Oceania Football Confederation

Drama in Suva as New Caledonia qualifies for Oceania football final

By winning their respective semi-finals, both New Caledonia and New Zealand have been guaranteed a spot at FIFA's U-17 men's World Cup in Peru later this year.

The first team to do so was New Caledonia which won a dramatic match against Tahiti in a penalty shoot-out in Suva.

The two sides were locked 1-1 at full-time with both goals coming in the first half; Nathan Albacete netting on 14 minutes for New Caledonia and Titouan Guillemant grabbing an equaliser on 30 minutes.

OFC partners with NZF

The Pro-License is the global standard for elite level coaching requirement for top leagues around the world.

RNZ Pacific reports Andy Boyens, Technical Director at New Zealand Football, sees delivering this course as the next logical step for coach development in New Zealand.

He said they want coaches from NZ and Oceania to be able to go to the top level of the game.

The head of education and high performance at the confederation said as the game grows across Oceania, it is important that coaching standards improve as well.

 

Oceania Football partners with English FA to help Pacific mentors

The pilot programme targets Tonga, Solomon Islands and Fiji, and is spread across five 90-minute sessions, which are being delivered online in the wake of Covid-19.

Facilitated by English FA experts, Les Howie and Steve Smithies, the aim was to help participants gain the knowledge and expertise to become mentors in their environments.

OFC Head of Social Responsibility, Melissa Palombi, said they had talented people doing great work across the Pacific and this partnership would enhance the skills and knowledge they already had in leadership and mentoring.

OFC U16 Women's Champs postponed due to measles outbreak

The tournament, which is a qualifier for the 2020 FIFA Under 17 Women's World Cup in India, had been scheduled to kick-off in Tahiti next weekend.

The Oceania Football Confederation said it was "determined to put health and safety first" with its Executive Committee deciding to delay the competition following new advice provided by health authorities in Tahiti, which recommended cancelling travel to French Polynesia in case a person's vaccination status is not known.

Toti City leaves for OFC Champions League

They will kick off their much anticipated opening match against AS Tefana of Tahiti on Saturday.

Coach Peter Gunemba said the team has been in camp for the past three weeks and preparation had been going well.

“We played one match in the Kumul Petroleum Holdings National Soccer League and we are working to iron out our mistakes from this game but with the help of the high performance centre, the boys’ spirits are high and looking forward to their games in New Caledonia,” he said.

OFC mourning friend and colleague

Humble, strong, generous and wise, Emmie has been a crucial cog in the success of the OFC Just Play Programme as the technical coordinator, but her work in football and this region extends much further, OFC said in a press release.

"As our colleague, we were privileged to work alongside Emmie. Her passion for football development, for gender equality, for the rights of women and children and the development of the communities she visited was unrivalled."

OFC President steps down

Chung, who has been at the helm of OFC since 2011, took the decision after much deliberation citing personal reasons.

OFC and AFC sign important partnership

The two-year agreement between the two confederations was signed in Mexico City by AFC president Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa and OFC president David Chung in the presence of AFC general Secretary Dato’ Windsor John and his OFC counterpart Tai Nicholas.

Chung says the partnership, which pledges cooperation on football development, education and competitions, allows the two confederations to exchange information, experience, knowledge and best-practice across these matters.

NZF targetted in new ineligibility protest: OFC

OFC general secretary Tai Nicholas has received a complaint from one of the confederations' member associations about the eligibility of players representing New Zealand teams at OFC tournaments over the past 12 months.

The Herald have uncovered 16 players who have represented the All Whites, New Zealand under-17s, New Zealand under-20s and New Zealand under-23s within the past year who also appear to fall short of Article 7 of Fifa's eligibility requirements.

NZ Football to mount Olympic appeal

New Zealand were kicked out of the under-23 tournament this month, after their beaten semi-final opponents Vanuatu successfully protested that South African-born defender Deklan Wynne was ineligible for the Oly-Whites.

The Oceania Football Confederation disciplinary committee last week provided a written explanation for the disqualification.

The reasons will be disputed by NZF following scrutiny from its lawyers.