By Tara Murray
One of the western suburbs’ most talented soccer players, Rhys Bozinovski is looking to make his mark with Western United in the A-League.
Bozinovski has signed a two year scholarship contract with the club after standing out with United’s National Premier League side, scoring four goals in 13 games this season.
At just 17, Bozinovski is thrilled to get such an opportunity.
“It is really exciting and I’m really happy about it,” he said.
“I had been performing well in the NPL season and I was getting a bit of credit for it.
“I was hoping something like this could come about, but it was a bit of a shock when I got the call, it came out of nowhere.”
Bozinovski has always played soccer, with a love for the game running in his family.
His grandfather Willie Vassallo captained Malta and was one of their star players before migrating to Australia.
Bozinovski said while his grandfather didn’t understand the Australian soccer system, he was proud of what he had achieved so far.
The Taylors Lakes resident started his soccer career with Spring Hills before moving to Sunshine [Now Caroline Springs] George Cross.
He then moved to Melbourne City’s youth program. While there, he represented Victoria at two national championships.
While Bozinovski enjoyed his time at City, the urge to play closer to home saw him make the move to United’s academy program early this year.
“I was at Melbourne City for about four years before United,” he said.
“At the state of this year, United opened up their youth academy and I thought it would be a good opportunity to go give it a shot and everything worked out pretty well.
“I’m honoured to represent a club like Western United, especially coming from the western suburbs as well.”
The NPL season was Bozinovski’s first time in a senior environment. He said it took some time to get used to.
He was starting to feel comfortable and have a real impact when the season was put on hold due to COVID-19.
While that’s on hold, he’s lucky enough to still train regularly as part of the A-League squad.
“I’m training full-time with them,” he said.
“It’s really good that I don’t have to stay at home and be bored all day, I’m with them most of the time which is really good.”
Bozinovski has his sights on an A-League debut in the upcoming season and eventually he would love to play for Australia.
“I really want to make my debut for the club and keep performing so I can stay in that environment and keep playing for them, that’s what you really wanting to be doing.”
