MFA Žalgiris announced the signing of two midfielders ahead of the 2025 season – American Francesca Frericks and Japanese Ayuri Terawaki.
MFA Žalgiris-MRU strengthened their squad with two foreign midfielders as the club prepares to challenge undisputed Lithuanian women’s football champions – FC Gintra from Šiauliai – in the upcoming season. The two signings come on the heels of a prior announcement of a change in the senior leadership of the club, with Saulius Mikoliūnas being replaced by Svajūnas Stravinskas as general manager.
Francesca Frericks (24) was announced last week and is joining the women’s team of FK Žalgiris from Cypriot club Apollon Ladies. With valuable experience of playing abroad also in Romania and Albania prior to joining Apollon, Frericks carries a distinction of taking to the pitch on two occasions in the UEFA Women’s Champions League.
Ayuri Terawaki (27) was announced yesterday and is joining MFA Žalgiris from Croatian NS Medimurje-Cakovec. Having played in Croatia since 2020, she also represented such large clubs as ZNK Rijeka and ZNK Hajduk Split. Terawaki is a prolific goal scorer, with her most productive season in this regard being 2022/2023, when she scored 20 goals in 20 matches for ZNK Rijeka. A season prior, she managed 12 goals in 19 matches and the one before that – her debut season in Europe – saw her deliver a stunning 12 goals in only 8 matches.
Terawaki also has a distinction of becoming the first-ever Japanese woman footballer in Lithuania’s history.
The Lithuanian Women’s A Lyga starts on the 16th of March, with MFA Žalgiris-MRU facing Banga away at 13:00 local time.
Source: https://www.mfazalgiris.lt/naujienos/