Aaron Michael Evans (born 21 November 1994) is an Australian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

for

Maziya Maziya Sports and Recreation Club is a Maldivian professional football club based in Malé. They compete in the Dhivehi Premier League, the country's top division. The club was formed in 1996 and was promoted to the first division for the first ...

in the

Dhivehi Premier League The Dhivehi Premier League, known as the MWSC Dhivehi Premier League for sponsorship reasons, is a Maldives, Maldivian men's professional association football, football league. At the top of the Football in Maldives, Maldives football league sys ...

. A product of Capital Football Academy and ACT Academy of Sport, in 2011, he moved to his first senior club, playing with

Canberra FC Canberra Croatia Football Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club based in the suburb of Deakin in the south of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, founded in 1958. The club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Ca ...

in the

Capital Premier League The Capital Premier League (formerly known as NPL ACT 2 or simply NPL2) is an association football competition contested by clubs affiliated to Capital Football. The league is the second highest level (level 2) competition in the Australian Capi ...

as a 16-year-old. He signed his first professional contract with

Hong Kong Premier League The Hong Kong Premier League () is a Hong Kong professional football league organised by the Football Association of Hong Kong, China. It is currently sponsored by BOC Life and officially known as BOC Life Hong Kong Premier League (). The inau ...

club

Tai Po Tai Po is an List of areas of Hong Kong, area in the New Territories of Hong Kong. It refers to the vicinity of the traditional market towns in the area presently known as Tai Po Old Market or Tai Po Kau Hui () (the original "Tai Po Mark ...

in September 2014 aged 19.

Career

Youth

Capital Football Academy From U11 to U15 was selected in the Capital Football Academy playing squads and participated in the Premier League competition. Whilst a member of the Academy squads Evans was selected to participate in the U14 and U15 Boys National Football Championships in Coffs Harbour. ACT Academy of Sport (ACTAS) Football scholarship with the ACT Academy of Sports for 2 years. During his scholarship, Evans toured Europe and Asia training and playing. Countries toured include England, Germany, Holland and China. Australian Schoolboys In January 2013 selected in the Australian U19 Schoolboys Squad to participate in a 3-week tour of Brazil and Argentina. Played games against

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is best known for its men's professional Association football, football team which, since its promotion in 1913 ...

Botafogo Botafogo (local/standard alternative Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: ) is a beachfront neighborhood (''bairro'') in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a mostly upper middle class and small commerce community, and is located between the hills of M ...

, Estudiantes. Evans was awarded the Man of the Match in the game vs Rosario. Also participated in two-day training camps at Boca Juniors and Botafogo.

Canberra Croatia FC

Joined Canberra Croatia in 2011 commencing his senior career at 16 years old. During his debut season, he made 10 Premier League appearances. In June of the 2011 season, Evans travelled to Croatia and trained with

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb (), commonly referred to as simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo play their home matches at Stadion Maksimir. They are the most successful club in Cr ...

for two weeks before playing with Canberra Croatia in the Croatian Club World Cup where they finished as runners-up. He went on to make 64 appearances for Canberra Croatia before signing with

during the 2014 season as a 19-year-old. During his time at Canberra Croatia, Evans trained with A-League teams

Central Coast Mariners Central Coast Mariners Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Gosford, on the Central Coast of New South Wales. It competes in the A-League Men, under licence from the Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The Mar ...

and

Adelaide United Adelaide United Football Club is a professional men's soccer club located in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club was one of the eight founding members of the A-League Men and have competed in it concurrently since its formation, u ...

. He also spent a short period training with

Sydney Olympic Sydney Olympic Football Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club, based in Belmore, Sydney, New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states o ...

in the National Premier League NSW.

Tai Po FC

On transferring to

in September 2014 he made his debut a few days later against

Kitchee Kitchee Sports Club (; ; ) is a Hong Kong professional Association football, football club based in Kowloon. It was founded in 1931 and currently competes in the Hong Kong Premier League. The club has won 12 List of Hong Kong football champion ...

. He went on to make 8 appearances for Tai Po in Premier League and Cup competitions.

Kamphaengphet F.C.

