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Atiba Hutchinson
Personal information
Hutchinson with Beşiktaş in 2014
Date of birth	(1983-02-08) 8 February 1983 (age 40)
Place of birth	Brampton, Ontario, Canada
Height	1.87 m
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Beşiktaş
Number	13
Youth career
	Brampton YSC
	North Scarborough SC
	Woodbridge Strikers
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	265	(23)
National team^‡
2001–2003	Canada U20	19	(0)
2002–2004	Canada U23	10	(0)
2003–	Canada	98	(9)
Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 3 July 2022. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 17 November 2022

Atiba Hutchinson (born 8 February 1983) is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder and captains both Süper Lig club Beşiktaş and the Canada 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 the first of six Canadian Player of the Year awards. 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. Hutchinson is Canada's record cap holder.

Club career
- Early career
- Öster
- Helsingborg
- Copenhagen
- PSV
- Beşiktaş
International career
Personal life
Career statistics
- Club
- International
Honours
See also

Club career

Early career

Hutchinson was born in Brampton, Ontario, to Trinidadian parents. He began playing youth soccer at age four for Brampton Youth SC and later played youth soccer for North Scarborough SC and Woodbridge Strikers. Following a March 2001 trial at Schalke 04 in Germany, Hutchinson began his professional career in the 2002 summer season, playing briefly with the York Region Shooters of the Canadian Professional Football League before signing with the Toronto Lynx of the then A-League in mid-season, on 26 July, and playing in the team's final four games.

Öster

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.

Helsingborg

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.

Copenhagen

Hutchinson moved to Danish club 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 was 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 15 November 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.

In 2014, 32,000 fans participated in a fan vote selecting their 11 all-time favourite Copenhagen players, selecting Hutchinson in the midfield.

PSV

On 22 April 2010, Hutchinson signed a three-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 14 August 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 23 January 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 5 March 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 21 August 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. Despite this, he started the KNVB Cup final for PSV against Heracles Almelo, which PSV won.

With PSV's summer addition of Mark van Bommel Hutchinson was moved back to defense playing right back. On 26 August 2012, he 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.

Beşiktaş

Atiba Hutchinson playing against Chelsea in 2014

With a desire to sign for a Premier League club, Hutchinson let his contract run out with PSV and went into the summer of 2013 looking for a new team, but on 31 July it was announced that he had joined Beşiktaş in the Süper Lig on a two-year deal. 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.

During the summer of 2015, Hutchinson signed a two-year extension with Beşiktaş. In the 2015–16 Süper Lig season, Hutchinson was rewarded with another hard fought honour as Beşiktaş triumphed in the league campaign, which was successfully repeated in the 2016–17 Süper Lig season, again with Hutchinson in a key playmaking defensive midfielder role.

In August 2018, Hutchinson signed a one-year new contract with the club, which had a clause to extend the contract a further season if certain performance criteria are met. During the 2019–20 season, Hutchinson reached 200 league appearances with Beşiktaş.

On 15 August 2020, Hutchinson signed another extension with Beşiktaş that will keep him with the club through the end of the 2020–21 season.

On 6 July 2021, Hutchinson signed another 1-year extension with Beşiktaş. In July 2022 he signed a further 1-year extension.

International career

Hutchinson playing against Peru at BMO Field on 4 September 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, as of November 2021, he has earned a total of 89 caps, scoring 8 goals. He has represented Canada at the 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cups.

On 17 December 2010, Hutchinson was awarded the Canadian Men's Player of the Year by the CSA for the first time in his career. Hutchinson was heavily favoured 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.

Hutchinson was selected to the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup squad. However, following a 0–2 loss to the Americans at Ford Field, Hutchinson sustained a knee injury that forced him to miss the rest of the tournament. On 12 December 2012, Hutchinson was again awarded the Canadian Player of the Year from the CSA for a second time. Hutchinson was once again awarded the 2015 Canadian Men's Player of the Year by the CFA, marking his fourth straight award and fifth in the last six years. He went on to win the title again in 2016 and 2017.

Hutchinson continued to feature under Canada coach John Herdman and upon his recall to the team in October 2018, indicated he was looking to retire from the Canadian national team after the 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup. He was named to the squad for that tournament on 30 May 2019.

Hutchinson however remained active for Canada, and in March 2021 he accepted a call-up for 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. On 16 November 2021, Hutchinson captained Canada to a 2–1 victory over Mexico at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, which also marked his 90th appearance for his country, surpassing Julian De Guzman as the all-time appearance leader for the men's national team.

