Atiba Hutchinson

Atiba Hutchinson

220px Hutchinson with Besiktas in 2014
Personal information
Date of birth	(1983-02-08) February 8, 1983
Place of birth	Brampton, Ontario, Canada
Height
Position(s)	Defensive Midfielder/ Right Back
Team information
Current team	Beşiktaş
Number	13
Youth career
	Brampton Braves
	North Scarborough Soccer Club
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2002	York Region Shooters	2	(0)
2002–2003	Toronto Lynx	4	(0)
2003–2004	Öster	24	(6)
2004–2006	Helsingborg	49	(6)
2006–2010	Copenhagen	139	(22)
2010–2013	PSV	80	(4)
2013–	Beşiktaş	77	(3)
International career‡
2001–2003	Canada U20	19	(0)
2002–2004	Canada U23	10	(0)
2003–	Canada	72	(6)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 27 December 2015 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 17 November 2015

Atiba Hutchinson (born February 8, 1983) is a Canadian professional football player who is currently playing for Beşiktaş and the Canadian national team. While playing in Denmark he won the Danish Super Liga Player of the Year becoming the first North American player to receive the award. That same season Hutchinson won Canadian Player of the Year for the first time in his career. Between 2010 and 2013, he played for PSV Eindhoven in the Dutch Eredivisie.

In 2012 as part of the Canadian Soccer Association's centennial celebration, he was named to the all-time Canada XI men's team.

Club career

Born in Brampton, Ontario to Trinidadian parents, Hutchinson began his professional career in the 2002 summer season, playing briefly with the York Region Shooters of the Canadian Professional Soccer League before signing with the Toronto Lynx of the then A-League in mid-season, on July 26, and playing in the team's final four games.

Sweden

In January 2003 he signed with Östers IF, newly promoted to the Swedish Allsvenskan. Hutchinson scored six times for Öster during the 2003 season. With the club relegated out of the Allsvenskan, Hutchinson was granted a transfer for an estimated £1.32 million and signed with Helsingborgs IF in January 2004.

Expectations were high for him the first season in Helsingborg, but they were ultimately unsatisfied. However, in the 2005 season he was consistently the team's best player, scoring six goals from a primarily defensive midfield position.

Denmark

Hutchinson moved to Danish F.C. Copenhagen, where, for the first half of the year, he played alongside Swedish international Tobias Linderoth in central midfield, latterly being used around the midfield and as a striker. Manager Ståle Solbakken said in an interview with the football paper TIPS-bladet, that he saw Hutchinson's attacking talents as being too impressive for a central midfielder, saying that he would be used more often as winger. He has been linked with Premier League clubs several times.

After Hutchinson had left Denmark for his new team in the Eredivisie he was awarded Danish Super Liga Player of the Year for his last season with Copenhagen. This award was given on November 15, 2010 by Franz Beckenbauer at the annual Danish Football Association award show. This was the first time a Canadian had won this award in the Danish League.

Netherlands

On April 22, 2010, Hutchinson signed a 3-year contract with PSV Eindhoven joining them on a free transfer. Atiba made his PSV debut in a 6-0 home victory against De Graafschap on August 14, 2010. Four days later he made his European debut for the team in a surprising 1-0 first leg defeat to FC Sibir Novosibirsk in the Europa League, however PSV won the second leg 5-0 making it to the next stage of the competition. Atiba scored his first goal with the Dutch side on January 23, 2011, his goal came in the 46th minute of a 3-0 away victory against VVV-Venlo. Hutchinson started the 2010 season playing a defensive role as a right back, however with the mid-season transfer of Ibrahim Afellay to Barcelona allowed Hutchinson to move into his more natural position of the central midfield. Atiba continued to impress through the winter scoring his second goal of the season in a 3-2 away victory against Excelsior on March 5, 2011. Atiba also help lead PSV to the Quarter Finals of the Europa League before being knocked out by Benfica in Mid-April losing 6-3 on aggregate.

