French Football Federation (FFF) announced the schedule of 2020-21 French Cup. The tournament will count on hundreds of teams including two clubs from Oceania – one from New Caledonia and one from Tahiti.
Every single year the champions of New Caledonian Cup and Tahitian Cup represent their respective territories in the French Cup. Overseas teams join the Cup in the seventh round and they usually play against teams from the fourth or fifth tier of French football league system.
Things are going to be a bit different this year as 2019-20 football season was cancelled in Tahiti and the local cup did not have a winner so the spot in 2020-21 French Cup was given to AS Tiare Tahiti that was the third-placed team in the local league. The New Caledonian representative is still unknown as 2020 New Caledonian Cup was not held yet.
The seventh round of 2020-21 French Cup is scheduled to take place on November 22.
The resumption of the PNG National Soccer League is approaching – according to the PNGFA, theNational League is scheduled to restart in August. Port Moresby-based Hekari United are already back in training to retain the league title; Hekari lost the grand final of the 2019 edition of the league to Lae City and currently occupies the third place in the country’s top football league rankings.
Contrary to what local sources recently stated, Samoan international Vito Laloata confirmed to the Oceania Football Center that he is still at the club. The striker that is known as The Samoan gem will continue to wear the Hekari jersey at least until the end of the current season. The situation might be different from the Brazilian players of Hekari – Erick Joe and Vinicius Reis Kryzozun – that are unlikely to continue in the Reds squad for the rest of the season – although there are no confirmation whether the players already left the team or not.
Vito Laloata – PNGFA Media
Laloata played all of Hekari United’s games – one of them as a starter – in their recent participation in the 2020 OFC Champions League, but failed to make it to the knockout rounds, with Galaxy from Vanuatu and New Zealand champions Eastern Suburbs taking the two places in the next round. Laloata scored one goal for his new club in the PNG National Soccer League.
Hekari comes with a very strong for the season, counting on the usuals David Muta and Koriak Upaiga. Recently, Hekari signed three new important players to boost their chances to retain the national glory: the defender Carlos Onne and the midfielders Wira Wama and Gregory Togubai.
In order to develop the game in the country, it was clear that SIFF and the futsal governing bodies would have to do something serious to support the improvement of facilities in the nation. Solomon Islands will host the next edition of the Pacific Games in 2023 – a new venue for the game is a must, so there is finally good news for Solomon Islands futsal fans.
The new arena is being built in Solomon Islands – SIPA Futsal League
The SIPA Futsal League, the most important club competition of futsal in the country, used their social media accounts to celebrate the fantastic moment for the sport in the country: “Our new home is nearly completed ahead of the upcoming new league season likely to be held in August 2020. Thank you to HHC and NZaid for this development which will definitely improve the standard of the league and futsal in general“.
As mentioned by SIPA, the national futsal league is set to start this August. Recently, Marist won theSIPA Futsal Championship and will be looking to continue their good form led by the Kurukuru captain Elliot Ragomo.
The Babasiga Lions had a great season in 2019; winning the Inter-District Championship and the Battle of the Giants in the same season is not too common for a Fijian club. Labasa fans can be very proud of their team’s performances last season and hope that the good form will continue in 2020. A good sign for the fans came earlier this year when Labasa won Champion vs. Champion series against Ba – the Lions‘ first title of the year – but their first games in the Vodafone Premier League were not at the same level as last season.
Ratu Apenisa‘s double enabled Labasa to defeat Ba in the CVC and celebrate another very important moment in their footballing history. However, from their first five games in the national league, Labasa lost three, drew once a and in the second game of the Vodafone Premier League they won the last-placed Navua – their only victory so far.
Despite winning major tournaments last season, Labasa must have a good season in the Vodafone Premier League if they are to return to the OFC Champions League – to qualify for the regional tournament, the club must finish at least second in the season. Qualifying for the O-League is certainly something that Babasiga Lions fans really want to achieve.
Labasa team before match against Ba at CVC – FFA Media
Sitting only 5th in the national league at the moment, Labasa know they have to do much if they want to continue their winning form they achieved in the past season. The good performances of players as Akuila Mateisuva, Siotame Kubu and Atonio Tuivuna are crucial for Labasa success – the club managed to keep all three players for 2020 and also boosted their squad signing the attacker Ratu Apenisa that already shown his capabilities in the Champion vs Champion series.
Losing only the Solomon Islands’ international Dennis Ifunaoa that rejoined Solomon Warriors back in his country for the OFC Champions League, Labasa also has very interesting players in their squad for 2020 alongside the stars Mateisuva, Kubu and Tuivuna – the likes of Akeimi Ralulu and Ashneel Raju can be very important for the team to continue their succesful form.
For Fijian football fans and analysts alike, Labasa is certainly has what it takes to continue its winning streak; highs and lows happen in a season and the poor start they have gotten off to in the VodafonePremier League from February to March before the COVID-19 pandemic forces the Fijian Football Association to stop the national league can only be a bad moment – something that Ronil Lal’s players can still overcome in fashion and battle for the big tournament and the national league in the current season.
Prasad, that is born in Canada, made his debut for the Bula Boys in 2019. The player represented Fiji in the Pacific Games and helped his country to earn the bronze medal in the competition – the defender already played 11 matches for the Fiji national team.
Nicho Prasad
“Disappointing news,” said Prasad regarding the cancellation of the league, “club and I are in the process of negotiating a new contract for the next season. They would like to have me back,” added the player. Bischofswerdaer did not have a good season – finishing the competition in the relegation zone – but things ended up well for Prasad’s side: “The league decided on no relegation. They used the quotient rule for promotion. Worked out well for my club and I in the end“, explained the Fijian international.
