Akenhaton Carlos Edwards CM (born 24 October 1978) is a Trinidadian former 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 ...

who plays as a winger or

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 ...

for Bury Town. He started his footballing career in Trinidad and Tobago before moving to

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

in 2000 for whom he made over 150 appearances. He went on to play for

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

and

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, eas ...

. Edwards also made over 90 appearances for the

Trinidad and Tobago national football team The Trinidad and Tobago national football team, nicknamed the " Soca Warriors", represents the twin-island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago in international football. It is controlled by the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association, which is a m ...

, scoring four goals. As a member of the squad that competed at the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

in Germany, he was awarded the Chaconia Medal (Gold Class), the second highest

state decoration A state decoration is an object, such as a medal or the insignia of an Order (distinction), order, that is awarded by a sovereign state to honor the recipient. The term includes: *Civil awards and decorations *Military awards and decorations See ...

of Trinidad and Tobago.

Club career

Edwards, a right-winger also adept at

, started his professional career at Defence Force in his native Trinidad and Tobago, where he had attended the same school (St Anthony's College in Westmoorings) as future team-mate

Kenwyne Jones Kenwyne Joel Jones CM (born 5 October 1984) is a Trinidadian football manager and retired professional player who played as a forward. He currently manages the Trinidad and Tobago women's national team. He began his football career with Joe ...

Wrexham

Edwards was later signed by

for £250,000 in 2000, along with

Dennis Lawrence Dennis William Lawrence CM (born 1 August 1974) is a Trinidad and Tobago former professional footballer and current first-team coach at Coventry City. He was the manager of the Trinidad and Tobago national team from 2017 to 2019. Prior to coa ...

and

Hector Sam Hector McLeod Sam (born 25 February 1978) is a Trinidadian former international footballer striker. He spent eight years as a professional player in the English Football League, most significantly playing a total of 176 games for Welsh club W ...

, after a trial. Edwards helped the club win promotion to the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

in 2002–03, scoring 10 goals and winning Wrexham's Player of the Year award and being selected for the PFA Third Division Team of the Year along the way. He then added a further five goals the following season as the club finished mid-table, with Edwards again voted into the

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's English football; the Premie ...

. However, Edwards suffered a knee injury while on international duty in 2004 that put him on the sidelines for most of the 2004–05 season. The campaign ended in relegation for the club but he won his first silverware in English football in the form of the 2005

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

Luton Town

With his Wrexham contract having expired, Edwards joined

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

side

in 2005 in a three-year deal on a

Bosman transfer ''Union Royale Belge des Sociétés de Football Association ASBL v Jean-Marc Bosman'' (1995) C-415/93 (known as the Bosman ruling) is a 1995 European Court of Justice decision concerning freedom of movement for workers, freedom of associatio ...

. At Luton, he became popular with the fans with his flair and ability, winning the Young Members Player of the Season award in his first season with the club.

Sunderland

Edwards' form attracted a £1.5 million bid from

whom he joined on 2 January 2007, signing a three-and-a-half-year contract. Edwards began his Sunderland career brightly and scored five times in the remainder of the campaign. It was his 80th-minute winner against

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

that confirmed Sunderland's promotion to 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 ...

, after

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 188 ...

failed to beat

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 building ...

the following day. Edwards' first season in the top flight was ruined by injury problems though. He suffered a hamstring injury in only the second game and after returning, had a leg fracture that again put him on the sidelines. He managed to return for the final months of the campaign that saw Sunderland retain their Premier League status. After a spree of summer signings left Edwards largely out of contention at his parent club, he joined

side

on 2 October 2008 on a three-month loan. However, he was recalled early by the Black Cats on 20 November after six appearances for Wolves.

Ipswich Town

On 1 September 2009, Edwards and

Grant Leadbitter Grant Leadbitter (born 7 January 1986) is an English former professional Association football, footballer who played as a midfielder. He made more than 500 appearances in the Premier League and English Football League, Football League, which inc ...

signed for

for a combined fee of £4 million. He scored his first goal for Ipswich in a 1–0 win at Sheffield Wednesday on 20 February 2010. He quickly became a key player at Ipswich, making 30 appearances during his first season at the club. He scored his first goal of the 2010–11 season on 21 August, scoring the winning goal in a 2–1 away win over

. Edwards played purely as a right winger under Roy Keane but switched to right-back when

Paul Jewell Paul Jewell (born 28 September 1964) is an English football manager and former player, who was most recently director of football at Swindon Town. Jewell began his playing career with Liverpool, continued at Wigan Athletic and concluded in a ...

became manager in January 2011. He scored the winning goal in a 3–2 win over

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

on 22 January. He only missed one league game during the 2010–11, while also playing a key role as Ipswich made the semi-final of the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

, starting in the 1–0 win over

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

in the first-leg at

Portman Road Portman Road is a football stadium in Ipswich, Suffolk, England, which has been the home ground of Ipswich Town F.C. since 1884. The stadium has also hosted many England youth international matches, and one senior England friendly internatio ...

