Japanese Kohei Matsumoto returns to Japan after suffering a severe eye injury last week. The 31-year-old right back from Hamilton Wanderers is going to need a special treatment to save the sight in his eye. He was part of Wanderers’ squad for the upcoming winter football season in New Zealand but now he is expected to miss the season due to this injury.
Hamilton Wanderers’ statement on Twitter
Matsumoto represented Hamilton Wanderers for eight games in the last ISPS Handa Premiership season. He also represented Hienghène Sport in the last FIFA Club World Cup.
Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) recently announced that the next Telekom S-League’s season is set for August. However there is a big problem that must be solved before the kick-off: there is no training grounds in Honiara.
Football teams used to run their training sessions at King George VI School (KGVI) and Solomon Islands National University (SINU). However these fields have been converted into the National Stadium that is being built for 2023 Pacific Games and training at Lawson Tama – the most important football stadium in Solomon Islands – is not permitted by SIFF.
Training at Lawson Tama Stadium is not permitted by SIFF.
According to reliable sources the local government has promised to prepare a cricket field as an alternative venue for the fields lost. SIFF Technical Director Moses Toata has also expressed his concerns about the current situation – “I think this will be the biggest challenge to football this year and it could get worse […] it is a sad reality we will face and it could be damaging to football if actions are not well planned or issues not adressed properly“.
With no available fields at the moment, football teams can not start their preparation for the upcoming season. Opening Lawson Tama for training might be a good solution but it would damage the grass’ quality. Let’s wait and see what will be done by the local authorities.
For some reason, Brazil is the place where some Oceanian teams and players go to shine, to make history and show that “football exists in the Pacific”. To commemorate these moments, Oceania Football Center will write a series of articles in the coming weeks that will highlight the link between Oceania and Brazil and show how fate has chosen the South American country as a place for various special moments to remember for football fans in the Pacific.
Seven stories will compose the series “Brazil and Oceania: a football connection”, as follows:
There is another remarkable coincidence between Brazil and Oceania: Oceania Football Center, this media group founded in early 2019, was founded in Brazil and by Brazilians. At present, OFCe also counts on writers from different countries around the world.
The football activities in New Caledonia are suspended since March due to COVID-19 pandemics. The suspensio came right after the first matchweek of 2020 Mobil Super Ligue, the top-tier of football in the French territory.
However the most suitable and supported proposal comes from FCF Federal Council that suggests a switch in the calendar. So the 2020 Mobil Super Ligue would become the 2020-21 Mobil Super Ligue. In this proposal the league would start in August and finish in May 2021. Both proposals consider New Caledonia Cup’s organization – which must be organized in its entirety.
Mobil Super Ligue could restart in six weeks. Source: FCF Media
There will be a FCF meeting with all the Presidents of Super League Clubs on Thursday so a final decision about which proposal will be implemented must be taken after this meeting.
Despite all proposals the New Caledonian football still depends on the government. The sporting activities must be cleared to resume if there is no new case of COVID-19 there and a final decision must be taken by the government in a few weeks.
Bainivalu is an experienced defender who last played for Lautoka in the 2020 OFC Champions League while Dogalau is a young midfielder that comes from Ba youth system.
Ellerslie AFC keep stregnthening their squad for the upcoming winter football season in New Zealand as young Cook Islander Lee Harmon joined the squad that will play the NRFL Division 1, the second tier of the Northern Regional Football League in Auckland region.
Lee Harmon is a 18-year-old forward with some experience at international tournaments. He represented Cook Islands’ powerhouse Tupapa Maraerenga in the last three OFC Champions League editions. He also represented his nation in the 2018 OFC U20 Championship.
Lee Harmon (left) last played for Tupapa Maraerenga
It was also confirmed by Ellerslie AFC that a second Cook Islander is joining the team: Avi Enoka. Enoka was also in Tupapa Maraerenga’s squad and now both players will have the opportunity to face a higher challenge in New Zealand.
