Malampa Revivors is back to training in Vanuatu

The COVID-19 pandemics affected football worldwide – despite the serious scenario due the new disease, Oceania remains as the less-affected region in the globe. Vanuatu, for example, is still to record officialy their first case of COVID-19, as other Oceanian nations. Countries as Fiji and Papua New Guinea were already directly affected by the disease, but the hit was not so heavy as it is being currently in Europe and America.

Malampa Revivors, the current Vanuatu national champions, had to stop their activities since their succesful campaign at OFC Champions League 2020 held at home, in Luganville at Soccer City Stadium. The blue-and-white club is set to represent their country alongside Galaxy FC at the knock-out stage of the most important club football tournament of Oceania – that is still unsure when will restart.

The compatriot side of Revivors, Galaxy FC from Port Vila, already restarted their trainings recently. The regional and national competitions in Vanuatu are still unsure when they will resume, both LFA Premier League in Luganville and PVFA Premier League in Port Vila are still on hold.

FIFA.com on Twitter: "Goals galore as @OFCfootball Champions ...
Malampa Revivors during the group stage of OFC Champions League 2020 – OFC Media

Before being back to the pitch last Monday (11th May), the likes of Edwin Bai and Claude Aru, had to face another very sad issue in Vanuatu: the Tropical Cyclone Harold. The natural disaster caused many problems to the north islands of Vanuatu, including Espíritu Santo, where Luganville – the 2nd biggest city in the country – is located.

Vanuatu is a special case during the pandemics, being not only affected by the current biggest worldwide concern – COVID-19. Cyclones and heavy storms are commom in Vanuatu, but not always the country is hit by them. Luganville football venues even served as shelter for people affected by Harold.

Football is slowly getting back to their feet in Vanuatu, but it seems there is still a long way to go to restart all competitions interrupted before the start of the pandemics.

The wait continues: OFC tournaments postponed due COVID-19 pandemics

While some important football tournaments in Europe are not so far to restart, the Oceania Football Confederation recently stated some of the major competitions are still on hold. After the shocking announcing of cancellation of the OFC Nations Cup, the governing body decided the fate of the men’s OFC U-19 Championship, the OFC Champions League 2020 and the OFC U-17 Women’s Championship.

According to OFC Media, “the men’s OFC U-19 Championship, that was scheduled to be played in Samoa in July, will not be held before October 2020 but no later than January 2021” and “the OFC U-17 Women’s Championship was meant to be played in Tahiti in April, following a previous delay from December due to the measles epidemic in the Pacific; a further decision regarding that tournament will be made on June 2“.

Galaxy FC and Eastern Suburbs shine on OFC Champions League debut ...
OFC Champions League 2020 match between Galaxy FC (VAN) and Hienghène Sport (NCL) in Port Moresby

The most important club football tournament of OFC, the OFC Champions League, was interrupted just after the final games of the group stage. All qualified teams for the knock-out stage are still waiting to learn their opponents in the quarterfinals stage. “The OFC Champions League 2020 quarter-finals have been postponed until September 2020 at the earliest and OFC remains in regular contact with the eight clubs that have qualified for the knockout stages“, stated OFC Media in their recent statement.

See More:
OFC Champions League: see the qualified teams for the knock-out stage

The winner of the OFC Champions League is set to represent Oceania in Qatar this December in the FIFA Clubs World Cup. Both youth tournaments – the U17 Women’s Championship and the U19 Men’s Championship – will also serve as qualifying tournaments for the U17 Women’s World Cup that is set to be held in India next year and the U20 Men’s World Cup that is going to played in Indonesia also in 2021. All the tournaments impact in FIFA tournaments, reaffirming the importance of the competitions to take place in time – but also in safe conditions.

Vinicius Reis and Erick Joe to Leave Hekari United

Hekari United’s Brazilian imports, midfielder Vinicius Reis and defender Erick Joe, are set to leave Hekari United in the coming days, according to reports from the club.

Vinicius Reis (left) and Erick Joe (right) represented Hekari United at the 2020 OFC Champions League. Source: PNGFA Media

It is unclear as to why the pair are leaving, but the most likely explanation is that they wish to return home to their families during this uncertain time, and with no news on when the National Soccer League will return, it is logical that the pair would prefer to be in their home country, given that there is no football to be played in Papua New Guinea.

The pair represented Hekari in the 2020 OFC Champions League, where they suffered an unfortunate early exit, and also made a handful of appearances each for the club in the NSL, where Hekari currently sit third in the table, behind champions Lae City on goal difference and two points adrift of league leaders Vitiaz United.

