Zawko, from Adelaide, followed the path of many teenage Aussie footballers when he left the NPL for an opportunity in Europe.

In 2016 at the age of 18 the forward swapped White City FC for a spot in the academy of Italian lower division side L’Aquila.

Fast forward four years later and Zawko is now in Serie D with Chieti FC.

While this season has been called off because of the pandemic, the attacker has his sights on his next destination in the land of Meazza, Maldini, Baggio and Zoff.

"I’m looking for another club in Italy,” he told FTBL.

"I’m just trying to get as high [up the football pyramid] as I can as quickly as possible. I’ve been in contact with some third division teams, that’s the aim at the moment.”

Zawko has battled it all in his time in Italy, from homesickness to the language barrier, to not being paid, to being viewed as an outsider.

But he has persevered and refused to give up.

“The experience has been really good. It’s tough - when I came the first time I didn’t speak any Italian at all,” he admitted.

"When I first came it was pretty tough but it became easier. When I first came I was kind of an outsider. You get one chance to make a good impression with the coach. If you don’t play well early in the pre-season you won’t get much of a chance.

"But once you start playing, if you do well they don’t care. It’s a lot different here. They’re football-mad. The quality is so much higher than what I was used to in Adelaide.

“Coming to Italy has been hard, but I feel like considering how defensive Italy is seen as a football country, I feel like I’ve had to up my game and learn a lot.”