In January 2015 he transferred to Kamphaengphet in the Thailand AIS Regional League Division 2. He debuted for the club at the start of the 2015 season in February where he established himself as a first team player. Evans an instrumental role in getting Kamphaengphet into the round of 16 in the Thai FA Cup. The 2016 season saw Kamphaengphet finish 2nd in the Northern Regional League Competition making the Champions League finals for the first time in club history, reaching the final 8 teams just missing promotion to Division 1. Kamphaeng Phet will now play in the new Northern Championship League in 2017. He was recognised widely as a major contributor to the success of the team. Solid performances defensively and his trademark long throw-in, ensured he was a player teams analysed. By the end of the 2016 season he had made 64 appearances and scored 4 goals.

Lanexang United FC

At the completion of an outstanding 2016 season he signed with Lanexang United the 2016 Laos Premier League Champions who will compete in the 2016 Toyota Mekong Club Championship and the 2017 AFC Cup Group Stage. He debuted for Lanexang United on 5 November 2016 in Vientiane in the opening Toyota Mekong Club Championship game vs

SHB Da Nang SHB Đà Nẵng Football Club (), simply known as SHB Đà Nẵng, is a Vietnamese professional football club based in Da Nang that plays in V.League 1, the top tier in Vietnamese football, . The club was formerly known as Quang Nam-Da Nang () ...

coming on as a sub in the second half. Lanexang United won the game 2–1. On 27 December 2016 he made his starting debut vs Yadanarbon at the Mandalar Thiri Stadium in

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

. Lanexang United drew the game 3 -3 and progressed to the semi-finals of the Mekong Club Championships where they met Boeung Ket Angkor in

Phnom Penh Phnom Penh is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Cambodia, most populous city of Cambodia. It has been the national capital since 1865 and has grown to become the nation's primate city and its political, economic, industr ...

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

. Lanexang won the semi-final 3-0 and play

Buriram United Buriram United Football Club () is a Thai professional football club based in Buriram. The club has played at the top level of Thai football for the majority of their existence and competes in the Thai League 1. The club was founded in 1970 as P ...

in the two legged final on 4 January 2017 and 8 January 2017. In the first leg of the final Lanexang United won 1 - 0. After good performances during the Toyota Mekong Cup, he was selected to play in the Laos Premier League All - Stars squad. The squad played Thailand Premier League giants

Muangthong United Muangthong United Football Club () is a Thai professional football club based in Muang Thong Thani, Pak Kret district, Nonthaburi province. The club plays in the Thai League 1, the top-flight football league of Thailand. Muangthong United has pa ...

in a game in

Vientiane Vientiane (, ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of Laos. Situated on the banks of the Mekong, Mekong River at the Thailand, Thai border, it comprises the five urban districts of Vientiane Prefecture and had a population of 840,000 ...

PS Barito Putera

After the demise of Lanexang United he signed with

Barito Putera Persatuan Sepak Bola Barito Putera, also known as Barito Putera, is an Indonesian professional football club based in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan. The club will compete in Liga 2, following relegation in the 2024–25 season. History Fo ...

for the 2017 President's Cup and

2017 Liga 1 The 2017 Liga 1, also known as Go-Jek Traveloka Liga 1 for sponsorship reasons, was the inaugural season of Liga 1 under its current name and the 8th season of the top-flight Indonesian professional league for association football clubs since its ...

competitions. Debuting on 7 February 2017 in a Presidents Cup game against Borneo Samarinda, which ended 0-0, his Liga 1 debut came on 15 April 2017 in the season opening game versus

Mitra Kukar Persatuan Sepakbola Mitra Kutai Kartanegara (simply known as a PS Mitra Kukar) is an Indonesian professional football club based in Tenggarong, Kutai Kartanegara, East Kalimantan. They currently compete in the Liga 4. History This club was f ...

in a home match at May 17th Stadium. Barito won the game 2–1. After a good start to the league he scored his first goal in the third game when Barito played

Perseru Serui Badak Lampung Football Club, commonly known as BLFC, was an Indonesian football club based in Bandar Lampung, Lampung. They played in the Liga 2 before relegation in the 2021 season. Their homebase was Sumpah Pemuda Stadium. History The cl ...

. He went on to play every minute of all 17 games played in Leg 1. At the completion of the 2017 Liga 1 season, Evans had played 31 games as a centre-back or defensive midfielder. His performances throughout the 2017 season saw him offered a contract extension for the 2018 Liga 1 season.