Prasad is a valuable member of Fiji national team as he has many professional experience in football; coming from the well-known Vancouver Whitecaps academy in Canada, Prasad had already played in Germany before and most recently had a stint in United Soccer League club Tulsa Roughnecks in United States before moving back to Europe.
Fiji football has been improving over the past years. The average level of local leagues increased and many players are having the opportunity to play outside the country. The most famous name is surely Roy Krishna who last played in India.
New Zealand is surely the biggest door for Fijian players – many players go to New Zealand every single year to play the winter football season in the country. Some of them perform really well and are given the opportunity to play in the ISPS Handa Premiership like 24-year-old left back Shuiab Khan.
However there are dozens of players that build a career in the winter leagues and these players are oftenly forgotten by football fans like Divikesh Deo. Deo is a 25-year-old goalkeeper that built his career in New Zealand playing the winter leagues.
Deo is a Fijian goalkeeper playing in New Zealand
Currently playing for Bucklands Beach AFC in the Lotto NRFL Men’s Division 1 – the second tier of winter football season in Auckland region – the Fijian keeper is playing in the country since 2013 when he joined Papatoetoe AFC. Since then he played for some clubs like Ellerslie AFC before joining his current club in 2019.
The biggest moment of his career is surely when he was part of the Fijian U-20 squad that played 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand – Fijian first ever appearence in a FIFA World Cup. Deo was the only of the 21 players who was playing outside Fiji by that time.
Deo has never had an opportunity to represent his country at senior level. However he keeps his path as a footballer in New Zealand. The 1.99m keeper is ready for the upcoming Lotto NRFL Men’s Division 1 that is set to kick-off on Saturday.
Papua New Guinea Football Association (PNGFA) received USD $93.000,00 from FIFA to fund a fencing project at PNG Football Stadium that must start this week.
According to PNGFA president John Kapi Natto this money will be used for making some improvements like: internal perimeter palisade fence line, field of play perimeter chainmesh fence barriers, competition zone barriers custom built to suit international football competition requirements. Palisade fence encloses of vital installations such as the irrigation water tanks and pump area, standby generator set and light tower switch boxes around the field of play perimeter with external and internal vehicle and pedestrian gates for use by spectators service providers.
PNG Football Stadium – PNGFA Media
Mr. Kapi Natto is likely to be re-elected as PNGFA president in the 16th Ordinary Congress of Papua New Guinea Football Association that is going to be held in Port Moresby on Saturday.
Bugotu Football Association’s Senior League kicks-off in Solomon Islands. The official season opener took place on this Sunday at Duddley Tuti College at Isabel Province.
Ten teams are going to fight for the title this year Kalenga FC, Duddley Tuti College FC, Tasina FC, Jevula FC, Kamaru FC, Sana FC, Mafi FC, Green Bay FC, Japuana United and Tuti Veterans.
Players taking part in the opening ceremony
Oceania Football Center wishes good luck to all participants in this tournament.
Football is all about passion – it is about how we can get our team to win, support and give the best to achieve our goals in this beautiful game. If you want to be successful in football, you certainly need a lot of training and sacrifice to achieve what you want. This is the aim of the youth programmes and football academies – to provide the best possible training and facilities to develop the young talents they have.
Oceania is certainly lacking football academies and youth programmes to develop the code. Football still has a long way to go in the region and it is very necessary to implement youth leagues, academies and training facilities. In Solomon Islands, Royals Academy is trying to ensure that young talented players from their country are nurtured as much as possible – but Royals, as most Solomon Islands football fans may already know, has a turbulent history behind the scenes.
After a stay in England alongside his players and the Royals Academy technical director Alick Collin, Konofilia recently returned to the Solomon Islands. Then, many confusing versions of a story emerge: In recent days, Konofilia has split from Collin and fired him from his position with the Royals. Collin, however, used his reports in the social media to explain his view of the events: In Collin’s words, he said that Konofilia attacked a member of the Stars Academy in England, which led to his arrest, then he was deported back to the Solomon Islands.
Konofilia responded to Collin’s accusations and in fact mentioned that Collin had fought drunk with two of his players. Konofilia also stated that Stars Academy owner and his wife were angry with Collin because he had disturbed them and this was the reason why Stars expelled Collin from their academy – making so Konofilia to fire Collin. The now former technical director of Royals is still in England, according to him.
Two very confusing versions of the same story coming from two highly suspect figures of regional football – it is also known both of them were not so friendly during their stay in England. The only certainty in the midst of this turbulence is that players can not develop in a background of so many problems. While both Konofilia and Collin use their social media to attack each other, many youngsters from Solomon Islands are still in a very rough patch in England during the COVID-19 pandemics. According to reliable sources it is known that family members of the young players have contacted SIFF to do something about the case – the uncertain situation of their sons in England in the midst of the pandemics – but SIFF is not related to Royals and can not respond to this situation as Royals is a private academy – and Konofilia is banned.
Royals Academy in England
Konofilia’s attempt to support the development process of football is something that is definitely valuable, but based on the latest news and statements we can see that there are many problems in this situation. While so many strange events are happening around the Royals, we can not see much development of their players, nor any great success of the Royals in their attempts to develop the game. It seems that Konofilia and his followers are taking a path that will certainly not help them achieve their goals.
Morobe Wawens are back to training in Papua New Guinea. The first training session of the team after COVID-19 pandemics took place on this Monday at Scout Hall in Lae.
Papua New Guinea National Soccer League – the major football league in the country- is expected to resume in August and most teams are already back to training in order to get ready for the remaining matches of 2019-20 season.
Morobe Wawens are back to training in Papua New Guinea
Wawens are currently in the seventh position in the National Soccer League with nine points in ten matches. You can check the current league standings by clicking here.
Oceania Football Center 