, while also starting in the second-leg at the Emirates Stadium as Ipswich exited the cup after a 3–0 loss. He continued to be a regular starter in the 2011–12 season. Edwards became Ipswich

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in March 2012. He started all but one league game during the season, with his performances earning him the Players' Player of the Year award for the 2011–12 season. He kept his place as captain the following season, playing a key part in the first-team during the 2012–13 season as Ipswich recovered from a poor start to the season resulting in the sacking of manager Paul Jewell, to pick-up in the second half of the season following the arrival of new manager

Mick McCarthy Michael Joseph McCarthy (born 7 February 1959) is a professional football manager, pundit, and former player. He was last in charge of EFL Championship club Cardiff City. McCarthy began his playing career at Barnsley in 1977, and he later had ...

. He scored late winners in 1–0 wins over

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

and

. He made 46 appearances in all competitions during the season. Edwards featured less regularly during the 2013–14 season, scoring once in 18 appearances up until January.

Millwall

On 27 March 2014, Edwards joined fellow

side

on loan until 3 May 2014. His first goal for Millwall on 8 April, netting the winning goal in a 1–0 away win over

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

at the

DW Stadium The DW Stadium is a stadium in Robin Park, in Wigan, within the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The ground is owned and managed by Wigan Football Company Limited, which is 85% owned by Wigan Athletic and 15% owned ...

. He made 8 appearances during his loan spell at Millwall. On 21 May 2014, Edwards joined

permanently on a free transfer, signing a contract until June 2015. The veteran started the 2014–15 season in the first-team. On 22 September 2014, he suffered a serious knee injury during Millwall's 0–0 draw against

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

ruling him out for the rest of the 2014–2015 campaign. On 24 August 2015, Edwards re-joined Millwall on a short-term deal until January 2016, following his earlier release from the club. He made 22 appearances during the season, helping Millwall reach the 2016 Football League One play-off final, starting at right-back as Millwall lost out 1–3 to

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

Ma Pau

In October 2016, Edwards joined Ma Pau Stars.

Central FC

Edwards joined

Central FC Central Football Club is a Trinidad and Tobago professional football club, based in California, that plays in the TT Pro League. Founded in 2012, the ''Sharks'' were the 21st team to join the Pro League and plays its home matches in Ato Boldon S ...

in May 2017 for the

Caribbean Cup The Caribbean Cup was the championship tournament for national association football teams that are members of the Caribbean Football Union. The first competition, established by Shell and run by former England Cricket fast bowler Fred Rumsey, wa ...

on a three-week contract.

Woodbridge Town

In December 2017 Edwards returned to Suffolk to play for non-League club Woodbridge Town. He was appointed joint manager of the club in April 2019. In January 2020 he signed dual registration terms with Bury Town, allowing him to play for Bury when Woodbridge were not playing.

Bury Town

In September 2020, it was announced Edwards had joined Isthmian League side Bury Town full time for the 2020–21 season after leaving his position at Woodbridge Town.

International career

Edwards made his international debut for the Trinidad and Tobago national team on 5 June 1999 against

Grenada Grenada ( ; Grenadian Creole French: ) is an island country in the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea at the southern end of the Grenadines island chain. Grenada consists of the island of Grenada itself, two smaller islands, Carriacou and Pe ...

in the 1999 Caribbean Cup, despite never having appeared at any youth level for his country before. After winning that tournament, Edwards went on to become an established international and was part of the team that reached the World Cup Finals for the first time in the country's history and was duly selected for the squad for the 2006 World Cup in Germany. He played every minute of their participation during the competition, against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

, respectively.

Personal life

Edwards was named after Eighteenth Dynasty Ancient Egyptian ruler,

Akhenaten Akhenaten (pronounced ), also spelled Echnaton, Akhenaton, ( egy, ꜣḫ-n-jtn ''ʾŪḫə-nə-yātəy'', , meaning "Effective for the Aten"), was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh reigning or 1351–1334 BC, the tenth ruler of the Eighteenth Dy ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Trinidad and Tobago's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Edwards goal.''

Honours

Wrexham *

FAW Premier Cup The FAW Premier Cup (until 1998 the FAW Invitation Cup) was a Welsh football cup competition, organised annually by the Football Association of Wales from 1997 to 2008. Since the FAW excluded clubs playing in English leagues (including six Welsh ...

: 2000–01, 2002–03, 2003–04 *

Football League Third Division The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the division become the fourth tier level. In 2004, following the f ...

promoted: 2002–03 *

: 2004–05 Sunderland *

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...

: 2006–07 Trinidad and Tobago *

: 1999,

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

Individual *

Player of the Year: 2002–03 *

: 2002–03 Third Division, 2003–04 Second Division, 2006–07 Championship *

Players' Player of the Year: 2011–12 Medals * TTO_Chaconia_Medal

Chaconia Medal The Chaconia Medal is the second highest state decoration of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Established in 1969, the medal honours long and meritorious service to promote national welfare or community spirit. It is awarded in three classes: ...

Gold Class: 2006

References

External links

*
Carlos Edwards Profile
on the Soca Warriors Online website {{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Carlos 1978 births Living people People from Diego Martin Trinidad and Tobago Seventh-day Adventists Association football midfielders Trinidad and Tobago footballers Trinidad and Tobago international footballers Defence Force F.C. players Wrexham A.F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Ipswich Town F.C. players Millwall F.C. players Central F.C. players Woodbridge Town F.C. players Bury Town F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2006 FIFA World Cup players 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Recipients of the Chaconia Medal TT Pro League players Trinidad and Tobago expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Trinidad and Tobago expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in Wales Trinidad and Tobago expatriate sportspeople in Wales Woodbridge Town F.C. managers Trinidad and Tobago football managers