sign Huddersfield's Philip Billing for £15m". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  14. "AFC Bournemouth have completed the signing of Danish central midfielder Philip Billing". AFC Bournemouth. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  15. "Vote now for August Player of the Month". AFC Bournemouth. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  16. "AFC Bournemouth 4-0 Luton Town". BBC Sport. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  17. "AFC Bournemouth 2-1 Aston Villa". BBC Sport. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  18. "Burnley 3-0 AFC Bournemouth". BBC Sport. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
  19. Adewoye, Gbenga (21 May 2020). "'I told Rohr I wanted to play for Denmark' – Super Eagles target Billing". goal.com. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  20. "DBU Profile". www.dbu.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 15 December 2018.
  21. "Landsholdsdatabasen spiller information". DBU (in Danish). Retrieved 25 September 2017.
  22. David Threlfall-Sykes (9 March 2017). "BILLING RECEIVES FIRST DENMARK U20 CALL-UP". htafc.com. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
  23. "Landsholdsdatabasen spiller information". DBU (in Danish). Retrieved 25 September 2017.
  24. "'I see myself as a Dane' - Huddersfield Town & Denmark U21 midfielder Philip Billing rules out Nigeria switch | Goal.com". www.goal.com.
  25. "| Futaa.com". futaa.com.
  26. "Denmark vs. Faroe Islands - 7 October 2020 - Soccerway". uk.soccerway.com.
  27. "P. Billing: Summary". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  28. "P. Billing: Summary". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  29. "Swansea consider bid for £10m Huddersfield midfielder Philip Billing". Telegraph. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
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