Jason Richard de Vos (born January 2, 1974) is a Canadian former professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player who played as a

central defender 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 ...

. An international for

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, de Vos played in Canada and the United Kingdom – most notably with

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, ...

and

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 ...

. In 2012, as part of the

Canadian Soccer Association The Canadian Soccer Association (Canada Soccer) is the governing body of soccer in Canada. It is a national organization that oversees the Canadian men's and women's national teams for international play, as well as the respective junior sides ( ...

's centennial celebration, he was named to the all-time Canada XI men's team. In 2016, he was named the Director of Development for the Canadian Soccer Association.

Club career

Jason de Vos began his professional career in 1990 as a 15-year-old high schooler with hometown club the London Lasers of the former

Canadian Soccer League The Canadian Soccer League (CSL; french: Ligue canadienne de soccer — LCS) is a semi-professional league for Canadian soccer clubs primarily located in the province of Ontario, and claims the history of the Canadian National Soccer League (C ...

(CSL). When the club folded he joined the Kitchener Kickers, also of the CSL. When the latter club also folded he rejoined the re-established Lasers in 1992, the last year of operations for the CSL. Known for his ability in the air, De Vos spent the next five seasons with the Montreal Impact of the then

American Professional Soccer League The American Professional Soccer League (APSL) was a professional men's soccer league with teams from the United States and later Canada. It was formed in 1990 by the merger of the third American Soccer League with the Western Soccer League. It ...

, the last two on loan to English Third Division club

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

. In 1998 De Vos first signed a contract with the Darlington before moving to

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

of the

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...

in October on a £400,000 transfer. He spent three seasons with ''The Terrors'', captaining the side in 2000–01. He was then signed by

of the then English Second Division for £500,000 in 2001. De Vos captained the side to its promotion to the First Division in 2002–03 and was named in that season's PFA Division Two Team of the Year. Following an injury-plagued 2003–04, which saw Wigan just miss out on a

FA 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 ...

play-off place, De Vos left 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 association ...

and joined Ipswich Town FC. Since joining Ipswich, he held down a regular place in the centre of defence, often playing through many injuries, often captaining the team in

Jim Magilton James Magilton (born 6 May 1969) is a Northern Irish football manager and former professional player. As a player, he was a midfielder who notably played in the Premier League for Southampton, Sheffield Wednesday and Ipswich Town. He started hi ...

's absence. In June 2006, Jim Magilton was appointed manager of Ipswich Town and made de Vos the new captain. He retired from club and international soccer in 2008.

International career

De Vos represented Canada at the

1991 Pan American Games The 1991 Pan American Games were held in Havana, Cuba from August 2 to August 18, 1991. There were 4,519 athletes from 39 countries of the Pan American Sports Organization, PASO community, with events in 33 different sports. The main stadium was ...

. He appeared in 49 full internationals, scoring four goals. He debuted on August 19, 1997, in a 1–0 home loss friendly to

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. He has represented Canada in 11

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

matches and played at the

2001 Confederations Cup The 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup was the fifth FIFA Confederations Cup and the third to be organised by FIFA. It was also the first in which the original hosts, Saudi Arabia, did not participate (they were the nation who founded the tournament, pr ...

. He captained the Canadian team from 1999 until his retirement from international football in 2004. De Vos was named a tournament all-star for both the

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

and

2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the sixth edition of the Gold Cup, the soccer championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF). The tournament was once again held in the United States, in Miami and Pasadena. The format ...

tournaments, in which Canada were placed first and third respectively. He scored the winning goal in the final of the 2000 Gold Cup, a match Canada won 2–0 over Colombia.

Retirement

After the final match of the 2007–08 season in the 1–0 win over

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...

, De Vos announced his immediate retirement from playing to take up a media role in his native Canada and was given a guard of honour and standing ovation during the teams parade lap of the pitch. De Vos will also scout players from the MLS for former-club Ipswich Town. De Vos provided commentary on the FIFA 2010 World Cup for CBC and on

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club (commonly known as Toronto FC or TFC) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matches at BMO ...

matches for CBC and GolTV Canada. De Vos was the colour Commentator for

CBC Sports CBC Sports is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for English-language sports broadcasting. The CBC's sports programming primarily airs on CBC Television, CBCSports.ca, and CBC Radio One. (The CBC's French-languag ...

