He's played for Lithuania and against some of the world's best players, but now Evan Alexandrow-Ridley's career has come full circle in Canberra.
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The Woden Valley junior returned to the capital earlier this year and recently signed with Premier League club Monaro Panthers.
It comes after an eight-year stint in Europe which saw him play for the Lithuanian under-21's team and first-tier club Suduva Marijampole, who were part of the 2018 Europa and Champions League.
With his grandmother being born in Lithuania, the goalkeeper gained dual citizenship to the country, allowing him to represent the European nation against Estonia and Latvia.
The international goalkeeper was meant to return to Europe at the beginning of 2020, but the coronavirus crisis put those plans on hold.
He thought of giving the game away, but that was until Monaro came knocking at the door.
"I wasn't sure if I'd play in the NPL," he said.
"It's been my life for a long time, so I considered having a complete break from it.
"After meeting with some people at Monaro and talking to them a little bit, I decided that I would play.
"They just seemed genuine and they all seem like good people, when I went down there it was a bit of fun, so I thought 'why not? Why not play and just enjoy it again?'"
MORE CANBERRA SPORT
With the Central Coast Mariners up for sale, it may open the door for the capital to house a men's elite team alongside W-League club Canberra United.
Alexandrow-Ridley says an A-League team in Canberra would give football fans something to cheer about.
"I think the people would get behind an A-League team," he said.
"I've always thought Canberra would be a good city to have an A-League team.
"You look at the Western Sydney Wanderers and when they came into the league how much they took off. I think Canberra would be similar, in that they've got the support behind it and they've got the demographics that would really get behind it as well."
After a winless start to the season, the Panthers got the ball rolling with a 3-0 win over Woden Weston last weekend.
Monaro coach Jimmy Kanardis said the belief has always been there.
"We've always had self-belief that we could actually do it," he said.
"It was just making sure that we did it on game day more than anything and make sure that whatever we did, we did properly for ourselves rather than for somebody else."
Monaro will meet Belconnen United at Riverside Stadium on Saturday, with the Blue Devils sitting third on the ladder halfway through the season.
With the addition of Alexandrow-Ridley, Kanardis believes it'll be a battle of the goalkeepers.
"It's going to be the battle of the keepers to see who keeps that cleansheet," Kanardis said.
"We're under no illusion that Belconnen are definitely vying for a top-four position.
"We're not going to change up, we're going to make sure that we're still playing that attacking football that everyone wants us to do.
"If we put that scalp in our set, that'll give us the self-belief that we can really do it."
NPL CANBERRA
Round five: Saturday - Canberra Olympic v Tigers FC at O'Connor Enclosed, 3pm. Belconnen United v Monaro Panthers at Riverside Stadium, 3pm. Woden-Weston v Canberra Croatia at Melrose Synethic, 3.45pm. Sunday: Tuggeranong United v Gungahlin United at Hawker, 6.25pm.