PSM Makassar

Evans' signed with

PSM Makassar Persatuan Sepakbola Makassar ( 'Football Association of Makassar') commonly referred to as PSM Makassar, is an Indonesian professional football club based in Makassar, South Sulawesi that competes in Liga 1. PSM was founded in 1915 as , ma ...

for the Indonesian Liga 1 2019 season. He debuted on 26 January 2019 in a

2018–19 Piala Indonesia The 2018–19 Piala Indonesia (known as the Krating Daeng Piala Indonesia for sponsorship reasons) was the seventh edition of Piala Indonesia. It began with the first round on 8 May 2018, and concluded with the finals on 21 July and 6 August 2019. ...

game vs

Kalteng Putra Kalimantan Tengah Putra Football Club or Kalteng Putra FC is an Indonesian football club based in Palangka Raya, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. They currently compete in the Liga 3 but resigned this season and automatically relegated to Liga ...

with PSM winning 2–1. He played in his debut

AFC Cup The AFC Champions League Two (abbreviated as the ACL Two or ACL2) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation. It is the second-tier competition of Asian club football, ranked below the AFC C ...

match vs

Home United Lion City Sailors Football Club, commonly referred to as the Sailors or LCS, is a Singaporean professional football club based in Bishan. It competes in the Singapore Premier League, the top tier of the Singapore football league system. Founded ...

Jalan Besar Stadium Jalan Besar Stadium, officially the Jalan Besar ActiveSG Stadium, is a football stadium located in Kallang, Singapore. The stadium is part of the Jalan Besar Sports and Recreation Centre, a community sports facility that includes the stadium as ...

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

on 27 February 2019. His Liga 1 debut game vs

Semen Padang PT Semen Padang is the state-owned company that became oldest cement plant in Indonesia, having been founded in 1910. The company owns the football club Semen Padang F.C., that competes in the Liga 1 (Indonesia). History PT Semen Padang (P ...

was in the first round on 20 May 2019. PSM won 1-0 and Evans played 90 mins. He scored his first goal for PSM playing in the second leg of the

2019 AFC Cup The 2019 AFC Cup was the 16th edition of the AFC Cup, Asia's secondary club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Al-Ahed from Lebanon won the title for the first time, defeating April 25 from North Korea in ...

ASEAN Semi final vs

Becamex Binh Duong Becamex Binh Duong Football Club (), simply known as Becamex Binh Duong, is a professional football club based in Thủ Dầu Một, Bình Dương province, Vietnam. It currently plays in Vietnam's top division, the V.League 1. Their home grou ...

, with PSM winning the game 2–1. PSM made the final of the

. The two legged final resulted in

Persija Jakarta Persatuan Sepakbola Indonesia Jakarta ( 'Indonesian Football Association of Jakarta'), abbreviated as Persija (), is an Indonesian professional Association football, football club based in the Indonesian capital city of Jakarta. Persija Jaka ...

winning the first leg 1–0 at home. The second leg in Makassar saw PSM win 2-0 with Evans scoring the first goal and then providing an assist for the second. As a result, PSM became Piala Indonesia Champions and earned the right to play in AFC Cup 2020. The Piala Indonesia Final Leg 1 played at

Gelora Bung Karno Stadium Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium (; literal translation, literally "Bung Karno Sports Arena Main Stadium"), formerly Senayan Main Stadium and Gelora Senayan Main Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium located at the center of the Gelora Bung Karno Spor ...

Jakarta Jakarta (; , Betawi language, Betawi: ''Jakartè''), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta (; ''DKI Jakarta'') and formerly known as Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Batavia until 1949, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia and ...

was played in front of 70,306 fans, making it the 15th highest attendance at a football game in the world in 2019.

PSS Sleman

He joined

PSS Sleman Perserikatan Sepakbola Sleman ( 'Sleman Football Union'), or mostly known through its abbreviation PSS, is an Indonesian professional football club based in Sleman Regency, Special Region of Yogyakarta. The club dons the nickname Super Elang Ja ...

in January for the

2020 Liga 1 The 2020 Liga 1, also known as Shopee Liga 1 for sponsorship reasons, was the 4th season of Liga 1 under its current name and the 11th season of the top-flight Indonesian professional league for association football clubs since its establishment ...

season. His debut for PS Sleman came in Round 1 of Liga 1 vs

at Andi Mattalata Stadium in Maksassar on 1 March 2020. PSM won the game 2–1. He scored his first goal for PSS vs

Persib Bandung Persatuan Sepakbola Indonesia Bandung (), also known in acronym as Persib (), is an Indonesian professional football club based in Bandung, West Java. The club competes in the Liga 1, the top tier of Indonesian football. Founded in 1919 as ...

in Round 3 in

Bandung Bandung is the capital city of the West Java province of Indonesia. Located on the island of Java, the city is the List of Indonesian cities by population, fourth-most populous city and fourth largest city in Indonesia after Jakarta, Surabay ...

