Paul Anthony Evans (born 28 December 1973) is a South African retired 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 le ...

Career

Son of Welsh parents, Evans started his career at his homeland with Wits University at the age of 18. After 140 league appearances for the South African club, he joined Leeds United on 1 August 1995, for £50,000. Mainly a backup for John Lukic,

Mark Beeney Mark Raymond Beeney (born 30 December 1967) is an English football coach and former professional footballer, who is a goalkeeping coach for Premier League side Chelsea's reserve and youth teams. As a player, he was a goalkeeper from 1986 to 2 ...

and

Nigel Martyn Antony Nigel Martyn (born 11 August 1966) is an English football coach and former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He notably played in the Premier League for Crystal Palace, Leeds United and Everton, having initially playe ...

, Evans made no appearances for Leeds United before being released at the end of the 1996–97 season. During his tenure at

Elland Road Elland Road is a football stadium in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, which has been the home of Premier League club Leeds United since the club's formation in 1919. The stadium is the 14th largest football stadium in England. The g ...

, he had short-term loans to Crystal Palace and

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

, also without any playing time. Evans then returned to South Africa and played for

Supersport United SuperSport United Football Club (often known as SuperSport) is a South African professional football club based in Atteridgeville in Pretoria in the Gauteng province. The team currently plays in the Dstv Premiership. United is known as ''Matsats ...

, Mamelodi Sundowns and

Jomo Cosmos Jomo Cosmos are a South African association football club based in Johannesburg that plays in the National First Division. The club is owned and coached by South African football legend Jomo Sono. In the 2021-2022 National First Division sea ...

before returning to English football in 2002, after joining Huddersfield Town in March. Four months later,

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

signed Evans on a free transfer on 12 July 2002 as backup to

Kevin Pressman Kevin Paul Pressman (born 6 November 1967) is an English football coach and former professional goalkeeper, who is the current goalkeeping coach for Grantham Town. As a player he made over 500 appearances in both the Premier League and Footb ...

. He made his debut for Wednesday against Derby County on 15 February 2003. Despite conceding two goals in his debut game, Evans had a decent spell at

Hillsborough Hillsborough may refer to: Australia *Hillsborough, New South Wales, a suburb of Lake Macquarie Canada *Hillsborough, New Brunswick *Hillsborough Parish, New Brunswick * Hillsborough, Nova Scotia, in Inverness County *Hillsborough (electoral d ...

and went on to keep three clean sheets and concede just three goals in his next six games. At the end of the 2002–03 season, however, he fractured his pelvis. His new contract offer was withdrawn and he was released at the end of the season whilst still recovering from his injuries. Several months later he joined

Division Two NCL Division Two The NCL or National Conference League Division Two (known as the Kingstone Press NCL Division Two) League winners {, class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" , - , colspan=4 style="text-align:center;" , NCL DIVISION TWO , ...

side Rushden & Diamonds where he made five appearances in all competitions before leaving the club on 1 December 2003. Evans then joined Southern League side Bath City in 2004. He retired in 2009 at Bath City F.C.

International career

Evans played eight matches for South Africa under-23. He was called to replace injured

Andre Arendse Andre Leander Arendse (born 27 June 1967) is a South African former soccer player who played as a goalkeeper. He now works as an assistant and goalkeeper coach for Supersport United and has also been a co-presenter with SuperSport. Playing c ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

's squad before the start of

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

, but had to withdraw with a snapped cruciate ligament to his right knee and was himself replaced by

Simon Gopane Motshweneng Simon Gopane (born 26 December 1970 in Bloemfontein) is a South African Association football, football coach and a former international Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Throughout his career he played for Bloemfontein ...

. He made two senior appearances, against

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...

and

Gambia The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publicatio ...

in 2001, in a friendly tournament. Although

did not send their first team players, both matches were counted as full internationals.

References

External links

*
Leeds United Player Profiles: Paul Evans
{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Paul 1973 births Living people People from Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal South African people of British descent South African soccer players Association football goalkeepers Leeds United F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players Jomo Cosmos F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Rushden & Diamonds F.C. players Bath City F.C. players English Football League players Expatriate footballers in England White South African people Soccer players from KwaZulu-Natal