Michaela Foster

#13 MICHAELA FOSTER– dob 9/1/99

> History

Michaela Foster joined the Phoenix as one of the women’s four scholarship players for the 2022-23 Liberty A-League.

The versatile defender captained New Zealand at the 2016 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Jordan and was part of the Junior Football Ferns squad at the 2018 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in France.

Foster played her junior football for Claudelands Rovers and Hamilton Wanderers before attending the University of San Diego, where she played from 2018 to 2021. She was named to the West Coast Conference’s second team in her final year.

She helped lead Hamilton Wanderers to their first Kate Sheppard Cup final in 2022 and then guided Northern Rovers to the women’s Northern Regional Football League title from midfield.

Foster carried that form on to the National League Championship before joining the Nix.

> 2022-23 season

Michaela Foster established herself as a key member of the Wellington Phoenix women’s squad, turning heads with her ability to take set pieces with both feet.

Foster was one of just three players to start all 18 of the Phoenix matches and she was substituted just once.

She scored from a long-range free-kick against Brisbane Roar in late January and also contributed three assists over the course of the season.

Foster was in the top 10 in a number of the A-League’s statistical categories. She finished third in percentage of accurate crosses, fourth in crosses, sixth in progressive passes and seventh in passes into the final third.

Unsurprisingly she dominated the club’s end of season awards night. Foster was named the Spark and OPPO women’s player of the year, players’ of the year, members’ player of the year and media player of the year, as well as her goal against Brisbane being voted the women’s goal of the season.

Foster was named as a training partner for the Football Ferns matches against Portugal and Argentina in February and ended up coming off the bench in both matches against Argentina.

She started both of the Ferns matches against Iceland and Nigeria that followed in April and took part in New Zealand’s gruelling nine-week training camp in the lead-up to the FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Foster was one of 23 players named in the Football Ferns squad for the tournament, but didn’t get the opportunity to add to her five senior caps at the World Cup, with an injury preventing her from playing against the Philippines in Wellington.hip players for the 2022-23 Liberty A-League.

The versatile defender captained New Zealand at the 2016 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Jordan and was part of the Junior Football Ferns squad at the 2018 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in France.

She played for Claudelands Rovers and Hamilton Wanderers before attending the University of San Diego, where she played from 2018 to 2021.

Foster was named to the West Coast Conference’s second team in her final year.

> 2021/22 season

Foster helped lead Hamilton Wanderers to their first Kate Sheppard Cup final before joining Northern Rovers.

She guided Rovers to the women’s Northern Regional Football League title from midfield and carried that form on to the National League Championship before joining the Nix.

“Mickey’s somebody we’ve been keeping an eye on for the last year or so,” Phoenix head coach Natalie Lawrence said.

“She came in and played some games for us up in Auckland, and every weekend I’m watching national league games and she’s been a consistent performer throughout the season.

“She can play any position on the field, she can use both feet and she was the captain of the New Zealand under-17 women’s team so she understands high performance.

“Being able to offer her a scholarship spot is giving her an opportunity to see whether she can really kick on with her football. That’s pretty exciting we can do that for her, and she’s earnt it.”