One of the ACT's brightest soccer prospects has taken a step towards representing his new home on the world stage, after being made an Australian citizen this week.
Bul Juach arrived in Australia as an asylum seeker in 2013.
The 14-year-old was born in war-torn South Sudan and spent several years living in a refugee camp in Kenya.
While there, he learned some valuable ball skills that have helped him stand out on the football field in Canberra.
"We all played street soccer, basically no rules, we were just on the street all day," Bul said.
PHOTO: Bul Juach says one day he hopes to play for Australia in the World Cup. (younger-time)
Less than three years ago Bul travelled to Australia, leaving most of his family behind.
Life in Australia has been a steep learning curve, but he has taken each challenge in his stride.
"It took me ages to learn the style of football here," he said.
"Stuff like offside for example, we didn't have that in street soccer."
Despite a lack of formal coaching, Bul has dominated junior competitions in the ACT.
He is a scholarship holder with the ACT Academy of Sport and many believe he is destined to represent Australia on the world soccer stage.
The academy's head coach of men's football, Patt McCann, is one such person.
"One of our jobs is to take that raw talent and manage it, because there's a certain component of Bul that you don't want to coach out of him," Mr McCann said.
While Bul is now an Australian citizen he still has other hurdles to clear before he can play for Australia.
"There's also FIFA rules, which are different to our own citizenship rules, so even if he was to be selected for Australia, he's got to meet the FIFA residency rulings as well," Mr McCann said.
But with big talent and big dreams, Bul looks unlikely to let red tape get in the way of his ambitions.
"[I want to] play at as high a level as I can, and represent Australia at the World Cup," he said.
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