Aaron Clapham

Aaron Clapham
Aaron Clapham (2013)
Personnel
Surname	Aaron Daniel Clapham
birthday	January 15, 1987
place of birth	Christchurch ,  New Zealand
size	172 cm
position	midfield
Juniors
Years	station
	Burwood AFC
	Western AFC
2005-2006	Saint Francis Red Flash
2007-2008	Louisville Cardinals
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
2002-2005	Western AFC
2009	Dandenong Thunder	10 0(0)
2009–	Canterbury United	105 (59)
2011	→  Wellington Phoenix  (loan)	0 0(0)
2013	→  APIA Leichhardt Tigers  (loan)	10 0(2)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals) 2
2007	New Zealand U-20	8 0(0)
2010-2013	New Zealand	13 0(0)
1 Only league games are given. As of March 19, 2017 2 As of October 16, 2013

Aaron Daniel Clapham (born January 15, 1987 in Christchurch ) is a New Zealand football player .

Club career

Clapham comes from a football-loving family. His parents are active in Christchurch regional football , and his sister Sara played several times for the women's national team . Clapham learned football at Burwood AFC , a small club in the Christchurch borough of Burwood , where his parents also worked and coached their son. At the age of 14, he switched to the traditional Western AFC , where he made his debut at the age of 15 in the Mainland Premier League , the top regional division for clubs from the northern part of New Zealand's South Island . In 2004 he was named the best young player in the Mainland Premier League, and a year later he was named the best striker and best player in the league.

He then accepted a scholarship from Saint Francis University in Pennsylvania , but soon realized that their soccer team was "too small" for his needs and in 2007 moved to the University of Louisville . There he was in his two seasons among the driving forces of the Louisville Cardinals and became the MLS Combine 2009 , an event for viewing of candidates for the upcoming draft of Major League Soccer , invited. Clapham was not selected in the subsequent MLS draft and switched to the Victorian Premier League after completing his studies with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree at Australian club Dandenong Thunder .

With Dandenong, the technically skilled midfielder reached the 2009 championship finals as the first in the regular season, in which they lost 4: 5 on penalties to Altona Magic . During the long season break (September to February), Clapham, whose favorite position is in attacking midfield, but who can also be used in right and defensive midfield, returned to New Zealand and played for Canterbury United in the New Zealand Football Championship , the top division of the Country. Clapham developed into the outstanding player of the season, was appointed to the team of the month in all four months and was named the best player in the league at the end of the season. He led it Canterbury, which was bottom of the table in the two previous seasons, until the championship final, in which Waitakere United won 3-1. Clapham should have returned to Dandenong at the beginning of February, but decided to stay in New Zealand until the end of the season, also in order not to reduce his chances of being called into the New Zealand World Cup squad.

In February 2011 he was briefly part of the New Zealand professional team Wellington Phoenix , but was not used in the game against Sydney FC . In the 2011/12 season Clapham was with nine goals of the season behind his teammate George Slefendorfas second-best goalscorer in the New Zealand championship, a year later he scored twelve goals of the season, one less than top scorer Roy Krishna .

National team

Clapham, who was part of the New Zealand performance squad in the U-14 and U-16 age groups, was appointed to the New Zealand U-20 squad for the Junior World Cup in Canada in 2007 and was used in two of the three group games in the preliminary round.

Due to his performance in the New Zealand championship with Canterbury United, coach Ricki Herbert Clapham invited the New Zealand national team to a 12-day training camp in April 2010 as the only player without an international appearance . After he had shown an outstanding performance in a friendly against a New Zealand league selection, Herbert nominated him a day later in the 23-man squad for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Clapham was not used during the World Cup and made his debut in October 2010 in a friendly against Honduras .

Web links

• Aaron Clapham in the database of weltfussball.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} stuff.co.nz: Aaron Clapham close to World Cup dream (April 17, 2010) ( Memento of the original from May 18, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ↑ uoflsports.com: Clapham Invited to MLS Combine While Rolfe Invited to Participate with U.20 US National Team (7. Jan. 2009)  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ stuff.co.nz: Nelsen, Clapham nail top awards (May 8, 2010)
4. ↑ ^{a b} stuff.co.nz: Clapham's off to the Cup (May 11, 2010)
5. ↑ skysport.co.nz: Phoenix make changes (Feb. 7, 2011)
6. ↑ Aaron Clapham . CBS Interactive , archived from the original on June 7, 2012 ; accessed on May 7, 2018 (English, original website no longer available).  
7. ↑ stuff.co.nz: Clapham surprise All Whites camp inclusion (April 14, 2010) ( Memento of the original from April 17, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
8. ↑ stuff.co.nz: Classy Clapham seizes moment in final trial (May 10, 2010)