Ryan Mudaliar: a young and talented Fijian in Australia

The number of Fijian football players abroad is increasing a lot. The biggest example is legendary forward Roy Krishna who last played for ATK from India. However there are footballers from Fiji in other ends of the world like Scott Wara and Nicho Prasad in Europe and many others in Australia and New Zealand as well.

Recently four footballers from Fiji joined Frankston Pines from Australia and other six players have joined Manukau United from New Zealand. However there is a player in Australia that deserves more attention and the Fijian Football Association (FFA) should look at him carefully: Ryan Mudaliar.

SEE ALSO
Ryan Mudaliar: playing for a National Team is one of my goals
Shuiab Khan deserves a spot in Fiji National Team
Roy Krishna: making Fiji proud

Son of a Fijian couple, Mudaliar was born in Australia on March 17 2002. The 18-year-old goalkeeper is the current Brisbane Strikers’ starting goalkeeper in the U-20 NPL Queensland, one of the biggest U-20 leagues in Australia. He is also an option in the main squad as he is always called up for senior matches as a back-up for starting keeper Brendan Wright.

The Strikers hold a partnership with Spanish top-tier club Leganés since February. The main purpose of this association is identifying and nurturing talented Australian players in their Madrid based LaLiga Club so there is an open door in Europe for Mudaliar.

Despite being so young, he has the opportunity to train in better conditions and prove his talent in Australia – something that must be noticed by FFA. However it is not known if he would be interested on representing Fiji internationally at this moment.

FFA and National Team head coach Flemming Serritslev must have his young talent in sight. It would be a matter of time to see him playing for Fiji National Team if he accepts to represent his parents’ country.