OFC

The executive, David Chung, was the president of the Oceania Football Confederation, whose 14 members wield little power competitively or politically in FIFA. But Chung, of Papua New Guinea, had outsize influence as the most senior of FIFA’s eight vice presidents.

Chung cited personal reasons for his decision, but the announcement came as he found himself under mounting pressure to step down after an audit into a multimillion-dollar project to build a new headquarters for the O.F.C.

Tonga, Solomon Islands, Cook Islands, and Fiji have gone the extra mile to create opportunities in women’s football while using the worldwide celebration as a platform to promote the #ENDviolence campaign, a joint OFC and UNICEF initiative to raise awareness about violence against women and children in the Pacific.

     One year on from the devastation of Tropical Cyclone Pam and six months on from Tropical Cyclone Winston, the Just Play Emergency Programme has been shortlisted for the Beyond Sport Innovation award in recognition of the work in both Vanuatu and Fiji.

Many attempts by Papua New Guinea in the first half shook the Solomon Islands side before flanker Nigel Dabinyaba found an opening at the corner for a cross which Michael Fosters  who was  in front of the goal  mouth dribbled  to confuse the opposition before slamming home the first goal of the match.

However, Solomon Islands retaliated seven minutes  later with a corner kick from striker Judd Molea that curved right through the corner post slipping off PNG goal keepers hand Ronald Warrisan to even the scores at 1-1.

The New Zealand-based stopper was instrumental in the 2-1 victory over Tupapa Maraerenga FC on Match Day 2, saving an early penalty and producing a number of quality saves in open play throughout the match.

The penalty save in the 36th minute was particularly crucial, changing the momentum of a match which up until that point had been dominated by host side Tupapa.

“It’s a little bit hit and miss with penalties, but you make an educated guess,” McPeake explains.

This will be followed by New Zealand versus Samoa later in the afternoon.

Samoa clashes with Tonga on 15 January then Tonga meets New Zealand three days later. Samoa also meets New Caledonia on 18 January.

Since the start of the partnership in 2013, Just Play – the Oceania Football Confederation’s sport for development programme – has worked alongside UNICEF on several projects, to reach thousands of children through the powerful medium of sport.