Everyone at Oceania Football Center wishes the pair the best for the remainder of their careers, and perhaps we might see them return to the region in the future.

Morobe Football Association Releases Confirmed Club List; Starts in June

As the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak starts to die down in Oceania and around the Pacific Islands, tentative plans are afoot in Papua New Guinea to get sporting events underway once again. Although there is yet to be an announcement on when and if the National Soccer League will resume, the Morobe Football Association yesterday announced its confirmed club list for their upcoming local association season.

Morobe Football Association logo

Nineteen teams have been confirmed for the upcoming season, with the MFA the first association to reveal any sort of plans for the summer regional season in the country. Usually, there are local leagues taking place among several associations, with the most prolific being in Port Moresby, although information from the Lae, Lahi and Madang associations is also expected over the summer months.

The clubs taking part include Bumayong FC, Sentas FC, and Poro FC, all three of which were identified as ‘top clubs’ by then-competition co-ordinator Alex Toki ahead of the 2018 season. Poro FC is the local side at which many of the now-departed Lae City FC players began their careers, while Bumayong FC and Sentas FC have performed well in recent pre-season competitions. 8 Mile FC also have history in the competition.

The remaining clubs are as follows: PS United FC, Saints FC, All Saints FC, 1.4 Mile FC, Suambu FC, Besta FC, Maltech FC, Eleven Stars FC, Gorogias FC, Naka FC, Mixed Mate FC, Rumion FC, TISC FC, Huon Morobe FC, and Mamo Labu FC.

The Morobe Football Association have indicated that there is still time for more clubs to register ahead of the new season, and that they will be running at least an A-League and a B-League.

Solomon Islands is close to announce new head coach thanks to partnership with La Liga

The search for a new head coach for the Solomon Islands national team is close to have an end. Recently, the Solomon Islands football federation official media stated the governing body already selected from a bunch of 45 applicants the new head coach of its national team. “The President [of SIFF] will announce that in a later date. We have received 45 applications from all over the World since the post was advertised. The selection criteria is based on Qualification, Experience in working in the region including Solomon Islands”, stated SIFF Technical Director Moses Toata to SIFF media.

National squad for Taiwan, Vanuatu friendlies named | Solomon Football
SIFF

The U17 national team head coach Stanley Waita and Henderson Eels’ coach Eddie Marahare were in charge of the national team during a period of trainings that was forced to be interrupted due the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, It is expected with the announcement of the new head coach, both coaches will assume assisting positions in the technical staff.

Moses Toata also added SIFF is dealing with the costs to bring a foreign coach to the country, and talked about the difficulties in financial terms to complete the operation: “At the moment SIFF is also looking at a partnership with La Liga to help meet the cost of hiring the coach for a longer-term“, said the Techincal Director, “In the past the cost of hiring overseas coach for a short term is 10,000 Euros per month plus accomodation, internal transport and flights to the country and return“, mentioned Toata.

According to the media release, the partnership with La Liga – Spanish top-tier league – development project is making possible to match the costs of the process. Due this partnership, it is expected Solomon Islands might have a coach from Spain – something that would not be new for SIFF since the Spaniard Felipe Vega-Arango recently coached and hold the Technical Direction of the governing body in the last FIFA World Cup qualifiers campaign of OFC.

SIFF media also remembered that “Meanwhile, football is still halted for an indefinite period in the country due to the Covid-19 pandemic“. SIFF also urged all players in the Solomon Islands to continue their exercises in order to keep their fitness in a good level.

Galaxy FC ready to come back to the pitch

It was reported by Vanuatu Sports News that Galaxy FC will resume its football activities on Monday. This news is very important once the sporting activities are cleared to resume in Vanuatu since April.

However it is important to point that there is no tournaments being played in the country currently as Vanuatu faced lots of problems with Tropical Cyclone Harold a few weeks ago.

Galaxy FC is currently in the third position in the 2019-20 Port Vila Premier League. They are also qualified to the 2020 OFC Champions League knockout stage.

Faiivae re-elected as FFAS president

Faiivae Iuli Alex Godinet will be the president of Football Federation American Samoa (FFAS) until 2024. He was re-elected alongside with his six-member executive committee in the FFAS Congress.

“I am deeply humbled to be chosen once again to lead our federation for the next four years,” said Faiivae. The six-member executive committee are: Elder Ioane Evagelia of Utulei Youth, Sandra Fruean of PanSa, Amio Mavaega-Luvu of Lion Heart, Sen. Fano Mitch Shimasaki of Green Bay, Tausaili Ott of Black Roses and Silasila Samuelu of Pago Youth.

