Jason Alan Davidson (born 29 June 1991) is an Australian professional Soccer player who plays as a defender for Belgian club

Eupen Eupen (, ; ; formerly ) is the capital of German-speaking Community of Belgium and is a city and municipality in the Belgian province of Liège, from the German border ( Aachen), from the Dutch border (Maastricht) and from the " High Fe ...

Club career

Hume City

On 26 January 2009, he signed with

Victorian Premier League The National Premier Leagues Victoria, commonly known as NPL Victoria, 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 l ...

club

Hume City The City of Hume is a local government area located within the metropolitan area of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It includes the outer north-western suburbs and a number of rural localities between 13 and 40 kilometres from the Melbourne ...

, becoming the youngest starting member in the VPL at the age of 17. After having spent three years in the Japanese football development system. He garnered attention from several

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competit ...

clubs after being called up the Australian U-20 squad on 17 March 2009.Clubs race to secure Davidson
/ref>
/ref> In June 2009 he left

to pursue several overseas trials.

Paços de Ferreira

In September 2009 he signed with Portuguese club,

Paços de Ferreira Paços de Ferreira () is a city in the Porto District, in the north of Portugal. The population of the city in 2011 was 7491, while its municipality had 56,340 inhabitants, in an area of 70.99 km². Sometimes referred to as the ''Capital do ...

before being voted 2009 Victorian Premier League – Under 21 Player of the Year. Among serious interest from clubs such as European heavyweights

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. Vf ...

and

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional fo ...

, along with Turkish club Ankaragucu, Davidson also immediately received contract offers from

club,

Newcastle Jets Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from The Australia ...

and another Turkey Super League club in Diyarbakirspor before signing for Paços . On 16 January 2010, Davidson made his senior debut for

in the

Portuguese Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal ...

, coming on as a substitute against

F.C. Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, MHIH, OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Port ...

being the youngest player registered in the

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Port ...

Liga Sagres at 18 in 2009–2010 Season. Davidson suffered an ankle injury upon return from the

2010 AFC U-19 Championship The 2010 AFC U-19 Championship was the 36th edition of the tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation. Qualification for the tournament started in October 2009 with the finals tournament being hosted in October 2010. The AFC recom ...

and on 3 February 2011, was subsequently loaned to

Liga de Honra The Liga Portugal 2 (), also known as Liga Portugal 2 SABSEG for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division of the Portuguese football league system. At the end of each season, the two top-finishing teams are promoted to the top-tier Pri ...

outfit Sporting Covilhã for the remainder of the

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

season for much needed game time after the long injury lay-off.

Heracles Almelo

Davidson joined

Heracles Almelo Heracles Almelo is a Dutch professional football club based in Almelo, founded in 1903. The club has won the Dutch national title twice, in 1927 and 1941. Heracles won the Eerste Divisie title during the 2004–05 season, gaining promotion to t ...

in January 2012. Davidson had an excellent senior debut starting for

in the

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is ...

on 25 March 2012 at the Polman Stadium against

FC Utrecht Football Club Utrecht () is a Dutch professional football club based in Utrecht. The club competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, and plays its home matches at the Stadion Galgenwaard. The club was formed in 1970 as a merg ...

. Davidson played center back and

beat

3–1 at home.

West Bromwich Albion

He moved to

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional Association football, football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English foo ...

on 5 August 2014, after an impressive

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

campaign. On 23 August 2014, Davidson made his debut in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

for West Bromwich Albion, after being subbed on for

Sébastien Pocognoli Sébastien Pocognoli (born 1 August 1987) is a Belgian football manager and former player who played as a left-back. He is the head coach of the Under-21 squad of Union SG. Between 2008 and 2014, he made 13 appearances for the Belgium national ...

in the 60th minute against

Southampton Southampton () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire, S ...

and the game finished in a nil all draw.

Huddersfield Town

Davidson signed a three-year contract with

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. ...

on 26 June 2015. He made his début for the ''Terriers'' in a 2–0 defeat against

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's ...

at the KC Stadium on 8 August 2015. His first goal for the club came in their 5–0 win over

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...

on 12 January 2016.

Groningen

On 18 August 2016, Davidson was loaned out to

side

FC Groningen Football Club Groningen () is a Dutch professional association football club based in Groningen, province of Groningen. Founded on 16 June 1971 as the successor of GVAV, the team compete in the Eredivisie, the highest tier of Dutch football. ...

on a season-long deal. Davidson had an outstanding performance on his debut, 21 August 2016 against FC Twente in a thrilling game.

