Atiba Hutchinson

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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