In November 2022, Hutchinson was named to Canada's 26-man squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Personal life

Atiba Hutchinson is married to a French-Iranian woman named Sarah, whom he met while playing in Denmark. Together they have three sons, Noah (born 2015), Nava (born 2016) and Ayo Siyah (2017), all of whom were born in İstanbul. In April 2022, he joined the ownership group of League1 Ontario club Simcoe County Rovers FC.

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club	Season	League			National Cup		Continental		Other		Total
Club	Season	Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
York Region Shooters	2002	CPSL	2	0	0	0	—		—		2	0
Toronto Lynx	2002	USL First Division	4	0	0	0	—		—		4	0
Öster	2003	Allsvenskan	24	6			—		—		24	6
Helsingborg	2004	Allsvenskan	24	0			—		—		24	0
	2005	Allsvenskan	25	6			—		—		25	6
	Total		49	6			—		—		49	6
Copenhagen	2005–06	Danish Superliga	13	1	1	0	—		—		14	1
	2006–07	Danish Superliga	32	4	0	0	10	1	—		42	5
	2007–08	Danish Superliga	31	8	0	0	10	1	—		41	9
	2008–09	Danish Superliga	33	6	3	0	12	2	—		48	8
	2009–10	Danish Superliga	30	3	2	0	12	0	—		44	3
	Total		139	22	6	0	44	4	—		189	26
PSV Eindhoven	2010–11	Eredivisie	33	2	4	0	13	0	—		50	2
	2011–12	Eredivisie	14	0	3	0	4	0	—		21	0
	2012–13	Eredivisie	33	2	4	0	6	0	1	0	44	2
	Total		80	4	11	0	23	0	1	0	115	4
Beşiktaş	2013–14	Süper Lig	30	1	1	0	2	0	—		33	1
	2014–15	Süper Lig	30	2	3	0	10	0	—		43	2
	2015–16	Süper Lig	34	2	3	0	6	0	—		43	2
	2016–17	Süper Lig	28	1	1	0	11	1	1	0	41	2
	2017–18	Süper Lig	25	2	1	0	7	0	1	0	34	2
	2018–19	Süper Lig	27	4	0	0	0	0	—		27	4
	2019–20	Süper Lig	30	6	1	0	1	0	—		32	6
	2020–21	Süper Lig	36	4	3	0	1	0	—		40	4
	2021–22	Süper Lig	25	1	3	1	4	0	1	1	33	3
	2022–23	Süper Lig	0	0	1	0	—		—		1	0
	Total		265	23	17	1	42	1	3	1	327	26
Career total			563	61	34	1	109	5	4	1	710	68

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Canada	2003	4	0
	2004	7	1
	2005	7	1
	2006	4	0
	2007	9	1
	2008	9	0
	2009	7	0
	2010	3	1
	2011	5	0
	2012	7	0
	2013	3	0
	2014	4	1
	2015	4	1
	2016	4	0
	2017	1	0
	2018	2	1
	2019	4	0
	2020	0	0
	2021	6	1
	2022	8	1
Total		98	9

As of 2 February 2022. Canada score listed first, score column indicates score after each Hutchinson goal.

List of international goals scored by Atiba Hutchinson
No.	Date	Venue	Cap	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	9 October 2004	Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula, Honduras	9	Honduras	1–0	1–1	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
2	12 July 2005	Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, United States	16	Cuba	2–0	2–1	2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup
3	25 March 2007	Bermuda National Stadium, Devonshire Parish, Bermuda	23	Bermuda	1–0	3–0	Friendly
4	8 October 2010	Lobanovskyi Dynamo Stadium, Kyiv, Ukraine	50	Ukraine	2–0	2–2	Friendly
5	23 May 2014	Sonnenseestation, Ritzing, Austria	66	Bulgaria	1–1	1–1	Friendly
6	4 September 2015	BMO Field, Toronto, Canada	70	Belize	3–0	3–0	2018 FIFA World Cup qualification
7	18 November 2018	Warner Park, Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis	80	Saint Kitts and Nevis	1–0	1–0	2019–20 CONCACAF Nations League qualification
8	8 September 2021	BMO Field, Toronto, Canada	88	El Salvador	1–0	3–0	2022 FIFA World Cup qualification
9	2 February 2022	Estadio Cuscatlán, San Salvador, El Salvador	92	El Salvador	1–0	2–0	2022 FIFA World Cup qualification