's coverage of

Football at the 2008 Summer Olympics Football at the 2008 Summer Olympics was held in Beijing and several other cities in the People's Republic of China from 6 to 23 August. Associations affiliated with FIFA were invited to send their full women's national teams and men's U-23 team ...

Beijing, China } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. Fall of 2010 he accepted the position of Technical Director at Oakville Soccer Club. On May 4, de Vos stepped down as Technical Director at Oakville Soccer Club after accepting a full-time position with TSN as a broadcaster. Since April 2013 is de Vos Member of the

Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame The Canada Soccer Hall of Fame honours people and institutions for their contributions to Canadian soccer. It was founded in 1997 by the Ontario Soccer Association and was originally located in Vaughan, Ontario. As of 2019, the Canada Soccer Ha ...

. In January 2015, de Vos confirmed that he would begin work towards his

UEFA Pro Licence UEFA, the governing body for football in Europe, mandates several coaching licences for professional managers, each valid for coaching at a certain level. These include the UEFA Pro Licence, the UEFA A Licence, and the UEFA B Licence. They are iss ...

in May of that year in Ireland. On August 30, 2016, he was named the Director of Development for the Canadian Soccer Association.

Career statistics

International

:Source:

International goals

:''Scores and results list Canada's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each de Vos goal.''

Honours

Player

Wigan Athletic *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third ti ...

: 2002–03 Canada *

CONCACAF Gold Cup The CONCACAF Gold Cup ( es, Copa de Oro de la CONCACAF, french: Coupe D'or CONCACAF) is the main association football competition of the men's national football teams governed by CONCACAF, determining the continental champion of North Ameri ...

Individual *

Best XI:

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

Fair Play Award:

Canadian Player of the Year The Canada Soccer Player of the Year award celebrates Canada's top male and female soccer players in recognition of their achievements with both the national teams and their respective clubs. Since 2007, voting has been conducted by Canadian coac ...

: 2002 *

Manchester Evening News The ''Manchester Evening News'' (''MEN'') is a regional daily newspaper covering Greater Manchester in North West England, founded in 1868. It is published Monday–Saturday; a Sunday edition, the ''MEN on Sunday'', was launched in February 201 ...

/GMR Sports Personality of the Month: April 2003 *

Player of the Year: 2002–03 *

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 ...

: 2002–03 Second Division *

Players' Player of the Year: 2005–06 *

: Inducted 2013 *

Ipswich Town F.C. Hall of Fame Ipswich Town Football Club is an English association football club founded in 1878. In 2007, the club created a hall of fame into which a number of personnel associated with the club are inducted every year. The inaugural members, Ray Crawford, M ...

: Inducted 2019

References

External links

* /

Canada Soccer Hall of Fame The Canada Soccer Hall of Fame honours people and institutions for their contributions to Canadian soccer. It was founded in 1997 by the Ontario Soccer Association and was originally located in Vaughan, Ontario. As of 2019, the Canada Soccer Hal ...

Jason de Vos profile at Ipswich Town Talk
*
''Sporting-Heroes.net'' with a picture, profile and career British footballing statistics of De Vos
* {{DEFAULTSORT:De Vos, Jason 1974 births 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup players A-League (1995–2004) players American Professional Soccer League players Association football defenders Canada men's international soccer players Canada men's youth international soccer players Canadian soccer commentators Canadian expatriate soccer players Canadian people of Dutch descent Canadian Soccer League (1987–1992) players Canadian soccer players CONCACAF Gold Cup-winning players Darlington F.C. players Dundee United F.C. players Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Scotland Ipswich Town F.C. players Living people London Lasers players Major League Soccer broadcasters Montreal Impact (1992–2011) players Scottish Premier League players Soccer players from London, Ontario English Football League players Wigan Athletic F.C. players Pan American Games competitors for Canada Footballers at the 1991 Pan American Games Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Canadian expatriate sportspeople in England Kitchener Spirit players