Papua New Guinean football is growing fast. The PNG National Soccer League is becoming an interesting tournament while some players are having some success overseas. David Browne is currently in Europe playing for HJK from Finland and Gimale Essacu – who recently graduated at college – spent two years playing in the United States while Terry Stephenson is a good prospect of Middlesbrough’s youth teams.
However there is an important story involving a football player from Papua New Guinea in the Asian football and it seems that it was forgotten by people and it must be remembered. Nigel Dabinyaba‘s stint in Malaysia during 2017.
On 8 June 2016 the Papua New Guinea has beaten Malaysia by 2-0 in an international friendly and Dabinyaba called the attention in that match. A few months later he travelled to the Asian country for trials with FA Penang a football club that was playing in the top-tier of Malaysian football at that time.
The trials were successful and he signed with the Malaysian team, becoming the first Papua New Guinean to play at the professional level since Manis Lamond graced the Australian National Soccer League in the 1980s and 1990s.
Dabinyaba (wearing white shirt) signed with FA Penang from Malaysia. Source: FA Penang media
The Papua New Guinean forward quickly became one of the most important players in the team. He was in Penang’s starting eleven week in week out and he helped the team by scoring four goals in twenty matches. Despite his good level of performance things were not so good at all.
Dabinyaba started to face lots of problems in his new club including lack of payment – Penang FA did not keep the promise and the Oceanian player spent some months in Malaysia without receiving his salary
Dabinyaba kept the good level despite the problems. Source: FA Penang media
The season’s outcome was a huge disaster for FA Penang. They were relegated to the second tier of Malaysian football after an awful campaign in the 2017 Malaysian Super League with only twelve points in 22 matches.
Dabinyaba officialy left the club in December 2017 and he was surely good enough to keep his path in Asia and move to a better club, but he did not. Currently a Free Agent, it would be nice if we could see him playing outside Oceania again.
There was a meeting on this Wednesday (27 May) and the Executive Committee decided that all leagues and cups are definitely cancelled, repealing the decisions of the Executive Committee taken on 16 May 2020.
The other tournaments had a different end. The final standings were established according to the ratio method calculated as follows for each team: the number of points as at 17 March is divided by the number of matches played. You can check the list of champions below:
The 2019-20 season of the biggest football league from Australia is very close to resume after being stopped due to COVID-19 pandemic. Football Federation Australia (FFA) CEO James Johnson confirmed that FFA, the Hyundai A-League clubs and Professional Footballers Australia (PFA) reached agreement for the re-start of the Hyundai A-League 2019/20 season. However they still need to reach an agreement with Fox Sport – their broadcast partner.
There is no scheduled date yet, but players must return to training soon – “Ideally mid-June will see players return to training, allowing them to reach the required elite level of fitness for competitive matches to commence by mid-July, and for the Hyundai A-League Finals Series to be completed by mid-August,” said Johnson.
Wellington Phoenix is having a good season in 2019-20 Hyundai A-League
During this period FFA and Hyundai A-League will follow the best protocols in order to keep everyone safe – “The health and safety of our players, match officials, coaches, staff and other match day personnel remains our highest priority,” said Greg O’Rourke, the head of Hyundai A-League.
The return of Hyundai A-League means that we will be able to watch Wellington Phoenix in the pitch soon. The New Zealand-based club is currently in the third position with 36 points in 20 matches. You can check the current standings by clicking here.
It has been some months since Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) announced that they are looking for a new head coach to lead Solomon Islands National Football Team in their upcoming challenges. However due to COVID-19 pandemic the new head coach has not been announced yet.
It was previously reported by Oceania Football Center that SIFF is close to announce the new head coach thanks to their partnership with LaLiga. According to reliable sources, Felipe Vega-Arango is the favourite candidate to become the next Solomon Islands National Team’s head coach but it was also reported that LaLiga is yet to confirm his availability.
Vega-Arango is well known in the Solomon Islands. In 2017 he was appointed as SIFF Technical Director and then he also became the National Team’s head coach. He managed the Bonitos in eleven matches from May to December 2017.
Oceania Football Center 