Michael Foster (footballer)

Michael Foster (born 5 September 1985) is a Papua New Guinean footballer who plays as a midfielder for Hekari United and the Papua New Guinea national team.

He currently is the record-holder for the most caps for the Papua New Guinea national team, with 27, having made his senior international debut aged 17. He was also part of the historic Hekari United side which won the 2009–10 OFC Champions League, becoming the first club outside of Australia and New Zealand to represent Oceania at the FIFA Club World Cup.

He has won four domestic titles, two with Hekari United and two with Lae City FC.

Early life
Foster was born in Lae, in the Momase Region of the country. He is the son of former international goalkeeper Max Foster.

Early career
It is likely Foster began his career around 2003 at Mopi, a club based in his hometown of Lae. The side had won the inaugural Papua New Guinea National Club Championship in 1976 and again in 1981. When Foster joined the club, the side had been readmitted to the local Lae Premier League, but the club finished bottom of the league.

For the 2004 season, Foster moved to Port Moresby to play for Cosmos in the Port Moresby Premier League. The club reached the Preliminary Final on 24 October, but lost to Rapatona, meaning they finished third.

It is unclear where Foster played between 2004 and 2008.

Titles with Hekari United
Foster was part of the Hekari United squad for the 2008–09 Papua New Guinea National Soccer League. He scored the only goal in the side's 1–0 semi-final victory over Welgris Highlanders, before the playoffs were called off and Hekari declared champions as the best regular season team.

As champions, the club qualified for the 2009–10 OFC Champions League, and Foster was retained ahead of the new season. The club ended up winning the Champions League, becoming the first club outside of Australia and New Zealand to do so, and Foster was an unused substitute in the second leg of the final against Waitakere United. Hekari United went on to win the domestic title in the 2010–11 National Soccer League, beating Eastern Stars 4–0 in the Grand Final.

Domestic journeyman
In July 2010, it was announced that Foster was one of three players released by Hekari United to make way for new recruits ahead of the 2010 FIFA Club World Cup, denying Foster the chance to impress on the world stage. Foster joined current runners-up Eastern Stars for the following season, and the club finished second in the regular season of the 2010–11 National Soccer League, eventually taking on former club Hekari in the Grand Final. Stars went down 4–0.

Foster stayed with Eastern Stars for the 2011–12 season, and the club enjoyed another successful season, coming second in the regular season and reaching the Grand Final – and another match-up with Foster's former club Hekari – once again. However, the club suffered the same fate in the final, losing 3–0 to the champions.

For the 2013 season, Foster joined new club FC Port Moresby, and despite the club finishing third in the regular season, Foster found himself once again up against Hekari United in the Grand Final, and again the midfielder was left empty-handed, with Hekari securing a 3–0 victory.

With FC Port Moresby withdrawing from the 2014 National Soccer League, it looked like Foster would return to Eastern Stars, having trained with them early in January 2014, but he eventually went to Admiralty, another new franchise for the season. He was named captain for the season. In Foster's worst domestic season to date, the club finished fifth and failed to qualify for the playoffs. Foster stayed with the club for the 2015 season, but the club again finished fifth and outside of qualification for the playoffs.

Third title with Lae and overseas contracts
Ahead of the 2015–16 season, Foster moved to Rapatona, with whom he had occasionally joined up with in the local Port Moresby Premier League during previous NSL off-seasons. Despite losing four matches out of ten in the first stage, the club qualified for the four-team Champions Playoff in February 2016. However, ahead of the final stage, Foster moved to Lae City Dwellers, and the side qualified for the Grand Final behind Hekari United. After being defeated in all of his previous three Grand Finals, Foster picked up his third domestic title after Lae defeated Hekari 2–0 in the final. Foster was also part of the side's 2016 OFC Champions League campaign, scoring in the club's 5–4 defeat to Solomon Warriors.

With the problems surfacing domestic with the league split, Foster moved abroad for the first time in his career, joining Solomon Islands side Malaita Kingz in August 2016 for the entirety of the 2016 Solomon Islands S-League. The club finished fourth.

In 2017, Foster joined Geelong SC, competing in the Victorian State League Division 1, a league on the fourth level of the Australian league system. The side finished in second place, with Foster playing 16 matches for the club and scoring a single goal, before returning to Malaita Kingz for the second half of the 2017–18 S-League season.

Return to Papua New Guinea
Ahead of the 2018 Papua New Guinea National Soccer League, Foster joined Madang FC to boost their maiden OFC Champions League campaign. Foster played in all three of the club's group matches, but the side exited the competition without a point. Domestically, Madang finished in fourth place.

However, Foster secured a return to champions Lae City before the start of the 2019 season, and as such was part of the squad for the 2019 OFC Champions League. Foster played in all four of the side's matches as they reached the quarter-finals, playing the full 90 minutes in their 4–0 knockout defeat to Auckland City. However, Foster was able to pick up his fourth domestic title after Lae City defeated his former club Hekari United on penalties in the 2019 Grand Final. Foster scored the opening penalty in the shoot-out.

After a brief stint with Malaita Kingz again at the end of 2019, Foster rejoined Hekari United for the 2019–20 season.

U20s
Aged 17, Foster was called up to the U20s side for the 2002 OFC U-20 Championship in December 2002, which doubled as qualifying for the 2003 World Youth Championship. Foster played in both of the matches in the group stages before the side's elimination.

Senior squad
Still just 17, Foster was called up to the full senior squad in July 2003 for the 2003 South Pacific Games. Foster made his international debut on 7 July 2003 against Micronesia, scoring one goal in a 10–0 victory. It would be another eight years before he would play for the national side again.

Foster earned a recall to the senior squad for the 2011 Pacific Games. He played in all four of the country's fixtures, coming on as a substitute in all but one match: on 3 September 2011, he started and scored his second senior international goal in the 17–1 victory over Kiribati. Papua New Guinea failed to progress from the group stages of the competition.

Since then, Foster has played in all but two of Papua New Guinea's senior international matches: at the 2012 OFC Nations Cup, he started in all three of the nation's fixtures before their group stage elimination. In 2016, a busy year for the country, he started nine and was subbed on in the tenth of ten fixtures for the national team, including the five which saw them finish as 2016 OFC Nations Cup runners-up, having scored one of the goals in the crucial semi-final against the Solomon Islands. He played in all four of the side's qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and all but one of the country's five fixtures at the 2019 Pacific Games.

International goals

 * As of 20 July 2019. Scores and results list Papua New Guinea's result first.

Honours
Hekari United
 * OFC Champions League: 2009–10
 * Papua New Guinea National Soccer League: 2008–09, 2009–10

Lae City
 * Papua New Guinea National Soccer League: 2015–16, 2019

Papua New Guinea
 * OFC Nations Cup runner-up: 2016