Thilo Wilke

Wilke began playing football at age 5, and in his youth played for 1.FC Schweinfurt 05 and Wuerzburger FV, both of which were former second league clubs.

Wilke started his club career playing for FV Karlstadt, and in 2011 transferred to FT Schweinfurt for two seasons. From 2013–2015, he played for TSV Karlburg. In 2015, he then signed his first contract with TSV Aubstadt, on track for promotion to professional level.[2]

Wilke then signed for TSV Abtswind, where he was coached under former German professional second league player Petr Skarabela. Wilke had 10 goals and 9 assists in the span 27 games. Additionally, in the 2016/2017 half season alone he had 8 goals and 4 assists. Wilke’s career in Germany culminated in 43 goals and 27 assists throughout 152 games and he was selected for a regional team of the German Football Association (DFB).[3]

Wilke continued his career internationally when he signed for the Division II NCAA soccer team at Shaw University in the United States.[4] Despite significant interest from Division I coaches, his age precluded his ability to pursue these opportunities. Wilke was appointed Captain of the Shaw Bears team and made 14 goals in 14 games in the 2017 season.[5] In the 2018 season, Wilke scored 17 goals and 4 assists. His statistics earned a national ranking in the division with 1.21 goals per game.[3]

During the 2018 season, Wilke was selected for Men’s Soccer First Team All-Atlantic Region.[6]

He was also chosen for the first all-state team by the North Carolina Collegiate Sports Information Association (NCCSIA).

During his career in the United States, Wilke also played for two NPSL teams: Med City FC in the 2017 season,[7] and Palm Beach United in the 2018 season.[8] While on the Med City FC squad, he was a starter in 12 out of 14 games. Wilke scored the first goal in the history of the team and totaled 3 goals for the season. On the Palm Beach United squad, he was a team captain and scored the winning goal in the game against professional team Jacksonville Armada.[9] Wilke was coached under Peter Fuller, former coach of East Division MLS teams New England Revolution and Philadelphia Union.

In 2019, Wilke signed a professional contract for the Adelaide Raiders and later for the Para Hills Knights in the National Premier League in Adelaide, Australia.[10] For the Knights, Wilke was the highest-scoring player for the season with 5 goals in 14 games, earning him the Golden Boot Award.

On 26 September 2019 Para Hills Knights SC confirmed, that Wilke had been appointed technical director for the club's U15-U17 teams.[11] In October he signed a professional contract for the Hamilton Wanderers, whose coach is Ricki Herbert- the former head coach of the New Zealand National Team at the World Cup 2010 when New Zealand drew against Italy. Wilke made his debut for the Wanderers in the ISPS Handa Premiership against Team Wellington. His contract was terminated after seven games in January 2020.

After breaking with Hamilton Wanderers, Wilke moved back to Germany. He then trained with SC Fortuna Köln and Wuppertaler SV, and he also played a test game with Lokomotive Leipzig. However, he was not offered a contract. He then returned to Australia and signed with his former club, Para Hills Knights SC, for the 2020 season.[12]