Rijeka

After being released by

with a year left on his contract, on 28 August 2017, Davidson joined Croatian club

Rijeka Rijeka ( , , ; also known as Fiume hu, Fiume, it, Fiume ; local Chakavian: ''Reka''; german: Sankt Veit am Flaum; sl, Reka) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb and Split). It is located in Prim ...

on a three-year deal. He made his début for Rijeka in a 3–1 away win against

Vrbovec Vrbovec () is a town in Zagreb County, Croatia, lying to the northeast of the capital Zagreb. Geography The town of Vrbovec lies to the north-east of Zagreb, either along the A4 motorway and the D10 expressway or by the old Zagreb –Du ...

in Round 1 of the

Croatian Football Cup The Hrvatski nogometni kup ( eng, Croatian football cup), also colloquially known as Rabuzinovo sunce (), is an annually held football tournament for Croatian football clubs and is the second most important competition in Croatian football after t ...

on 20 September 2017.

Perth Glory

On 13 July 2018, it was announced that Davidson would join

club

Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional Association football, soccer club based in Perth, Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under Professional sports league organi ...

on a one-year deal. In his first

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

for the club, the team finished first in the A-League and were crowned

premiers Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

of league.

Ulsan Hyundai

On 19 June 2019, it was announced that Davidson would join

K League 1 The K League 1 (Hangul: K리그1) is the men's top professional football division of the South Korean football league system. The league is contested by twelve clubs. History The South Korean professional football league was founded in ...

club

Ulsan Hyundai Ulsan Hyundai FC ( ko, 울산 현대 축구단) is a South Korean professional football club based in Ulsan that competes in the K League 1, the top tier of South Korean football. Founded in 1983 as Hyundai Horang-i, they joined the K League i ...

on a two year contract.

Melbourne Victory

Melbourne Victory announced that they had signed Davidson for the 2021–22 A-League season on 16 July 2021.

International career

Eduardo Vargas and Jason Davidson - Chile vs

Davidson was called up to Australia U-20 squad on 17 March 2009 to compete in the Under 20 World Cup held in Egypt in September 2009. He was also called into Australia's initial 50-man squad prior to the 2011 Asian Cup, he was cut however from the final squad. Davidson made his first full international debut on 15 August 2012 against Scotland in Edinburgh, coming on as a substitution just after half time and scoring an own goal after trying to clear a header. He played in all of Australia's group matches against Chile, Holland and Spain at the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting rig ...

in Brazil. Davidson was named as part of Australia's

2015 AFC Asian Cup The 2015 AFC Asian Cup was the 16th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held in Australia from 9 to 31 January 2015. The tournament was ...

squad, which went on to win the trophy. He scored his first international goal in the semi-final against the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at ...

. He was Australia's first choice to play left-back in that squad.

Personal life

Davidson was born and raised in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...

, Australia and is the son of international footballer Alan Davidson. Jason's paternal grandmother is

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

and his mother, Effie is the daughter of

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

immigrants.

Career statistics

Club

''Statistics accurate as of 21 May 2022''

International goals

:''Scores and results list Australia's goal tally first.''

Honours

;Olimpija Ljubljana *

Slovenian PrvaLiga The Slovenian PrvaLiga ( sl, Prva slovenska nogometna liga, ), currently named Prva liga Telemach due to sponsorship reasons, also known by the abbreviation 1. SNL, is the top level of the Slovenian football league system. Contested by ten club ...

: 2017–18 *

Slovenian Cup Slovene or Slovenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Slovenia, a country in Central Europe * Slovene language, a South Slavic language mainly spoken in Slovenia * Slovenes, an ethno-linguistic group mainly living in Slovenia * Sl ...

: 2017–18 Perth Glory *

: Premiers 2018–19 Ulsan Hyundai *

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in ...

Melbourne Victory *

FFA Cup The Australia Cup, formerly known as the FFA Cup until the 2021 season, is the national football knockout cup competition in Australia. This annual competition is organised by Football Australia, formerly known as Football Federation Austr ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

; Australia *

AFC Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the continental champion of Asia. It is the second oldest cont ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

;Individual * A-Leagues All Star:

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeyp ...

* PFA A-League Team of the Season: 2018–19, 2021–22

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Davidson, Jason 1991 births Living people Soccer players from Melbourne Australian people of Japanese descent Australian people of Greek descent Association football central defenders Association football fullbacks Australia international soccer players Australian expatriate soccer players Victorian Premier League players Primeira Liga players F.C. Paços de Ferreira players Expatriate footballers in Portugal Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Croatia Expatriate footballers in Slovenia Expatriate footballers in South Korea Expatriate footballers in Belgium Australian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Australian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Australian expatriate sportspeople in England Australian expatriate sportspeople in Croatia Australian expatriate sportspeople in South Korea Australian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Eredivisie players Heracles Almelo players Liga Portugal 2 players S.C. Covilhã players Hume City FC players 2014 FIFA World Cup players 2015 AFC Asian Cup players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players FC Groningen players HNK Rijeka players NK Olimpija Ljubljana (2005) players Perth Glory FC players Ulsan Hyundai FC players Melbourne Victory FC players K.A.S. Eupen players Premier League players Slovenian PrvaLiga players A-League Men players K League 1 players Belgian Pro League players AFC Asian Cup-winning players Australian soccer players