The Ghanaian forward was among the five players selected by the American top-flight side during the annual college draft for the 2025 football campaign
Danish centre-forward of Ghanaian descent Ato Junior Smith has been picked by Major League Soccer (MLS) side New York City FC in the 2025 MLS SuperDraft, the club have confirmed.
An excerpt of a statement confirming the selection of the 22-year-old read: ''In the Third Round, Forward AJ Smith was selected with the 78th overall pick from the University of Virginia.''
The former Fremad Amager talented forward had this to say over his selection in the annual college draft, telling bold: ''First of all, I'm just super grateful and honored by the situation – especially because the college season is super short and I've been struggling with some injuries.''
''I got injured at the start of pre-season, spraining my ligament, and then I came back and played three or four games, then the same thing happened again. But then I started to perform afterwards.''
''It has meant that I have been drafted, and I am of course super proud of that, because I honestly had not expected it. I saw that my name was on the list, but I had not expected to be drafted at all.''
Given his Ghanaian heritage, Ato still remains fit to represent Ghana at the international level.
