The Cook Islands is a self-governing island country with approximately 18,000 inhabitants in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand. Despite being so small, it counts on a Football Association and it is one of the smallest nations affiliated to FIFA – the highest governing body of football in the world.
Cook Islands Football Association (CIFA) recently announced that they secured a partnership with a foreign company called KPI Sports that will supply apparel for Cook Islands National Football Team for the next three years.
KPI Sports is a company based in Australia that has been creating custom teamwear, sports uniforms, equipment and accessories for high performing teams and clubs throughout Australia and the Pacific for over 30 years.
Cook Islands Men’s National Team is one of the least active national teams in the world as they last played in 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification five years ago. However, they are expected to come to the pitch next year to play 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification. On the other hand, Women’s National Team is more active and coached by Judith Kuipers from Netherlands who is doing a great job to help women’s football deelopment there.
Jordan Kaven: Gulf Komara’s hero in PNG National Soccer League
The final matchweek of 2019-20 PNG National Soccer League’s regular season was a very special one for Gulf Komara as they smashed Star Mountain by 5-0 to book a spot in the semi-finals of the major football league from Papua New Guinea.
It is important to remember that Komara was not in the top four before the last final matchweek. However they managed to qualify to the semi-finals as Tusbab Stallions lost to Hekari United. The hero of the day was surely Komara’s forward Jordan Kaven who scored a hat-trick against Star Mountain to help his side to clinch the spot in the semi-finals.
Despite not having a powerful attack, Gulf Komara proved that they are a competitive team that can fight for something bigger in the season. Kaven and his teammates now have to stay focused on their next challenge against Lae City that is going to be contested this Saturday at PNG Football Stadium in Port Moresby. You can check more information about the current PNG National Soccer League season by clicking here.
Fiji: Avinesh Suwamy to miss 2020 Inter-District Championship
The Inter-District Championship, also known as the IDC, is one of the oldest football tournaments in Oceania. The first edition of this championship was held in 1938 and since then the IDC has been held annually.
One of the most traditional teams in this tournament is Nadi that reached the final for 24 times. However, the Green Machine have to deal with a big problem this year as they are not going to count on their powerful midfielder Avinesh Suwamy who got injured during a training session two weeks ago.
Despite being a midfielder, Suwamy is one of the top scorers in Vodafone Premier League – the top-tier league from Fiji – this season with six goals. His absence is surely a major blow for the team. Anyway the team coached by Kamal Swamy still relies on powerful forward Rusiate Matarerega who will be in charge of leading the team’s attack in the tournament.
Nadi’s debut in the tournament will be against Ba on October 6. You can check the schedule of Inter-District Championship by clicking here.
Kakamora come from behind as Kingz’s nightmare goes on in Telekom S-League
The eighth round of 2020 Telekom S-League finished on this Wednesday when Real Kakamora and Malaita Kingz clashed at Lawson Tama Stadium in Honiara – the capital of the Solomon Islands. Despite the favouritism, Kakamora had to work the extra mile to come from behind and beat their opponents in a very interesting match.
Clement Muri opened the scoreboard for Kakamora in the tenth minute but Peter Kai and Philip Lamana scored once each to put Kingz ahead by the end of the first half. It seemed that Malaita would finally win their first match in the season until the final minutes of the game…
In the 75th minute, Kakamora’s head coach Peter Konata decided to make some changes in the team: Andrew Ngahu, Lonzy Dalton and Bartholomew Talakoro came from the bench as Benjamin Toata, Darren Houkarawa and Clement Muri left the pitch. Those changes were very important as Talakoro scored twice to put Kakamora ahead and Dalton found the net once to seal the 4-2 win.
Real Kakamora are now in the sixth position with eleven points while Kingz remain on bottom of the table with no points. You can check the current Telekom S-League standings, results and top scorers by clicking here.
Ecuatorianos ganan título en Papúa Nueva Guinea
Mientras dieciséis equipos luchan por el título de la Serie A de Ecuador 2020, dos jóvenes jugadores nacidos en el país celebraron un título este fin de semana al otro lado del planeta: Abdias Aguirre y Gustine Icaza.
