Canadian soccer star Atiba Hutchinson talks about chasing dreams in new memoir
‘The whole journey was surreal,’ says former national team captain born in Brampton, Ont.
Canadian soccer player Atiba Hutchinson's illustrious career began on a patchy field behind a public school in Brampton, Ont.
On this humble pitch with handmade soccer nets, Hutchinson played in "mini World Cup" tournaments with kids from the neighbourhood. As the son of immigrants, he played for Trinidad, his parents' home country.
"Oh, they were serious. You wanted to represent where you come from," Hutchinson told The Current's guest host Rebecca Zandbergen.
In 2022, Hutchinson's childhood dream came true. He not only scored the winning goal against El Salvador to secure Canada's spot in that year's FIFA World Cup in Qatar, 36 years after the country last qualified; he would also captain the team.
"I [still] get goosebumps, just the experience of all of it. The whole journey was very surreal," said Hutchinson.
In June 2023, after a 20-year career that began when he debuted at 19 years old — including stints playing internationally for Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and Turkey — Hutchinson announced his retirement.
He spoke to Zandbergen about the people and events that shaped his career, as shared in his new memoir, The Beautiful Dream. Here is part of the conversation.
You write a lot [in] the book about these younger days … and how you all really were representing the countries that you originated from.… How do you think that influenced the kind of players you all became, and the player you became?
It helped us a lot. It brought us together and brought a lot of talent that was around. You learned a lot from each other. We pushed each other on, a lot.
Canada's very multicultural, and you get to see things from other parts of the world. It wasn't really something back then in Canada, where football was really a big sport. Just bringing all of these different cultures together, and going out there, and playing the world sport — it meant a lot.
It helped me as a human, and obviously as a football player. Those moments were huge for me.
I loved reading about how interested your father was in propelling you through your career … his dedication to you was just inspiring. Where would you be, if not for your dad?
He really did believe in me from a very young age. He would always go out there and bring me on the pitch — playing in parks, and just working on the little details of the game — the passing, the control.
He took me around. Didn't matter where we had games. We'd get in the car, he'd drive me and a bunch of players on the team to these places around the [Greater Toronto Area], and even in the U.S.
He just really was dedicated to helping me learn and grow as a player.
He loves the sport, and not only him, my mother as well. They put a lot of time and effort into creating the player that I became.
In other parts of the world, soccer players are stars — they're legends. In Canada, it's taken a little longer for fans to come around in that way. What did you notice in the difference, and where are we now?
We've come a long way. The World Cup helped a lot, but even before [that], you're seeing things starting to change, with the number of Canadian fans showing up in the stadiums.… I think that's something that Canada was always missing.
You need to have results for that to happen, and we started slowly getting those results. And then once the fans are there, and the performances are at a good level, I think everything just really clicked at the right time, and it has skyrocketed.
There's a lot of support now around the country — you can see that when Canada's playing in the bars, and just the talk around different cities and everything.
We're all proud to see how far the sport has come along.
What did you like about playing in Turkey, and how is it different from playing with Canada's national team?
They love the game so much. They just show so much love and appreciation. They did that for me from the moment I got there. They really like to see players that give 100 per cent effort every time they go out onto the pitch. And that was me as a person, as a player.
I had 10 years there with a very, very good team. We won some championships there, and I raised my kids there — they were all born there, and it's just so close to home.
What's your advice for the next generation of soccer players on how they find success?
Just keep working hard, and play as much as you can. I think that's what would help.
[For] our generation as players, we're always out there and getting out on the streets and playing football — not just the training sessions that you have with your teams, but [getting] out there on the streets, [playing] with your friends around and [learning] as much as you can.
The sport has come a long way and the country is going to get better and better. There's going to be more and more coaches that are coming out, and that's going to help us as a country.
Enjoy the game, and keep playing as much as you can, and work hard.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Audio produced by Alison Masemann. Q&A edited for length and clarity
