MADISON, Wis. -- Sam Brotherton, a sophomore on the Wisconsin men's soccer team, has signed a professional contract with Sunderland AFC of the English Premier League through the summer of 2019.

"Sam's teammates, the rest of the coaching staff and I are so excited for his tremendous opportunity to play on the world stage," head coach John Trask said. "Sam will be remembered at UW as an excellent captain, extremely gifted student-athlete and great soccer player. Sam has represented his country on many levels and to have a chance to sign with an EPL team is just another feather in his cap.

"Congratulations to Sam and as I told him we'll be keeping tabs as he continues on his journey."

UW's lone team captain last season, Brotherton was the anchor of Wisconsin's backline in both seasons he played in Madison. The defender also had an offensive spark for the Badgers in the 2016 season, scoring the first three goals of his collegiate career.

"Sunderland is getting a very dedicated and outstanding central defender who in my recollection is the only university player from the US to ever sign directly with an EPL team," Trask added. "I think this speaks highly of the quality of collegiate soccer and the Big Ten Conference that a player can progress straight from university soccer in the US to the EPL."
Brotherton helped the Badger defense record six team shutouts last year and was named to the All-Big Ten second team and the National Soccer Coaches Association Midwest All-Region second team.

"Obviously I'm very excited by the opportunity to fulfill my dream of being a professional footballer and do what I love every day, but the choice was definitely made a lot harder by the time that I've spent here in Madison and how much I enjoyed it and getting close to my teammates and coaches," Brotherton said. "Everyone here has been so welcoming and great to me, so it's a time in my life I'll look back on very fondly. I've made some great relationships that I can keep for life, so it was definitely a difficult decision but I'm really excited about this opportunity."

He started all 33 games he played in as a Badger, missing only five total games due to call-ups from the New Zealand full international team, most recently for matches against Mexico and the United States in 2016.

"I'd like to say thank you to Wisconsin," Brotherton added. "It's been a pleasure and an honor to be at such a great university with a great program and athletic department. It's just really been an honor and a privilege to represent the school for the last two years and I'm really excited to watch the boys as they take on 2017 and they're really going to do great things and they're in a good place.

"I feel like I'm a Badger forever now, and a Badger fan now in some ways, so I'm really looking forward to watching them win and see how everyone progresses and I'm looking forward to keeping in touch with them and I know the same thing will be happening to the boys where they're going to be turning professional so I'm looking forward to keeping in touch with them and following their careers as well."

Brotherton has earned six caps at the senior level with New Zealand. He started all five matches for New Zealand at the 2016 OFC Nations Cup and helped the group capture the tournament title with a 4-2 win on penalty kicks against host Papua New Guinea in the championship game. Just days after finishing his freshman season at Wisconsin, Brotherton started and played the full 90 minutes at center back to earn his first cap with New Zealand in a 1-0 win against Oman on Nov. 12, 2015.

He was named NSCAA Player of the Week last October, becoming the first UW men's soccer player to earn the national award.

Brotherton also excelled in the classroom, earning Academic All-Big Ten honors and was named to the 2016 Academic All-District team by the College Sports Information Directors of America.