Toby Philip Down (; born 3 June 1994) is a 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 currently plays as a

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. ...

or a

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

for

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

HKFC Hong Kong Football Club (HKFC; ), established in 1886, is a private members' club in Hong Kong. The name reflects the origin as a club for playing association football and rugby. The club is situated in Happy Valley, with the sports pitches ...

. Born in

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 ...

, he received his

HKSAR passport The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region passport () is a passport issued to permanent residents of Hong Kong who also hold Chinese citizenship. Note that: The passport is referred to both as the HKSAR Passport and the Hong Kong Special A ...

in 2020.

Club career

Down moved to Hong Kong at the age of 3 with his family. He played junior football for the

Kowloon Cricket Club The Kowloon Cricket Club, also called KCC (), is a members only cricket club and social club situated in Kowloon, Hong Kong, on Cox's Road. History The Cricket Club was established on 4 October 1904 and was provided land from the government i ...

in the HKJFL, until moving into the local football set up with

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 ...

and then

Sham Shui Po Sham Shui Po () is an area of Kowloon, Hong Kong, situated in the northwestern part of the Kowloon Peninsula, north of Tai Kok Tsui, east of Cheung Sha Wan and south of Shek Kip Mei (). It is located in and is the namesake of the Sham Shui ...

. After attending secondary school in King George V School he had a trial period with

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 188 ...

in 2013, making 1 appearance in a pre-season friendly. Down started his senior career at

Citizen Citizenship is a membership and allegiance to a sovereign state. Though citizenship is often conflated with nationality in today's English-speaking world, international law does not usually use the term ''citizenship'' to refer to nationality ...

, making his senior debut in the

Hong Kong FA Cup Hong Kong FA Cup () is a knockout cup competition in Hong Kong football, run by and named after The Hong Kong Football Association. The first edition of the competition was held in 1975, before then the cup was known as the Golden Jubilee Cup. T ...

playing the last nine minutes in a 3–0 win over Sun Source. Down then attended

Concordia University Concordia University () is a Public university, public English-language research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College (Montreal), Loyola College and Sir George Williams Universit ...

to study marketing and play for the men's football team. In September 2015, he scored the first hat-trick for his side since October 2013. After four years in America, Down returned to Hong Kong to join

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 ...

. On 2 September 2018, he made his

debut for Tai Po, playing the last 20 minutes in a 4–4 draw with

Yuen Long Yuen Long is a town in the western New Territories, Hong Kong. To its west lie Hung Shui Kiu (), Tin Shui Wai, Lau Fau Shan and Ha Tsuen, to the south Shap Pat Heung and Tai Tong, to the east Au Tau and Kam Tin (), and to the north Nam Sang Wa ...

. On 6 July 2020, Down joined fellow

club

Eastern Eastern or Easterns may refer to: Transportation Airlines *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 192 ...

. On 15 October 2020, Southern acquired Down on loan for the season. On 9 July 2022, Down left Eastern. In 2024, he was playing for

United Premier Soccer League The United Premier Soccer League (UPSL) is an American for-profit soccer league that was founded in Santa Ana in Southern California, with teams in regionalized conferences throughout the United States, and recently Canada and Mexico. The leagu ...

side OFC Wolves. On 31 July 2024, it was confirmed that Down would join

having last played in Hong Kong since 2020.港超聯港會開操！前港腳羅素「愛回家」
on.cc 31 July 2024

International career

In 2020, it was reported that Down had received his

after giving up his English passport, making him eligible to represent

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

internationally.

Personal life

Down was born in

Ascot Ascot, Ascott or Askot may refer to: Places Australia * Ascot, Queensland, suburb of Brisbane * Ascot, Queensland (Toowoomba Region), a locality * Ascot Park, South Australia, suburb of Adelaide * Ascot (Ballarat), town near Ballarat in Victoria ...

, England and has four siblings. He competed in both rugby and athletics when he was younger.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Tai Po *

: 2018–19

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Down, Toby 1994 births Living people Hong Kong men's footballers English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Men's association football defenders Hong Kong Premier League players United Premier Soccer League players Citizen AA players Concordia University Nebraska alumni Tai Po FC players Eastern Sports Club footballers Southern District FC players Hong Kong FC (football) players Hong Kong people of English descent Footballers from Berkshire Alumni of King George V School, Hong Kong Expatriate men's footballers in Hong Kong Naturalised footballers of Hong Kong Hong Kong expatriate men's footballers English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States 21st-century English sportsmen