National defender Michael Boso being farewelled by his four year old daughter Margaret and wife Ileen at the Henderson International Airport on Tuesday prior to departure. Boso is travelling to New Zealand via Brisbane to play for Oceania Champions Team Wellington in the new season of the ISPS Handa Premiership. PICTURE: BENZ NEWMAN.

NATIONAL defender Michael Boso has left the country on Tuesday for New Zealand.

Boso, who formerly plays for Telekom S-League outfit Marist, will join Team Wellington in the new season of the ISPS Handa Premiership.

ISPS Handa Premiership is operated by New Zealand Football and it is also the top-flight club football competition in New Zealand.

The 2018/19 season of the ISPS Handa Premiership will begin in September.

Boso is expected to arrive in Wellington tomorrow and will join Miramar Rangers for their remaining two matches in the Central League.

Miramar Rangers is one of the most successful clubs in New Zealand having won the Chatham Cup four times (1966, 1992, 2004 & 2010) and the National League title twice (2002 & 2003). Over the last decade the club has played in the Central League and have won this competition a record six times most recently in 2014.

Miramar Rangers being one of the founding principal clubs of the Team Wellington franchise, after the Central League comes to close in the coming two weeks, Boso will join the Oceania Champions to prepare for the new season where he will play for them for an initial to-be-agreed-on one year deal.

The deal is expected to be finalised in the coming days.

At the Henderson Airport yesterday, SunSPORTS

“I’m very excited with this opportunity.

“Team Wellington is the Oceania Champions and I’m privileged to be part of them.

“This is a big challenge for me and it comes with a huge responsibility,” an elated Boso told SunSPORTS yesterday at the Henderson International Airport as he was been farewelled by his little four year-old daughter Margaret and wife, Ileen.

The towering defender is also likely to be featured for his new club at the 2018 FIFA Club World Cup due to be staged in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in December where Team Wellington is opening their campaign against Al-Ain FC of the host nation in the first round on December 12.

Should he be given an opportunity to play in the FIFA Club World Cup, the 26 years old described this as a dream come true.

“Playing in the Club World Cup is a very big opportunity. This is the biggest club football tournament in the whole world. If I happen to be given a chance to show myself, this is a dream come true for me and a moment I would continue to cherish as a humble Solomon Islands footballer,” Boso expressed.

During the last season of the Oceania Champions League, Boso stood out as one of the key performers for Marist, helping them to reach their first ever quarterfinal and also scored a crucial goal for his former club in the 1-all draw against AS Magenta of New Caledonia in the group stage.

“I think as a footballer, I still have a lot of years coming up ahead of me to play. I never thought I would one day end up like this. But I think through hard work, opportunities are now starting to open up and I’m so grateful for that,” the footballer who debuted for the senior national men’s side in October 2016 said.

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