Kalvin Mark Phillips (born 2 December 1995) is an English professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Premier League club Ipswich Town, on loan from Manchester City, and the England national team.

[11] Along with Sam Byram, Charlie Taylor, Alex Mowatt and Lewis Cook, Phillips was the latest graduate of a promising group of academy players to regularly feature under former youth manager Neil Redfearn in the 2014–15 season.

[20] After an injury to captain Liam Bridcutt in September 2016,[21] Phillips, alongside Eunan O'Kane or Ronaldo Vieira, established himself as an important player in Leeds' central midfield.

[23] On 6 August 2017, the opening day of the 2017–18 Championship season, Phillips scored a brace to ensure Leeds beat Bolton Wanderers 3–2.

[29] On 19 July 2018, Phillips revealed he had been training as a centre back and a deep-lying playmaker ahead of the 2018–19 season, as part of new head coach Marcelo Bielsa's tactics.

[31] Phillips was utilised as a deep-lying defensive midfielder for Leeds under Bielsa, playing as a centre back if the team lined up in a three-man defence.

[13] In October 2018, his impressive form in his new positions under Bielsa's management[32] saw Phillips briefly linked with a possible call up to Gareth Southgate's England national team.

[36] After returning to his defensive midfielder position, he scored his first goal of the season in Leeds' 1–1 draw against Middlesbrough on 9 February 2019, netting the equaliser in the 11th minute of injury time.

[47] On Leeds United's centenary week, Phillips scored the winning goal against Birmingham City, with the match finishing 1–0 which took place in front of another large crowd at Elland Road.

Despite this, Leeds would shortly go on to be promoted to the Premier League as champions when a 1–0 victory over Barnsley was followed by both West Bromwich Albion and Brentford losing their matches.

In the last game of the season on 23 May 2021, Phillips scored his first Premier League goal, a free kick in Leeds' 3–1 win over West Bromwich Albion.

[69] On 13 December 2023, Phillips scored his first goal for City, with a penalty in a 3–2 victory over Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League.

[77] The following day, it was reported in the media that West Ham's coaches were "shocked" at Phillips's poor performances during games and attitude during training, opining that he had seemingly "lost interest in playing Premier League football".

[79] He made his first appearance for the Tractor Boys on 28 August 2024 at AFC Wimbledon, starting in the second round of the League Cup but was substituted at 66 minutes for Jack Taylor.

[81] On 2 November 2024 Phillips was given two yellow cards which cost the game as Ipswich Town conceded in the 94th minute to draw against Leicester City F.C.

[84] He ultimately chose to represent England and was called up by Gareth Southgate for the first time in August 2020, before receiving his first cap on 8 September versus Denmark in the UEFA Nations League.

[85][86] He was only the third player in the 21st century to represent England prior to making an appearance in the top division of a country, after Jack Butland and Wilfried Zaha.

[87] Phillips was chosen to represent England at UEFA Euro 2020,[88] where he won praise from pundits, fans and the world's press for his combative, dynamic displays.

[94] Leading up to Euro 2024, Phillips was dropped from the England squad in March 2024, for friendlies against Brazil and Belgium, due to a loss of form at the start of his loan to West Ham United.

[96] He is known for his range of short sharp passing, long ball distribution and ability to start attacks whilst covering his defensive duties, with him described as a 'lynchpin'.

[103][104] Following his performance for England against Croatia at Euro 2020, he was described as "brilliant at finding little pockets of space that turn a simple passing move into a dangerous attack.