Hutchinson was forced to miss the beginning of the 2011–12 Eredivisie due to his knee injury sustained with Canada at the Gold Cup that summer. After missing the first two games of the season Hutchinson made his return on August 21, 2011 as a second-half substitute for Zakaria Labyad against ADO Den Haag, the game ended in a 3-0 away victory for PSV. Weeks later Hutchinson sustained yet another knee injury during a 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification against Saint Lucia forcing him to have his third knee operation in 18 months.

With PSV's summer addition of Mark van Bommel Hutchinson was moved back to defense playing right back. On August 26, 2012 Atiba scored his first goal of the new season courtesy of a Dries Mertens through ball in the 38th minute, the game ended in a 3-1 away victory over FC Groningen.

Turkey

With a desire to sign for a Premier League team Hutchinson let his contract run out with PSV and went into the summer of 2013 looking for a new team, on 30 July it was announced that he had joined Beşiktaş J.K. in the Süper Lig. Hutchinson scored his first goal for the club on 23 March 2014 in a 3-0 victory over Akhisar Belediyespor. After missing the first leg in the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League play-off round Hutchinson had a standout performance against Arsenal in which Arsène Wenger said Hutchinson was the most impressive Besiktas player, the game ended in a 1-0 away defeat for the Turkish side.

According to reports out of England in early December 2014, Hutchinson's strong play for Besiktas caught the eye of West Ham manager Sam Allardyce. The Hammer's boss hopes to add the Canadian international to his midfield ranks in January at a cut price, as Hutchinson's contract in Turkey expires at the end of the 2014-2015 season.

International career

File:Atiba Hutchinsonperu.jpg

Hutchinson playing against Peru at BMO Field on September 4, 2010

Hutchinson played at the 2001 and 2003 FIFA World Youth Championships.

He made his senior debut for Canada in a January 2003 friendly match against the United States and, by December 2009, has earned a total of 47 caps, scoring 3 goals. He has represented Canada in 12 FIFA World Cup qualification matches and at the 2003, 2005, 2007 & 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cups.

December 17, 2010 Atiba was awarded the Canadian Men's Player of the Year by the CSA for the first time of his career. Hutchinson was heavily favored for this award in 2010 for his play with the national team, joining a well known European club and becoming the first Canadian to win the Danish Superliga Player of the year. Atiba won with 31.4% of the vote with Dwayne De Rosario in second place, Simeon Jackson was the award winner in 2009. December 12, 2012 Hutchinson was once again awarded the Canadian Player of the year from the CSA for the second time in his career.

Hutchinson went into the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup squad. However following the 2-0 loss to the Americans at Ford Field Hutchinson sustained a knee injury forcing him to miss the rest of the tournament.

International goals

Scores and results list Canada's goal tally first.

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	9 October 2004	Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula, Honduras	Honduras	1–0	1–1	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
2	12 July 2005	Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, United States	Cuba	2–0	2–1	2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup
3	25 March 2007	Independence Park, Kingston, Jamaica	Bermuda	1–0	3–0	Friendly
4	8 October 2010	Valeriy Lobanovskyi Dynamo Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine	Ukraine	2–0	2–2	Friendly
5	23 May 2014	Sonnenseestadion, Ritzing, Austria	Bulgaria	1–1	1–1	Friendly
6	4 September 2015	BMO Field, Toronto, Canada	Belize	3–0	3–0	2018 FIFA World Cup qualification

Honours

• Danish Superliga Player of the Year: 2010
• Canadian Player of the Year: 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015

External links

• (Danish) F.C. København profile
• Atiba Hutchinson at Danmarks Radio (Danish)
• Player profile – CanadaSoccer
• Atiba Hutchinson – UEFA competition record
• Atiba Hutchinson at National-Football-Teams.com
• Football Database Profile

Sporting positions
Preceded by Hjalte Nørregaard	F.C. Copenhagen Player of the Year 2010	Succeeded by Dame N'Doye