Ballarat soccer graduate Stefan Nigro is patiently waiting for his chance to burst onto the park for Australia in the Asian under-23 championship qualifying tournament.
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Nigro sat out the Olyroos’ 2-0 win over Brunei Darussalam as a substitute in their opening game in Myanmar.
The 20-year-old Melbourne Victory A-League player will get his next chance against Singapore on Friday.
Ballarat City FC director of football Andrew Burgess told The Courier that Nigro’s selection for the Australia under-23s would “help put the region on the map” and represented a big picture success for Ballarat.
“It is the culmination of 15 years of hard work from the Ballarat soccer community and Stefan himself.
“It really is an original vision – setting up the Ballarat academy all those years ago – coming to fruition,” he said.
Burgess says Nigro is the first player originating from Ballarat to be selected in a senior Australian squad.
The squad was originally 26 players, but trimmed to 23 by coach Josep Gombau after a pre-tournament training camp.
Nigro left Ballarat in 2014 to chase his professional dream, signing with the Port Melbourne Sharks, which compete in the Victorian Premier League. After impressing at the Sharks, he soon caught the eye of Melbourne Victory and was signed up in 2015.
He helped the Victory reserve team earn promotion to division one of the NPL and was rewarded with his A-League debut in the 2015-2016 season against Brisbane Roar – in which he was named man-of-the-match. He played 218 minutes in the 2016-2017 season.
In terms of the qualifying structure, there are four teams in each of 10 groups.
Each group winner automatically qualifies for the championships in China in January next year.
Overall, 16 teams will progress to the main draw.
It is the culmination of 15 years of hard work
- Andrew Burgess
