Christian Edwards

Welsh footballer and manager

Christian Edwards (born 23 November 1975) is a Welsh football coach and former professional footballer who was most recently manager of Cymru Premier side Cardiff Metropolitan University. He played mainly as a centre back but has also played on the right of the defence. Edwards made more than 300 Football League appearances, most prominently for Swansea City, Nottingham Forest and Bristol Rovers. He also made loan appearances for several other clubs before moving into non league football. He also represented Wales at full international and under 21 levels.

He began his professional career at Swansea City after joining the club as a youth player (where he got his nickname 'Swanny'). He made 112 appearances for Swansea before he moved to Nottingham Forest.

He cost Forest £300,000 when he arrived there in March 1998 but it was not long until he was on the move again this time on loan to Bristol City where he made 3 appearances. In 2000–2001 he went out on loan twice, first to Oxford United and then to Crystal Palace where he played 9 games for the Londoners. A year later (2002) he went out on loan again this time to Tranmere Rovers where he played 12 games before joining Bristol Rovers. He made 54 appearances for Forest.

His first season as a Rovers player saw him partnering captain Adam Barrett in the centre of the defence. In March, Edwards was placed on to the transfer list following a dip in form. It got worse for him when he fractured his arm on the last day of the 2004–05 season and took all summer to recover. In the summer of 2006 first team coach Paul Trollope announced that Edwards' contract would not be renewed, he was released soon afterwards.

In July 2006 Edwards announced he would retire from professional football at the age of 30 but later went back on his decision and signed for Forest Green Rovers. Edwards played just nine times for Forest Green before his departure.

On 4 January 2007, it was announced that Edwards had joined Welsh Premier League club Aberystwyth Town. In September 2009, Edwards took over as caretaker manager of the side following the resignation of Brian Coyne, before moving into an assistant manager role with appointment of former Tranmere teammate Alan Morgan as the club's new permanent manager. In February 2011, Edwards left his role at Aberystwyth after four years with the club.

Edwards served as the manager of Cardiff Metropolitan University, leading the club into the Welsh Premier League before being replaced by Wayne Allison in 2017. Allison stepped down later that year and Edwards took up the role of manager once again.

Edwards has one full Welsh cap which he gained as an 88th minute substitute for Chris Coleman during a 2–0 defeat to Switzerland on 24 April 1996. He also has two 'B' caps and seven under 21 caps to his name. He was also called up for a friendly against Argentina in February 2002, however he stayed on the bench.

He has a degree from the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff where he studied for a degree in sports coaching and obtained a first class degree. He subsequently completed a master's degree and completed a PhD.