Atuahene Signs Generation adidas Contract, Will Forgo Senior Season
1/5/2018 4:38:00 PM | Men's Soccer
Wolverines in Professional Soccer | Generation adidas information
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Forward Francis Atuahene of the University of Michigan men's soccer team will forgo his senior season at U-M to sign a professional contract with Major League Soccer and Generation adidas, the program announced Friday (Jan. 5). Atuahene will now participate in the Major League Soccer Combine held Jan. 11-17 in Orlando, Florida, and is now eligible for the 2018 Major League Soccer SuperDraft, held in conjunction with the United Soccer Coaches Convention on Friday, Jan. 19, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Generation adidas is a joint program between MLS and adidas. A handful of top collegiate underclassmen and youth national team players are typically signed each offseason and then made available for selection by MLS clubs at the annual SuperDraft. Every No. 1 pick in the SuperDraft since 2003 has been a Generation adidas product.
Atuahene concludes his U-M career as one of the most decorated student-athletes in program history after earning Big Ten Freshman of the year (2015) and a trio of All-Big Ten honors, with first-team honors coming in 2015 and 2016. A member of the United Soccer Coaches All-Midwest Region second team in 2017, he was also voted team MVP in 2015 and 2016. Improving on the pitch by leaps and bounds as a Wolverine, he also performed in the classroom during his time in Ann Arbor and earned Academic All-Big Ten honors in 2017.
He finishes his time in Maize and Blue tied for third in career goals (24), and is sixth in career points (59). Overall, he compiled nine match-winning goals in his exemplary career. His most memorable game-winner was scoring the title-clinching goal against Maryland this past season to secure Michigan's first Big Ten regular-season title.
Atuahene is only the second Michigan men's soccer player to ink a contract with Generation adidas. Peri Marosevic, a volunteer coach under head coach Chaka Daley in 2015, signed with the GA program in 2009. The Accra, Ghana, native will become the 10th Wolverine to be selected in the MLS SuperDraft and is the seventh student-athlete during Daley's tenure to have been signed or drafted by Major League Soccer.
