Komolong makes debut

ALWIN Komolong made history as the first Papua New Guinean to play in one of Germany’s top three leagues after making his debut last Sunday.
The PNG international came on as a 67th-minute substitute for Fortuna Cologne against Hansa Rostock.
Born in Lae, the central defender was signed up by Fortuna Cologne in January after six months without a contract following his departure from former club Stuttgarter Kickers after they were relegated from the 4th Regionalliga to 5th Oberliga.
Komolong opted to take his chances and trial for a team playing in a higher national professional league.
Komolong’s first appearance for Fortuna Koln was in a local derby against Victoria Koln last month in the regional liga, 4th tier competition.
The German national professional league (Bundesliga) has three divisions: 3-Liga, 2-Liga and the 1-Bundesliga.
German football is tough and highly competitive with intense competitions between teams in the different divisions to avoid relegation and win promotion to the Bundesliga.
Fortuna Koln is currently sitting in 15th place in the 20-team national 3-Liga competition. They play third place Wehen Wiesbaden on Saturday.
Komolong, who was optimistic and cautious, said he had put in the hard work at training and was confident of impressing when the opportunity presented itself.
Komolong was committed to securing a starting spot eventually, as was the goal of every professional player, and help secure his team’s position in the competition for next season.
He was happy with his performance last week and for the time being was happy that he was given the opportunity to play off the bench.
This is a milestone in the history of PNG Football for one of its home grown talent developed through the PNGFA Football Academy in Lae and the National Soccer League.
Alwin made his NSL debut as a 15year-old for Besta PNG United FC under youth coach Mathew Witu in February, 2010.
He first represented PNG as captain of the national men’s under-17 team in Feb, 2011 which the highlight of his representative career was captaining the U23 men’s team, winning the bronze medal in the 2015 Pacific Games, and with the senior men’s team as runners-up in the 2016 Pacific Nations Cup, earning the SP Sports award Team of the Year.
Alwin said he was looking forward to play for PNG again soon, but at the moment was focusing on securing a place in his club in Germany’s professional football league.