WYNRS first professional footballer Michael Fitzgerald has a dream date with J League side Sanfrecce Hiroshima coming up.

The Albirex Niigata franchise side that he is playing for has drawn Sanfrecce in the Emperors Cup in Japan which is the Japanese equivalent of the English FA Cup. Sanfrecce Hiroshima currently sit 3rd in the top J League and Michael can expect to play in front of around 30,000 fans in the knock out game.

It is a dream draw for Michael but an even bigger miracle that they are there in the first place. To qualify for this stage Michael’s team has won through regional qualifiers which contained 6,500 teams and then a national round to get to the draw where all the top J League clubs enter.

Sanfrecce Hiroshima is one of Academy head coach Hiroshi Miyazawa’s former clubs and also a club that hosts our January Japan Tour. Michael also spent time at Sanfrecce youth academy and many of the first team players that he will play against are in fact his friends! The game is scheduled for the 11th October, check back here for Michaels reaction after the game.


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