Simon Luc Hildebert Mignolet (born 6 March 1988) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Belgian Pro League club Club Brugge.
Mignolet started his career with Belgian Second Division side Sint-Truiden in 2004, and spent six years with the club, making 100 senior league appearances and scoring a goal. He moved to Premier League side Sunderland in June 2010 for £2 million, spending three years with them and making 101 appearances across all competitions before moving to Liverpool in June 2013 for £9 million.
Mignolet represented the Belgium national team at every level from under-16 upwards. He made his senior debut in 2011, and went on to earn over 30 caps. He was also named to Belgium's squad for the 2014, 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cup, and UEFA Euro 2016 and 2020.
Mignolet made his Sunderland debut in a 2–2 draw against Birmingham City on 15 August 2010, and was named man of the match for his performance. In the next home match, a 1–0 victory against Manchester City, Mignolet kept his first clean sheet for Sunderland, following an excellent reaction save to deny Emmanuel Adebayor a goal. Mignolet put in another fine performance against Arsenal, as Sunderland drew 1–1 after Darren Bent equalised in the 95th minute. However, Craig Gordon would replace Mignolet in goal several weeks later, and remained first-choice thereafter. Mignolet did not feature again until 8 January 2011, when Sunderland suffered a loss at home to Notts County in the third round of the FA Cup. Mignolet would become first-choice goalkeeper again after a knee injury to Gordon in February, and earned a string of rave reviews for his performances. Following the draw, Sunderland manager Steve Bruce hailed the young goalkeeper's fine start to life in English football. Mignolet cemented his position as first-choice goalkeeper the following season, being preferred to new signing Keiren Westwood.
On 29 October 2011, Mignolet was injured during a 2–2 draw with Aston Villa, suffering a broken nose following a collision with Emile Heskey. Mignolet played every single match of the following season, keeping a large number of clean sheets and producing several man of the match performances. His form prompted Manchester City and England goalkeeper Joe Hart to praise Mignolet in December 2012 as being the best goalkeeper in the league so far that season. On 21 June 2013, it was reported Liverpool had agreed a deal to sign the player for around £9 million.
Although he started the first five matches of the season, Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp dropped Mignolet in favour of new signing Loris Karius on 24 September 2016 for the match against Hull City. On 24 October 2016, Klopp confirmed Mignolet was no longer Liverpool's first-choice goalkeeper and that he would be given cup matches instead. However, Mignolet returned to the starting lineup for the team in Premier League in December 2016.
On 23 September 2017, Mignolet saved his club-record 8th penalty, preserving a 3–2 victory over Leicester City. On 4 November, Mignolet captained Liverpool for the first time in a 4–1 win against West Ham United. On 26 December, Mignolet and teammate Philippe Coutinho both made their 200th appearances for Liverpool in a 5–0 Premier League win over Swansea City.
Liverpool signed Alisson Becker as their first choice goalkeeper which led to Mignolet playing domestic cup games only. He started the 2–1 defeat to Chelsea in the EFL Cup on 26 September 2018. Mignolet also started in the 2–1 defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers in the FA Cup on 7 January 2019. Mignolet was an unused substitute in the 2019 UEFA Champions League final, which Liverpool won 2–0.
Mignolet played in two further friendly internationals during the 2011–12 season, starting against Greece and England. However, following the match against England, he did not play an international match for four months, with Thibaut Courtois being preferred instead. He returned to the starting lineup on 14 November 2012 in a 1–2 friendly loss over Romania. His next international match came over six months later in a 4–2 friendly victory over the United States on 29 May 2013.
Mignolet served as back-up goalkeeper during the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign, with Courtois playing every minute as Belgium qualified for its first major tournament since the 2002 World Cup.
On 10 October 2015, Mignolet started for an injured Courtois in Belgium's last two Euro 2016 qualifying matches: a 4–1 win over Andorra and a 3–1 victory over Israel, helping seal Belgium's qualification for the first time since co-hosting Euro 2000.
In May 2018, Mignolet was named in Belgium's preliminary squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, and later appeared on their final 23-man squad as a goalkeeper together with Thibaut Courtois and Koen Casteels. He would go on to be named in the final squads for UEFA Euro 2020 and the 2022 World Cup, but again did not make an appearance at either tournament.
On 14 March 2023, Mignolet officially announced his retirement from international football at the age of 35.
+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competition !rowspan="2" | Club !rowspan="2" | Season !colspan="3" | League !colspan="2" | National cup !colspan="2" | League cup !colspan="2" | Europe !colspan="2" | Other !colspan="2" | Total |
Sint-Truiden | 2005–06 | Belgian Pro League | 0 | |||||
2006–07 | Belgian Pro League | 0 | ||||||
2007–08 | Belgian Pro League | 0 | ||||||
2008–09 | Belgian Second Division | 1 | ||||||
2009–10 | Belgian Pro League | 0 | ||||||
Sunderland | 2010–11 | Premier League | 0 | |||||
2011–12 | Premier League | 0 | ||||||
2012–13 | Premier League | 0 | ||||||
Liverpool | 2013–14 | Premier League | 0 | |||||
2014–15 | Premier League | 0 | ||||||
2015–16 | Premier League | 0 | ||||||
2016–17 | Premier League | 0 | ||||||
2017–18 | Premier League | 0 | ||||||
2018–19 | Premier League | 0 | ||||||
Club Brugge | 2019–20 | Belgian Pro League | 0 | |||||
2020–21 | Belgian Pro League | 0 | ||||||
2021–22 | Belgian Pro League | 0 | ||||||
2022–23 | Belgian Pro League | 0 | ||||||
2023–24 | Belgian Pro League | 0 | ||||||
2024–25 | Belgian Pro League | 0 | ||||||
2025–26 | Belgian Pro League | 0 | ||||||
+ Appearances and goals by national team and year | |
Belgium | 0 |
0 | |
0 | |
0 | |
0 | |
0 | |
0 | |
0 | |
0 | |
0 | |
0 | |
0 | |
Liverpool
Club Brugge
Belgium
Individual
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