Atiba Hutchinson


Atiba Hutchinson is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays for Beşiktaş and the Canadian national team as a midfielder. 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

Early career

Hutchinson was born in Brampton, Ontario, to Trinidadian parents. 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.

Östers

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 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 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 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 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 would start the KNVB Cup final for PSV against Heracles Almelo, which PSV would win.
With PSV's summer addition of Mark van Bommel Hutchinson was moved back to defense playing right back. On 26 August 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.

Beşiktaş

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, but 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. In the 2015–16 Süper Lig season, Hutchinson was rewarded with another hard fought honour as Beşiktaş J.K. triumphed in the league campaign, which was successfully repeated in the 2016–17 Süper Lig season, again with Atiba in a key playmaking defensive midfielder role.

International career

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.
17 December 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 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. Atiba won with 31.4% of the vote with Dwayne De Rosario in second place.
Hutchinson was selected to 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. On 12 December 2012 Hutchinson was again awarded the Canadian Player of the year from the CSA for the second time in his career. Hutchinson was once again awarded the 2015 Canadian Men's Player of the Year by the CFA marking his 4th straight award and 5th in the last 6 years. He also won this title 2016 and 2017.
Hutchinson continued to feature under Canada coach John Herdman and upon his recall to the team in October 2018, Hutchinson 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 May 30, 2019.

Career statistics

Club

International goals

#DateVenueCapOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.October 9, 2004Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula, Honduras91–01–12006 FIFA World Cup qualification
2.July 12, 2005Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, United States162–02–12005 CONCACAF Gold Cup
3.March 25, 2007Bermuda National Stadium, Devonshire Parish, Bermuda231–03–0Friendly
4.October 8, 2010Lobanovsky Dynamo Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine502–02–2Friendly
5.May 23, 2014Sonnenseestation, Ritzing, Austria661–11–1Friendly
6.September 4, 2015BMO Field, Toronto, Canada703–03–02018 FIFA World Cup qualification
7.November 18, 2018Warner Park, Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis801–01–02019–20 CONCACAF Nations League qualification

Honours

;Copenhagen
;PSV Eindhoven
;Beşiktaş