Players who play for both Liverpool and Everton form an elite club. But Canada’s Rylee Foster’s journey from one Merseyside rival to the next is painfully unique.

The 26-year-old goalkeeper from Cambridge, Ontario is lucky to be alive, let alone playing professional football.

“For me, every day is now a blessing. Every day is an opportunity,” Foster said in an interview.

Foster, then at Liverpool, was enjoying his role in a Continental Cup penalty shoot-out win over Aston Villa in early October 2021 when his life changed in an instant.

Foster, who was taking a break with his friends in Finland, was involved in a car accident on his way to a Drake concert. Foster, who was sitting in the middle of the back seat as one of four passengers in the car, was thrown through the windshield when his seat belt malfunctioned.

“Almost all the stars aligned and then my world came crashing down around me,” Foster said. “I was starting to get more minutes at Liverpool. I was taking over the number 1 (goalkeeper) position. The national team was becoming a consistent thing for me; I kind of knew I would be called up. “I joined the camp because my performance was really good.

“It happened at exactly the wrong time and was the worst thing that could have happened for me. Because I had everything I worked for. But then I lost it.”

Foster received the most severe injuries in the car. He was left with seven fractures to his neck, two lower back fractures, a broken zygomatic bone, a misaligned jaw, a partially torn medial collateral ligament at the knee, a partially torn quadriceps tendon, and a subdural hematoma behind his head.

“I remember the beginning of the accident and the feeling of it, but I have no idea what happened after,” he said.

“All I know is that my seatbelt was on and my ribcage and lungs had the evidence to show it,” he added.

It was a long and difficult journey back, starting with him having to wear a halo screwed onto his head for months.

“It’s absolute hell,” he said.

He also had problems with a concussion and had to overcome depression.

Foster credits Liverpool and an army of doctors and physiotherapists for helping both him and his family. His younger sister Mackie put her life on hold, spending six months in Liverpool to help Foster recover.

“You go into fight or flight mode and I was just fighting for everything,” Foster said. “Looking back now, the mental toughness was definitely there; to go through six hours a day of rehab for 13 months… All that hard work paid off just to get me here.”

When he returned to training, the constant diving worsened the shoulder injury he suffered during the accident, requiring surgery to repair a torn labrum.

Even he admits his return to top-flight football was “absolute madness”.

“I can’t even put into words how miraculous this recovery is. And it’s amazing to be able to tolerate it now,” he said.

He was cleared to play football again in July 2023, approximately 636 days after the accident. He needed a club and Liverpool opted not to exercise the option of a one-year extension when his contract expired in June.

“To be told that they didn’t think I would ever be the same again was a pretty hard pill to swallow,” Foster said.

Playing for the Reds was a dream come true for Foster. His grandparents came from the Wavertree area of ​​Liverpool, and Foster has “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, the name of Liverpool’s famous anthem, tattooed on his arm.

But he says Liverpool’s decision to release him has encouraged him to prove them wrong.

Foster had a trial with Scotland’s Celtic who offered him a contract before backing out and signing another goalkeeper. New Zealand’s Wellington Phoenix FC, which later plays in the Australian A League, signed a contract with him in September 2023.

He cleared out the warehouse in Liverpool and his flat in Glasgow and “moved around the world.”

“The fact that I’m alive is extraordinary,” Foster said at the time. “The injury I received is known to kill you instantly, even if it doesn’t develop into tetraplegia, and so did Christopher Reeve.

“Joining Phoenix is ​​very symbolic. It’s a new entity. It’s literally being born from something that was ashes.”

Foster returned on 14 October 2023, 731 days after his last appearance, in a 1–0 defeat to Melbourne City. He made 19 appearances for Wellington before leaving as a free agent after the 2023-24 season.

“For me it was all about getting game time, building my confidence and getting my experience back after what happened to me,” he said of his time Down Under. “Honestly, I loved playing there.”

In September, he signed a short-term contract with Everton until January 2025, where he supports Ireland international Courtney Brosnan.

“Obviously I want playing time, but I know I have to earn my accolades back,” Foster said. “I have to work to move up the rankings… But just being here is an absolute honour.”

Today, Foster has no problem driving because he feels in control. However, as a passenger, he gets sick from the car, a remnant of the accident.

“I can get in the car. I don’t feel very well.” he said.

Foster has the numbers 10-16 tattooed on his right bicep. This is the date of the car accident and coincidentally the date of the phone call to emergency responders.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 31, 2024.