. After the suspension of Liga 1 2020 due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

, he re-signed for the 2021 Liga 1 season. His first appearance for the season was in the second game of the pre season

2021 Menpora Cup The 2021 Menpora Cup () was a pre-season tournament held by the PSSI ahead of the 2021 Liga 1. The tournament started on 21 March and finished with a two-legged final on 22 and 25 April 2021. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all matches were played ...

Persela Persatuan Sepakbola Lamongan, commonly known as Persela, is an Indonesian professional football club based in Lamongan, East Java. Currently the club plays in Liga 2, the second tier of domestic football. History Although it has been establ ...

NorthEast United FC

On 24 September 2022 he signed for ISL side

NorthEast United NorthEast United Football Club is an Indian professional Association football, football club based in Guwahati, Assam that competes in the Indian Super League (ISL), the top flight of Football in India, Indian football. The club was founded on ...

. On 8 October 2022 he made his

Indian Super League The Indian Super League (ISL) is a professional association football league in India and the highest level of the Indian football league system. Administered by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and its commercial partner Football Sport ...

debut coming on as a late substitute in their controversial 1-0 away defeat to

Bengaluru Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

. Evans spent one season at the club and registered 19 league appearances and scored two goals.

Dandenong Thunder

Evans returned to his homeland signing for

Dandenong Thunder Dandenong Thunder FC is a soccer club from Dandenong, a suburb in the South-East region of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. They are an Albanian Australian-backed club. Thunder compete in the National Premier Leagues Victoria. In 2012, Danden ...

in the

NPL Victoria The National Premier Leagues Victoria (NPL Victoria or NPL VIC) is a semi-professional soccer league in Victoria, Australia. The league is a part of the National Premier Leagues, and is the highest level within the Victorian soccer league syste ...

. Evans made 4 appearances for the club and departed in March 2024.

Abahani Limited Dhaka

After a brief stint in his homeland, Evans returned to Asia having signed for

Bangladesh Premier League Bangladesh Premier League (), also known as Dutch-Bangla Bank BPL for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Twenty20 cricket league in Bangladesh organised by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB). It was formed in 2011 by the BCB, after the su ...

side

Abahani Limited Dhaka Abahani Limited Dhaka (), also referred as Dhaka Abahani or Abahani Limited, is a Bangladeshi professional Association football, football club based in the Dhanmondi area of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The club currently competes in the Bangladesh Pr ...

. He made 4 appearances for the club and left at the end of the season.

Maziya

In September 2024, Evans signed for

club

Career statistics

Club

Honours

PSM Makassar *

Piala Indonesia Piala Indonesia () is the professional annual cup competition for football clubs in Indonesia. Its origins date back to the start of the semi-professional football era in 1985 as Piala Liga, which ran until 1989 under Galatama competition. The Fo ...

: 2018–19 PSS Sleman *

Menpora Cup The Menpora Cup is a football tournament organized by the Ministry of Youth and Sports of the Republic of Indonesia and PSSI. This tournament was first held in 2013 as an international pre-season tournament (Indonesian International Tourna ...

third place:

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

References

External links

*
Aaron Evans Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Aaron 1994 births Living people Sportspeople from Canberra Soccer players from the Australian Capital Territory Australian people of Welsh descent Croatian people of Australian descent Naturalized citizens of Croatia Men's association football midfielders Croatian men's footballers Australian men's soccer players Tai Po FC players Kamphaeng Phet F.C. Lanexang United F.C. players PS Barito Putera players PSM Makassar players PSS Sleman players Persis Solo players NorthEast United FC players National Premier Leagues players Hong Kong First Division League players Aaron Evans Liga 1 (Indonesia) players Indian Super League players Australian expatriate men's soccer players Expatriate men's footballers in Hong Kong Australian expatriate sportspeople in Hong Kong Expatriate men's footballers in Thailand Australian expatriate sportspeople in Thailand Expatriate men's footballers in Laos Expatriate men's footballers in Indonesia Australian expatriate sportspeople in Indonesia Expatriate men's footballers in India Australian expatriate sportspeople in India Australian expatriate sportspeople in Bangladesh Expatriate men's footballers in Bangladesh Bangladesh Premier League footballers Abahani Limited Dhaka players 21st-century Australian sportsmen 21st-century Croatian sportsmen