Tonny Vilhena

Feyenoord

Vilhena began playing football with the "big boys in the neighbourhood", leading him to join VDL Maassluis, where his relatives used to play for He then became a product of the Feyenoord's youth academy, joining the club in 2003. After being linked a move away from the club, Vilhena signed his first professional contract with Feyenoord, starting 1 July 2011. After nine years in the club's youth ranks, he moved up to join parent-club Feyenoord in January 2012. Vilhena made his debut for the Rotterdam-based club on 22 January 2012 versus VVV Venlo, coming on as an 82nd-minute substitute, losing 2–1. He then made his first start for the side, starting the whole game, in a 2–0 win against FC Twente on 19 March 2012. After the match, manager Ronald Koeman praised his performance, saying: "If you play so sovereignly, show so much daring and keep it physically ninety minutes long as B-junior then that is very good. It is also nice to have another left leg in the midfield." Vilhena found his first team appearances, mostly from the substitute bench for the rest of the 2011–12 season. At the end of the season, he made six appearances in all competitions. Following this, Vilhena signed a contract extension with Feyenoord. At the start of the 2012–13 season, Vilhena made his UEFA Champions League debut, coming on as a 71st-minute substitute, in a 2–1 loss against Dynamo Kyiv in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League third round and was ultimately eliminated from…

Vilhena is of partial Angolan descent which made him eligible to play for either Netherlands or Angola national teams per FIFA eligibility rules. Vilhena opted to debut for Netherlands at the senior level.

Youth career

Vilhena has represented the Netherlands up to Under-21 level. In November 2009, Vilhena was called up to the Netherlands U15 for the first time in his career. He was placed as captain on his Netherlands U15 debut against Turkey U15 on 8 December 2009 and scored his first goal for the U15 side, winning 4–1. Vilhena went on to make five appearances for the U15 side. In September 2010, Vilhena was called up to the Netherlands U16 squad for the first time in his career. He made his U16 debut on 26 October 2010 in a 2–1 win against France U16. Four days later on 30 October 2010, Vilhena scored his first Netherlands U16 goal, in a 1–0 win against Norway U16. He then scored in a follow–up match, winning 2–0 against Portugal U16 on 4 February 2011. Vilhena captained the Netherlands U16 for the first time in his career, winning 4–1 win against Israel U16 two days later. He went on to make six appearances and scoring two times for the U16 side. In March 2011, Vilhena was called up to the Netherlands U17 squad for the first time in his career. He made his Netherlands U17 debut, starting the whole game, in a 2–1 win against Austria U17 on 24 March 2011. Vilhena was part of the Netherlands under-17 national team which won European Championship in 2011. Vilhena…

As of match played 15 August 2024

Born in Maassluis, Netherlands to an Angolan father and a Dutch mother, Vilhena has a brother and a sister. Early in his football career, he was initially known as "Tonny Trindade de Vilhena" before changing it to "Tonny Vilhena" in May 2012. Vilhena spoke his fondness of his father, saying: "I didn't expect everything to go so fast in a year. But at the age of eight I already played with boys of about sixteen in my spare time. He is always behind me, but could also be very hard on me. Sometimes he had to pull my ears, for example if I thought I had played a good game. My father sometimes said that I had not been so good at all" His father now represented him as his agent, but their working relationship ended in June 2019. Vilhena's factor to staying at Feyenoord instead of moving to Sampdoria was due to his mother's illness in August 2015. But this was denied by the family. On 31 October 2016, it was reported that his mother died after a long illness aged 52 and he missed two matches as a result. Two years later, he spoke about his mother's death, saying: "To be honest, sometimes I still have moments when I don't realize it. Life goes on, so you don't stop and think about what happened. Sometimes I still think about it, even though it's been two years." Vilhena is married to model, Lana Slier, and together, they have a son, who was born in Russia.