Atiba Hutchinson opens 15th straight season in UEFA competition

Canadian soccer star Atiba Hutchinson will start a 15^th consecutive season in European continental competition when Beşiktaş JK opens their 2020-21 UEFA Champions League Qualifying campaign on Tuesday 25 August. Hutchinson of Brampton, Ontario and his Turkish club Beşiktaş JK enter the competition at the Second qualifying round with a knockout match against Greek side PAOK FC.

Hutchinson is one of three Canadians in this round of UEFA Champions League Qualifying, with the others teammate Cyle Larin and Red Star Belgrade’s goalkeeper Milan Borjan. Also on Tuesday, Red Star Belgrade (FK Crvena Zvezda) face KF Tirana of Albania. In the First qualifying round, captain Borjan posted the clean sheet as Red Star won 5:0 over Europa FC from Gibraltar.

For Hutchinson, this marks his eighth-straight season in UEFA competition with Beşiktaş JK since the 2013-14 season. In 2016-17, he reached the Quarter-final phase of UEFA Europa League; in 2017-18, he became just the third Canadian to reach the Round of 16 in the men’s UEFA Champions League competition.

Before Beşiktaş JK, Hutchinson was in UEFA club competitions with PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands) from 2010-11 to 2012-13 and FC København (Copenhagen, Denmark) from 2006-07 to 2009-10. Across 14 seasons from 2006-07 to 2019-20, he has played 104 matches across combined UEFA club competitions, including 19 in UEFA Champions League and 15 in UEFA Champions League Qualifying.

Hutchinson is a six-time Canada Soccer Player of the Year. At the club level, he has won the Dutch Cup (KNVB Beker), the Danish Superliga four times and the Danish Cup (DBU Pokalen) once, and the Turkish Süper Lig twice. Still only 37 years young, he just recently signed a contract extension with Beşiktaş JK for the 2020-21 season.

Most seasons in UEFA men’s club competitions:
15 Hutchinson, Atiba (2006-07 to 2020-21)
7 Borjan, Milan (2015-16 to 2020-21)
7 Klukowski, Mike (2004-05 to 2013-14)
6 Occean, Olivier (2005-06 to 2018-19)
6 Stamatopoulos, Kenny (2011-12 to 2018-19)