Christopher Cadden (born 19 September 1996) is a Scottish 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 ...

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 ...

for

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish ...

club Hibernian. Cadden, who is a product of the

Motherwell Academy Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanark ...

, made his first full international appearance for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

in May 2018.

Club career

Motherwell

Cadden made his Motherwell debut as a substitute in a 4–1 win against Hearts on 1 March 2014. On 6 March 2015, Cadden joined

Scottish League Two The Scottish League Two, known as cinch League Two for sponsorship reasons, is the fourth tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish League Two was ...

club

Albion Rovers Albion Rovers Football Club is a semi-professional football team from Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. They are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League Two, the fourth tier of the Scotti ...

on loan until the end of the season. Cadden scored his first career goal on 4 April 2015, as Albion Rovers beat

Berwick Rangers Berwick Rangers Football Club is a football team based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, England, just south of the border with Scotland. Founded in 1881, they currently play in the , the fifth tier of Scottish football, despite hailing fr ...

2–0, and another in Albion Rovers' league-winning match against Clyde. His loan spell concluded with the club being promoted as divisional winners. On 30 January 2016, Cadden scored his first goal for Motherwell in a 2–2 draw away to

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

. In March 2016, he signed a new contract with the club to run until the summer of 2018. By now establishing himself in the first team, he also contributed to Motherwell's Under-20s winning the Scottish Youth Cup for the first time. Cadden signed another contract with Motherwell in November 2016, extending its term by another year. He played in the finals of the 2017–18 League Cup and the

2017–18 Scottish Cup The 2017–18 Scottish Cup was the 133rd season of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. The tournament was sponsored by bookmaker William Hill in what was the seventh season of a nine-year partnership, after contract negoti ...

, both of which resulted in 2–0 defeats for Motherwell at the hands of

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

Columbus Crew SC

On 23 July 2019,

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

Cadden signed for

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

side Columbus Crew SC; it was announced that he would be immediately loaned to English club

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and th ...

and would join the Crew in advance of the 2020 season. Motherwell stated they would negotiate for a training compensation fee, due to no formal arrangement being in place with MLS in respect of clubs which had developed a young player receiving a payment when they left out of contract.

Loan to Oxford United

Cadden made his Oxford debut in a 1–1 draw at

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 ...

on the opening day of the 2019–20 season. During Cadden's loan spell, he made 21 appearances for Oxford and was widely considered one of the best right backs in

EFL League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

. Oxford manager

Karl Robinson Karl Robinson (born 13 September 1980) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the manager of club Oxford United. Playing career Robinson was born in Rainhill, Merseyside. He played for Caernarfon Town, Bamber Bri ...

looked to make the loan permanent, but had its advances rejected by the Crew.

Return to Columbus

Cadden started the 2020 season as depth at both the wing and wing-back positions, but was widely considered the successor to 33-year-old

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

ian

Harrison Afful Harrison Afful (born 24 July 1986) is a Ghanaian professional footballer who plays as a fullback for Charlotte FC and the Ghana national team. He appeared previously for Feyenoord Academy, Espérance de Tunis, Columbus Crew, and Charlotte ...

. Cadden made his debut for the Crew against New York City FC in the first game of the season. He came on in the 87th minute for fellow debutante Lucas Zelarayán. In December 2020 he was part of the squad that won the

MLS Cup The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The game is held in November and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Conference ...

. In January, it was reported that Cadden would likely leave the club in a bid to gain more playing time; it was noted that his transition to America was made difficult by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Cadden was linked with a return to Great Britain with Hibernian,

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

, and

Hibernian

On 15 January 2021, Cadden returned home to Scotland, signing for Hibernian on a two-and-a-half year deal for an undisclosed fee. He signed a new contract with Hibs in August 2022, which is due to run until the end of the 2024–25 season. Cadden suffered an

achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcaneus (h ...

injury during the last game of the 2022–23 season, which is expected to prevent him from playing for several months.

International career

In August 2016, Cadden was named in the Scotland under-21 squad for the first time ahead of the European Under-21 Championship qualifiers against Macedonia and

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

, receiving the call having initially been left out the squad. He made his debut against Ukraine on 6 September 2016. On 17 May 2018, Cadden was called up to the

squad for the first time ahead of their friendlies against

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

; he made his full Scotland debut on 29 May, in a 2–0 defeat to Peru.

Personal life

His twin brother,

Nicky Nicky is a diminutive form of the name Nicholas, Nicola and Nicole, occasionally used as a given name in its own right. It can also be used as a diminutive of Dominic. It may refer to: People Sports * Nicky Adams (born 1986), English-born Welsh ...

, is also a professional footballer playing for

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 ...

. The brothers attended Our Lady's High School, Motherwell, one year group ahead of fellow footballer

Kieran Tierney Kieran Tierney (born 5 June 1997) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a left-back or centre-back for Premier League club Arsenal and the Scotland national team. Tierney came through the Celtic youth system and made his first t ...

. Their father Steve also won a lower division title with Albion Rovers and appeared in a Youth Cup final for Motherwell.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Albion Rovers

(1): 2014–15

Columbus Crew

(1):

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cadden, Chris Living people 1996 births Scottish twins Twin sportspeople Scottish men's footballers Footballers from Bellshill People educated at Our Lady's High School, Motherwell Men's association football fullbacks Motherwell F.C. players Albion Rovers F.C. players Columbus Crew players Oxford United F.C. players Scottish Professional Football League players Scotland men's under-21 international footballers Scotland men's international footballers Scottish expatriate men's footballers Scottish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Major League Soccer players Hibernian F.C. players English Football League players Men's association football midfielders