Michael Lewis Cunningham (born 5 February 1991) is an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

Career

Youth

Cunningham played with various local sides before attending the

Nike Academy The Nike Football Academy was an English football academy funded and administered by Nike, Inc. The academy had a revolving squad of unsigned under-20 players and was run with the intention of helping them find a professional club. The academy was ...

, where he impressed enough to earn an academy contract at

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...

in 2010.

College & Semi Professional

Following his release from Luton Town, Cunningham applied to various college's in the United States, eventually been offered a scholarship to play

college soccer College soccer, called college football in some countries, is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. While it is most widespread in the United States, it is also prominent in Japan, South Kore ...

at NCAA Division II college

Roberts Wesleyan College Roberts Wesleyan University is a private Christian university in suburban Rochester, New York, United States. Anchored in the liberal arts, it was the first educational institution established for Free Methodists in North America. Roberts is ac ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. At Roberts Wesleyan, Cunningham made 76 appearances, scoring 30 goals and tallying 17 assists over four seasons and was twice named First Team NCCAA All-American, in 2012 and 2014. In the summer of 2014, Cunningham also appeared for

USL Premier Development League USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States, forming part of the United States soccer league system. The league will featu ...

side

Southern California Seahorses Southern California Eagles are an American soccer team based in La Mirada, California. Founded in 2001 as the Southern California Seahorses, the team plays in USL League Two, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid. They also field a team ...

Professional

Cunningham signed his first professional contract In January 2016 with Australian

NPL Victoria 2 The Victorian Premier League (VPL) is an Australian soccer league based in Victoria that was founded in 2023 and administered by Football Victoria. It consists of two divisions that were named after the VPL's breakaway of the National Premier Le ...

side

Northcote City FC Northcote City Football Club (Iraklis) is a soccer club based on the border of Thornbury and Northcote, Victoria (Australia). Formed in 1960 by local Greek Australians, the club currently competes in the Victoria Premier League 1. In 2011, ...

. He went on to make 11 appearances for the club. Following a spell in Australia, Cunningham has a short stint with Midland Premier League side

Quorn Quorn is a brand of meat substitute products. Quorn originated in the UK and is sold primarily in Europe, but is available in 11 countries. The brand is owned by parent company Monde Nissin. Quorn is sold as both a cooking ingredient and as ...

in the second half of 2016. Cunningham returned to the United States in 2017, joining

MASL The Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) is a professional indoor soccer league in North America. The MASL features teams playing coast-to-coast in the United States and Mexico. The league is the highest level of arena soccer in North America. The le ...

indoor soccer Indoor soccer or arena soccer is a form of five-a-side football, five-a-side or six-a-side version of minifootball. It is derived from association football and adapted to be played in walled hardcourt indoor arenas. It differs from the FIFA, FIFA ...

side Syracruse Silver Knights and later Rochester Lancers. With Rochester in 2018, Cunningham scored 13 goals in 13 appearances. He made a single appearance for the indoor team in 2019, and scored 7 in 17 appearances in 2020. Rochester also operate an outdoor team who compete in the NPSL, who Cunningham played with in 2019, scoring 4 goals in 10 regular season appearances. The 2020 season was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. On 7 April 2021, Cunningham joined

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a men's professional association football, soccer league in the second tier of the United States soccer league system#Men's leagues, United States league system. It is organized by the United Soccer League (USL) a ...

side

FC Tulsa FC Tulsa is an American professional soccer team based in Tulsa, Oklahoma which competes in the USL Championship, the second tier of the American soccer pyramid. History The club was founded as Tulsa Roughnecks FC by Jeff and Dale Hubbard, br ...

following a successful trial. He made his debut for the club on 19 May 2021, appearing as a 74th-minute substitute during a 5–0 loss to

Atlanta United 2 Atlanta United 2 are the reserve team of the Major League Soccer club Atlanta United FC. The team plays in MLS Next Pro, the official reserve league of MLS. The team was established on November 14, 2017 and began their first professional seaso ...

. On 20 September 2021, Cunningham joined

National Independent Soccer Association The National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States. The league is previously in the third tier of American soccer and began play in 2019. NISA initially used a fall-to-spring season for ...

club Stumptown AC on a loan deal.

Personal

As well as playing professionally, Cunningham also operates a

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel and podcast under his ''7mlc'' brand, which has almost two million subscribers.

References

External links

*
MASL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cunningham, Michael 1991 births Men's association football forwards English expatriate men's footballers English expatriate sportspeople in Australia English expatriate sportspeople in the United States English men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in Australia Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States FC Tulsa players Footballers from Nottingham Living people Luton Town F.C. players Major Arena Soccer League players National Premier Soccer League players Nike Academy players Northcote City FC players Quorn F.C. players Southern California Seahorses players USL Championship players USL League Two players College men's soccer players in the United States Roberts Wesleyan University alumni Stumptown AC players National Independent Soccer Association players Harrisburg Heat (MASL) players Roberts Wesleyan Redhawks athletes 21st-century English sportsmen