The Wellington Phoenix is pleased to announce that Matthew Bozinovski – who recently signed a two-year contract with Melbourne Victory – has agreed to a one-year loan deal with the Club for the 2021/22 A-League Men’s season.
I’m really excited to get started; it’s always been my dream to play in the A-League and be a professional football player, so it’s a proud moment for me and all my family.
The 20-year old, 195cm tall centre back became a regular starter for Melbourne Victory’s NPL outfit last season after joining them in 2018; playing in seven matches total. Although Bozinovski has yet to make this mark in the A-League, he was called into the first team for Melbourne Victory in their match against Western United in February this year.
Bozinovski also received a call-up to the North Macedonian Under-21 national side in May, starting matches against both Serbia and France and impressing with his ability – then travelling to Slovenia last month to play in two friendly matches against the Slovenia Under-21s and Saudia Arabia Under-23s.
Wellington Phoenix Head Coach Ufuk Talay, says that Bozinovski is an emerging young talent.
“We wanted to give Matthew an opportunity to demonstrate his talent this season,” says Talay.
“Matthew is young, enthusiastic with a good range of defensive attributes; evidence of this has been his recent international call up for Under-21 North Macedonia in the European qualifying campaign.”
Bozinovski says that he can’t wait to ‘get stuck into’ the pre-season as he prepares for the 2021/22 A-League season.
“I’m really excited to get started; it’s always been my dream to play in the A-League and be a professional football player, so it’s a proud moment for me and all my family,” says Bozinovski.
“I’ve followed the A-League most of my life so I know the Phoenix is a great club with great fans – there’s been a lot of good players there and they’ve had some success in recent years. I’m really looking forward to meeting all the boys; from what I’ve seen and heard they’re a great group of guys and they want to win, and Ufuk is an unbelievable coach so I’m looking forward to learning under him.”
Bozinovski says that his time with the North Macedonian Under-21 national side allowed him to showcase his aerial and defensive abilities, which caught the eye of Coach Talay and the Phoenix.
“I was able to get a lot of minutes against some really good teams in France and Serbia, so being a defender I had a lot of opportunities to defend in those games – and I think what stood out for me was my ability to win aerial battles, put in some good tackles and make interceptions.
“I talked with Ufuk on the phone and said to me that he’s not scared to play younger players; he’ll put out on the field whoever he thinks will win the game for him that week and that gives me a good opportunity to play some games and gain that experience I need at this stage of my career.”
Bozinovski – who will wear no. 3 for the Phoenix – will travel from Melbourne with Reno Piscopo to join up with the Phoenix squad, when the Club move from Wellington to New South Wales at the end of this month.
