New Wellington Phoenix goalkeeper Victoria Esson has labelled her move back to New Zealand as a “phenomenal opportunity” after signing a one-year contract with the Ninja A-League club.
Returning to her home country after a seven-and-a-half-year stay in Europe, the Kiwi number one expressed both her pride and excitement after putting pen-to-paper on a deal that will see her pull on the Nix jersey for the 2025-26 season.
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“It’s really exciting for me. When I was looking to try and obtain a professional contract, there were no opportunities in New Zealand, so I had to go offshore and that’s how I landed myself in Norway,” she said.
“So to be able to come back seven-and-a-half-years later and to have the opportunity to play back home. It’s a phenomenal opportunity. I can’t wait to get started.
“So to be able to come back seven-and-a-half-years later and to have the opportunity to play back home. It’s a phenomenal opportunity. I can’t wait to get started.”
Born and raised in Christchurch, Esson left New Zealand to pursue a career overseas due to a lack of opportunities on home soil.
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After beginning her career overseas in Scandinavia, Esson then went on to play for the likes of German side SC Sand and Scottish giants Rangers before sealing a move to New Zealand which will see her play in the Ninja A-League for the very first time.
“I’ve enjoyed my time in Europe, but I also I miss New Zealand. I love New Zealand,” said the shot-stopper when asked what the driving force was behind her return home.
“With my contract coming to an end at Rangers I was wanting to look for a new opportunity regardless. So yeah, when I was looking for opportunities the Phoenix came up and they put forward a really good case, and they seemed well organised.
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“The Australian League is a competitive league, and I just think it was a good fit at the right time for me to go home.”
She went on to say: “I like the idea of how competitive the league is, and it seems that each year the top teams kind of vary a little bit.
“So that’s exciting for me, because I think where a team stands a year before might not necessarily reflect where they will stand the next year, you know, for good or for bad.
“So, yeah, that’s an exciting prospect for me, because it’s all up for grabs.”
In what’s been an eye-catching off-season so far for the Phoenix, Esson becomes the club’s fourth signing of the window following the acquisitions of former Adelaide United flyer Lucia Leon, American defender Ellie Walker and 44-time Dutch international Tessel Middag.
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“It’s a tough league, it’s a close League, so you can’t just have ambitions to win the league and expect to win the league,” she said.
“I think you need to bring the players in in order to set the team up to have a chance at winning the league and then it’s also how the coaching staff and the players can manage themselves and get their results throughout the season.
“But yeah, the ambitions are there, and I think, and I hope, that they’re achievable ambitions, but you know, we’ll soon find out once we get hit the ground running later in the season.”