Faiivae (fourth from left to right) will lead FFAS until 2024. Source: FFAS Media

That is the fourth time that Faiivae is elected for this charge. He is the FFAS’ president since 2008.

Alwin Komolong joins Lae City

After many rumours, Papua New Guinean defender Alwin Komolong has officially signed with Lae City. He joins his brother Felix to help the team in the upcoming challenges.

Komolong wrote this statement on social media about signing with his new team – “Glad to finally put pen to paper at Lae City FC. Thank you to Ian Chow for the opportunity to play again. Looking forward to the challenge once the National Soccer League gets going again.”

Ian Chow (left) and Alwin Komolong (right)

Alwin and his brother will be important players in a reformulated Lae City after many players left the team alongside former head coach Peter Gunemba.

The 2019-20 Papua New Guinean National Soccer League season is currently suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Lae City is in the second position with 23 points in ten matches.

In Nuova Caledonia riprendono gli allenamenti

🇫🇷 français 🇫🇷

Lo Stade Numa Daly

La Nuova Caledonia lancia qualche segnale di speranza per la ripresa delle attività calcistiche in questo 2020.
In un comunicato rilasciato ieri (29 aprile 2020) il governo locale ha individuato il 14 giugno come possibile ripresa di tutte le competizioni sportive e degli eventi all’aperto.
La notizia positiva è che da lunedì 4 maggio, con tutti i controlli del caso e il rispetto degli standard di sicurezza necessari, si potranno riprendere gli allenamenti.
In particolare le misure imprescindibili da seguire sono le seguenti:

– Rispetto delle distanze sociali
– Identificazione dei partecipanti
– Rispetto dell’uso della mascherina

Per tutelare la salute pubblica e quella degli atleti coinvolti, sono intervenuti anche i Comuni di Noumea e Dumbea che hanno reso obbligatorie tutte le misure igieniche raccomandate dalle autorità sanitarie, affermando che: “Qualsiasi Associazione, Club, Campionato, Comitato dovrà fornire un certificato della Federazione Francese o del suo organo di controllo in cui si conferma che l’assicurazione di ogni partecipante alle attività è sempre coperta dalla su certificato di attività agonistica a partire dal 4 maggio 2020“.

Come OFCe ci auspichiamo che i club favoriscano l’invio di un elenco giornaliero di chi prenderà parte agli allenamenti e che vengano forniti tutti i materiali sanitari necessari.
Siamo ovviamente molto contenti che le attività sportive possano lentamente ripartire ma vi ricordiamo di continuare a stare a casa e a usare tutte le misure di sicurezza necessarie perché così tutti vedremo felicemente la fine di questa epidemia.

Nouvelle Caledonie: lundi recommencent les séances d’entraînement contrôlées

🇮🇹 italiano 🇮🇹

Le Stade Numa Daly qui attend le jouers e le public

La Nouvelle-Calédonie lance quelques signes d’espoir pour la reprise des activités footballistiques en 2020.
Dans un communiqué rendu public hier (29 avril 2020), le gouvernement local a identifié le 14 de juin comme une possible reprise de toutes les compétitions sportives et événements de plein air.
La bonne nouvelle est qu’à partir du lundi 4 de mai, avec toutes les vérifications nécessaires et le respect des normes de sécurité, l’activitè d’entrainement pourra reprendre.

En particulier, les mesures essentielles à suivre sont les suivantes:

– Respect des distances sociales
– Identification des participants
– Respect de l’utilisation du masque

Pour protéger la santé publique et celle des athlètes impliqués, les communes de Nouméa et Dumbea sont également intervenues, rendant obligatoires toutes les mesures d’hygiène recommandées par les autorités sanitaires, précisant que: “Toute Association, Club, Championnat, Comité doit fournir un certificat de la Fédération française ou de son organisme de contrôle qui confirme que l’assurance de chaque participant aux activités est toujours couverte par le certificat d’activité compétitive à partir du 4 mai 2020”


En tant qu’OFCe, nous espérons que les clubs encourageront la soumission d’une liste quotidienne des personnes qui participeront à la formation et que tout le matériel de santé nécessaire sera fourni. Nous sommes évidemment très heureux que les activités sportives puissent reprendre lentement. Nous vous rappelons de continuer à rester chez vous et de prendre toutes les mesures de sécurité nécessaires car ainsi nous verrons tous avec bonheur la fin de cette épidémie.