Michael Thomas Atkinson (born 2 December 1994) is a

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 le ...

who plays as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for club

North Leigh North Leigh is a village and civil parish about northeast of Witney in Oxfordshire. The parish includes the hamlet of East End and since 1932 has also included the hamlet of Wilcote. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 1,929. ...

and the Belize national team.

Early life

Atkinson was born in

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

, North Yorkshire and attended

Archbishop Holgate's School Archbishop Holgate's School is a coeducational Church of England secondary school and sixth form with academy status, located in York, North Yorkshire, England. History The school was founded as Archbishop Holgate's Grammar School in 1546 by R ...

Club career

York City

He played for York Schoolboys before joining

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

's youth system. In March 2013, he joined

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Divisio ...

Division One North club

Farsley Farsley is a town in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough, West Yorkshire, England to the west of Leeds city centre, east of Bradford. Farsley is situated between the two cities and near the town of Pudsey. Before April 1974, Farsley was pa ...

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

, making his debut on 30 March when starting a 2–1 away win over

Ramsbottom United Ramsbottom United Football Club are an English association football, football club based in Ramsbottom, Greater Manchester. Nicknamed "The Rams", they currently compete in the and play their home matches at the Harry Williams Riverside Stadi ...

. He finished the loan with two appearances. Atkinson signed a one-year professional contract with York in June 2013. His first and only involvement with the first team came as an unused substitute in a 0–0 home draw with

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Hartle ...

on 17 August. He joined Northern League Division Two club Northallerton Town in September 2013 on a one-month loan. He made only one appearance, starting in a 4–2 home defeat to Chester-le-Street Town on 28 September, and York manager

Nigel Worthington Nigel Worthington (born 4 November 1961) is a Northern Irish former professional footballer who was most recently the manager of York City. He played a defender and a midfielder, playing his club football for Ballymena United, Notts County, ...

wanted to loan him to a club in a higher division.

Non-League

Atkinson joined Northern Premier League Division One South club

Scarborough Athletic Scarborough Athletic Football Club is an association football club based in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England. The club was formed on 25 June 2007 as a phoenix club following the winding up of Scarborough Football Club. After spending thei ...

on 8 November 2013 on a short-term loan, signing permanently on 19 December after being released by York. He signed for

Northern Counties East League The Northern Counties East Football League is a semi-professional English football league. It has two divisions – Premier Division and Division One – which stand at the ninth and tenth levels of the football pyramid respectively. History Th ...

Division One club Selby Town in January 2014. Atkinson signed for

National League South The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the N ...

club

Oxford City Oxford City Football Club is a semi-professional English association football club based in Marston, Oxford. They currently compete in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football, and play their home matches at Marsh Lane. ...

in July 2018 after a successful trial. He made his debut as an 84th-minute substitute in a 1–1 draw away to

Weston-super-Mare Weston-super-Mare, also known simply as Weston, is a seaside town in North Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. It includes the suburbs of Mead Vale, Milton, Oldmixon ...

on 25 August. He finished his time at the club with two appearances. Atkinson signed for Southern League Division One Central club

in December 2019, making his debut on 26 December when starting in a 3–0 home win over Didcot Town. He finished the season, which ended prematurely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with four appearances, and signed a new contract with the club in July 2020. He made three appearances in a second successive season to be ended prematurely due to the pandemic.

International career

Atkinson is eligible to represent Belize at international level through his mother and received his first call-up for the Belize national team when being named in their squad for the

2017 Copa Centroamericana The 2017 Copa Centroamericana ( en, 2017 Central American Cup) was the 14th and last edition of the Copa Centroamericana, the biennial international men's football championship of the Central American region organized by the Central American Foot ...

. He made his debut as a 59th-minute substitute in a 3–0 defeat to

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

on 15 January 2017. He made his first start two days later in Belize's 3–1 loss to

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

, in which he was substituted on 47 minutes. Atkinson finished the 2017 Copa Centroamericana with two appearances as Belize were eliminated after finishing bottom in the standings.

Style of play

Atkinson plays as a

Personal life

Atkinson pursued a career as a physical training instructor in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

(RAF), starting the joining process in 2014, and has played for the RAF football team.

Career statistics

Club

International

References

External links

Profile
at the North Leigh F.C. website
Profile
at the Football Federation of Belize website {{DEFAULTSORT:Atkinson, Mike 1994 births Living people Footballers from York English footballers People with acquired Belizean citizenship Belizean footballers Belize international footballers Association football defenders Association football midfielders York City F.C. players Farsley Celtic F.C. players Northallerton Town F.C. players Scarborough Athletic F.C. players Selby Town F.C. players Oxford City F.C. players North Leigh F.C. players Northern Premier League players Northern Football League players National League (English football) players Southern Football League players 2017 Copa Centroamericana players People educated at Archbishop Holgate's School Royal Air Force Physical Training instructors English people of Belizean descent