FIRST TEAM || Eastern United re-signs the "Mayor" Nikolin Matija
Published by Tony Fuda
Oct 23, 2021
FIRST TEAM || Eastern United re-signs the "Mayor" Nikolin Matija
Eastern United FC is happy to announce the re-signing of Nikolin Matija ahead of the 2022 NPL 2 season.
Nikolin Matija has re-committed for the upcoming season, the attacking winger scored 9 goals and was the main man in attack last season.
Nikolin Matija, 30, started his football in Albania as a 6-year-old at his local club Zoijz City, a few years later he moved to Italy at the age of 9 and played in various local clubs. In 2018, he moved to Australia, were he started to play for the West Adelaide Raptors FC (Division 2 amateurs), in a few season at Raptors he won the club's Best & Fairest and other awards. After a few seasons with the Raptors, he decided to move to the Saints in early January 2021.
Since then Nikolin Matija has taken his football to another level and took the league by surprise thanks to his work rate and 1v1 skills, which, made him one of the most dangerous players in the league.
Photo courtesy of Active Illustrated taken by Ken Willner
Last season, he made 21 appearance for the club and scoring 9 goals and providing a further 3 assists to his teammates.
Undoubtedly, he will be another major player for Markaj's side and he will be looking to push his goal tally to double digits.
Photo courtesy of Active Illustrated taken by Ken Willner
Nikolin Matija won the Micheal Gagliardi Award (Best & Fairest Award of the club) last season by 2 points and came second on the Fan's Player of The Year award behind Diego Ramos for just 4 points.
Eastern United FC Manager Gabriel Markaj said:
"We're pleased to have Nikolin Matija back in red & black, he was outstanding last season, he was a revelation for the league and took the other teams a dozen of games to understand his game style. He has created a good bond with the team, the team likes him and he likes the team and that's very important to us. This year he will have around him better player and perhaps his game style will have to change slightly but he is smart to do so; he will be a massive player for us this year."
Nikolin Matija, was excited about his stay at the club and had this to say:
"We have achieved our goal last season and I am super excited to see what the future holds for us as a team. For me it wasn't too much of a difficult decision to stay, during all training sessions we learn something and have fun, we have the best coaching staff available in South Australia, we are super professional in what we do; so there wasn't any reason to move club and sign for a bigger club just because financially they can offer more."
"Here you feel loved and happy, plus we are improving our squad, so I want to stay at the club, be loyal and prove we are worth something as a team."
Photo courtesy of Active Illustrated taken by Ken Willner
Eastern United FC is happy to announce the re-signing of Nikolin Matija ahead of the 2022 NPL 2 season.
Nikolin Matija has re-committed for the upcoming season, the attacking winger scored 9 goals and was the main man in attack last season.
Nikolin Matija, 30, started his football in Albania as a 6-year-old at his local club Zoijz City, a few years later he moved to Italy at the age of 9 and played in various local clubs. In 2018, he moved to Australia, were he started to play for the West Adelaide Raptors FC (Division 2 amateurs), in a few season at Raptors he won the club's Best & Fairest and other awards. After a few seasons with the Raptors, he decided to move to the Saints in early January 2021.
Since then Nikolin Matija has taken his football to another level and took the league by surprise thanks to his work rate and 1v1 skills, which, made him one of the most dangerous players in the league.
Photo courtesy of Active Illustrated taken by Ken Willner
Last season, he made 21 appearance for the club and scoring 9 goals and providing a further 3 assists to his teammates.
Undoubtedly, he will be another major player for Markaj's side and he will be looking to push his goal tally to double digits.
Photo courtesy of Active Illustrated taken by Ken Willner
Nikolin Matija won the Micheal Gagliardi Award (Best & Fairest Award of the club) last season by 2 points and came second on the Fan's Player of The Year award behind Diego Ramos for just 4 points.
Eastern United FC Manager Gabriel Markaj said:
"We're pleased to have Nikolin Matija back in red & black, he was outstanding last season, he was a revelation for the league and took the other teams a dozen of games to understand his game style. He has created a good bond with the team, the team likes him and he likes the team and that's very important to us. This year he will have around him better player and perhaps his game style will have to change slightly but he is smart to do so; he will be a massive player for us this year."
Nikolin Matija, was excited about his stay at the club and had this to say:
"We have achieved our goal last season and I am super excited to see what the future holds for us as a team. For me it wasn't too much of a difficult decision to stay, during all training sessions we learn something and have fun, we have the best coaching staff available in South Australia, we are super professional in what we do; so there wasn't any reason to move club and sign for a bigger club just because financially they can offer more."
"Here you feel loved and happy, plus we are improving our squad, so I want to stay at the club, be loyal and prove we are worth something as a team."
Photo courtesy of Active Illustrated taken by Ken Willner