ALBION Park's Jeremy Lopez is set to embark on the footballing trip of a lifetime.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Lopez, a Warilla Wanderers first grade player, is in the midst of preparing for a 34-day trip to the prestigious Botafogo Football Academy in Brazil.
The 16-year-old will be the first Wanderers' player to head to the world-famous academy after the club formed a relationship with the academy through former Socceroos coach Rale Rasic.
"We invited Rale to our presentation night last year," Warilla Wanderers president Manuel Luna said. "He's got an association with Botafogo and through him we've formed a memorandum with Botafogo to send some players over there to improve themselves.
"Jeremy is the first player we're sending over. We made the opportunity available to a few people and he was the player we decided on.
"He's a great kid and he deserves this opportunity."
Luna said the club is hoping Lopez enjoys his time in Brazil.
"We're ecstatic to see Jeremy going over, he deserves it and I'd say he's definitely going to enjoy it and hopefully he comes back with an improved football brain," Luna said.
While there may be some communication issues to start with as all training is done in Portuguese, Lopez can't wait to get to Brazil.
"An opportunity like this is one of those things you dream about but I never thought it would happen . . . "I've played with Botafogo on (video game) FIFA, but to go over there is just going to be amazing," he said.
Rasic said Lopez would receive state-of-the-art tutelage in all areas of football.
"Botafogo is one the biggest and best academies in the world, everything there is very professional," he said.