David Cedric Yannick Evina-Si (born 16 November 1991) is a Cameroonian 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 defender or

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

Club career

Arsenal

As a nine-year-old playing district football in Barnet, Evina was invited by

Liam Brady William Brady (born 13 February 1956) is an Irish former footballer and pundit. He found success both in England with Arsenal, where he won an FA Cup in 1979, and in Italy with Juventus, winning two Serie A titles. Brady was capped 72 times for ...

's scouting team for a trial. He then signed up and made his way up through the club's youth teams. He signed professional terms with the club in August 2009 and then followed this up with captaining the club's 2009–10 FA Youth Cup side, as well being a key part of the FA Premier Academy League winning team. He also played 11 times for the Reserves. On 5 October 2010, he joined

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional association football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. As of the 2025–26 EFL League Two, 2025–26 season, the team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the Eng ...

on loan until 4 January 2011. He made his

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

debut on 9 October 2010 in a League One match against

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

. He scored his first ever professional goal against

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

on 27 November 2010.

Oldham Athletic

On 28 January 2011, Evina was signed on a free transfer by

Paul Dickov Paul Dickov (born 1 November 1972) is a Scottish former professional football manager and player who works as a television pundit for Manchester City TV. Dickov played as a forward from 1990 to 2011, starting his career with Arsenal. He won ...

after being released from Arsenal and impressing on his loan. Evina's first goal after signing came in a 4–0 win against

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. They were founded in 190 ...

with a strike in the top right hand corner. Evina went on to make a further 14 appearances for Oldham, predominantly occupying the left-back spot and occasionally left-wing. His impressive performances during the season earned Evina Oldham's Young Player of the Year award. At the end of the

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

season he was offered a new contract by Oldham. On 9 June it was confirmed by the club that Evina had rejected a new contract for personal reasons. Evina stated in an interview with the club that "Manchester is a long way from home and I decided I wanted to be closer to my family", and went on to state it was nothing to do with the club or the monetary contract.

Charlton Athletic

Evina signed a two-year contract at

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

in June 2011. He found first team opportunities limited at Charlton in the 2011–12 season and made only one start for the club. Following an injury to regular left-back Rhoys Wiggins against

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

at the start of the 2012–13 season, Evina was subsequently handed a run of games in the side. However, he too picked up an injury which left him out of the side for almost two months. With Wiggins still sidelined, Evina returned to the fold and impressed the fans with some solid performances. On 19 July 2013, Evina signed a new one-year deal. On 22 May 2014, he was released from

Doncaster Rovers

Evina signed for

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system after winning the 202 ...

on 30 July 2014 on a two-year contract. On 12 December 2015, Evina signed a new two-and-a-half-year contract which will see him remain at Keepmoat Stadium until the summer of 2018. On 30 June 2017, Evina joined League Two side

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1896 as Crawley Foo ...

on a season-long loan.

Notts County

On 14 September 2018, Evina signed for

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

. He was released by Notts County at the end of the 2018–19 season.

Romford

On 15 January 2020, Evina signed for

Romford Romford is a large List of places in London, town in east London, east London, England, located northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Havering, the town is one of the major Metropolitan centres of London, metropolitan centr ...

. However, after a couple of training sessions with Romford in January, he decided it wasn't for him and extended his hiatus to work on projects outside of football.CEDRIC EVINA: ‘LETTING WOJCIECH SZCZESNY GO WAS ONE OF ARSENAL’S BIGGEST MISTAKES’
arseblog.news, 16 April 2020

International career

Evina is eligible to play for three countries,

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

, where he was born,

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, where he grew up and

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, where he has lived for several years. He was named in the provisional squad for France's Under-20 team for the 2011

Toulon Tournament The Maurice Revello Tournament (officially French: the ''Festival International "Espoirs" – Tournoi Maurice Revello''), previously known as the Toulon Tournament, is a Association football, football tournament, which traditionally features invit ...

, however he did not make the final cut and was not chosen for the final squad.

Career statistics

Honours

*Oldham Athletic Young Player of the Year Award: 2011

References

External links

*
Arsenal profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Evina, Cedric 1991 births Living people Cameroonian men's footballers Men's association football defenders Arsenal F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Crawley Town F.C. players Notts County F.C. players English Football League players Place of birth missing (living people) Romford F.C. players Expatriate men's footballers in England