Former New Zealand U-23 defender Sean Cooper has signed for Melbourne club Bulleen Lions.
Cooper (25) heads to Australia after two seasons with Southern League club Dunedin City Royals, and previous stints with Auckland United, Onehunga Sports and Auckland City where he played National Youth League football.
The Lions, who will compete in the renamed Victoria Premier League 1 competition next year, are a well-resourced club with strong support from Melbourne’s Italian community.
Auckland-born Cooper was a member of the gold medal-winning New Zealand U-23 team at the 2019 Pacific Games.
When he was 17, he was a member of Auckland City’s 2016 FIFA Club World Cup squad in Yokohama.
He spent two seasons playing college soccer in the United States with NCAA Division 1 soccer powerhouse, University of California Davis.
He graduated with a mechanical engineering degree from UC Davis and has been working as an engineer in Dunedin.
Cooper moves to Melbourne to play at the next level and to further his engineering career.
His move was helped by the Lee Fratelli agency, based in Auckland/Sydney.
Main photo credit: Robby Mullikin/ACTIONPNW Sports.
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