Aguirre e Icaza forman parte del equipo de Lae City que este fin de semana ganó el título de la 2019-20 PNG National Soccer League – la Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Papúa Nueva Guinea. Ahora los dos ecuatorianos tienen la misión de ayudar a sus compañeros en la fase final de la competición. El próximo desafío de Lae City es contra el Gulf Komara este sábado.
Aguirre es un mediocampista de 21 años mientras que Icaza es un extremo izquierdo de 19 años. Ambos jugadores fueron fichados por Lae City a principios de este año para la Liga de Campeones de la OFC. A pesar de haber sido eliminados en la fase de grupos, los ecuatorianos permanecieron en el club y ahora son una parte importante del equipo.
Oceania Football Center felicita a los jóvenes ecuatorianos por su logro y les desea buena suerte en la final.
OFCe Awards’ Result: PNG National Soccer League ‘MVP’
The fans’ choice on an open-voting poll powered by Oceania Football Center for ‘MVP’ award of the 2019/20 PNG National Soccer League is…
Lae City’s midfielder Jacob Sabua was chosen by the fans as the best player of the 2019/20 season of PNG National Soccer League. Sabua was very higly voted having more than 60% of the boting in his favour – other two of his teammates came as the second and third best voted for the award: Stahl Gubag and Emmanuel Simon respectively.
OFCe Awards’ Result: PNG National Soccer League ‘Best Goalkeeper’
The fans’ choice on an open-voting poll powered by Oceania Football Center for ‘Best Goalkeeper’ award of the 2019/20 PNG National Soccer League is…
The best voted player by the fans was Hekari United’s goalkeeper Ishmael Pole. Pole was followed by Lae City’s Ronald Warisan and Vitiaz United’s Russel Chris.
OFCe Awards’ Result: PNG National Soccer League ‘Best Young Player’
The fans’ choice on an open-voting poll powered by Oceania Football Center for ‘Best Young Player’ award of the 2019/20 PNG National Soccer League is…
The best voted player in the poll that was closed last Sunday was Lae City’s attacker Stahl Gubag. The second most voted player was Tusbab Stallions’ Ricky Wadunah, followed by Hekari United’s defender Carlos Onne.
The overcoming story of Roland Bala
Papua New Guinea National Soccer League’s regular season has just finished but local fans are already thinking about the semi-finals that are going to be contested next month. While Lae City, Hekari United and Vitiaz United did not have many difficulties to qualify, fourth placed side Gulf Komara had to fight a lot to book a spot in the upcoming stage.
With the help of some important players like Godfrey Haro, Ilagi Geno, Jordan Kaven and Kenneth, Komara managed to win their last two regular season matches and now they are going to have a bigger challenge against Lae City in the semi-finals. While the whole team is focused on their next clash, there is a player that still has a lot to celebrate: Roland Bala.
Bala had some game time in the final matches of the season as he started to appear at Gulf Komara’s starting eleven – and it means much more than just playing for him. The 30-year-old left back is finally recovered from a terrible injury that forced him to stop playing football two and a half years ago.
After representing Papua New Guinea in 2016 OFC Nations Cup, he had the opportunity to play abroad as he joined Coomera Colts FC from Australia. One year later he moved to New Zealand to play for Miramar Rangers.
Bala was living the best moment of his career in 2017-18 when he became a regular starter in Southern United in New Zealand Premiership – the major football league from New Zealand. However, everything changed suddenly due to a knee injury in January 2018.
He lived tough moments in the past years as he has been struggling to get back from injury. Finally recovered, Bala must feel grateful for having the opportunity to play competitive football again and now he needs to step up to help Gulf Komara in PNG National Soccer League semi-finals.
AS Magenta and Hienghène Sport to clash in New Caledonia Cup
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AS Magenta and Hienghène Sport are two of the most important football teams from New Caledonia. Both teams made history last year when they clashed in OFC Champions League final and Hienghène Sport have beaten their opponents by 1-0 to clinch the continental title for the first time ever.
Now these teams will be face to face again – but this time in the New Caledonia Cup’s semi-finals – and local fans must expect a huge battle between both sides on October 17. The second clash of the semi-finals will be contested between AS Mont-Dore and SC Ne Drehu.
It is important to remember that New Caledonia is a French territory and the cup champions qualify to 2020-21 Coupe de France – the national cup from France. You can check more information about the current New Caledonia Cup by clicking here.
Oceania Football Center 