Roy Krishna had one of his best seasons when playing of ATK in the Indian Super League; he helped the Kolkata-based side to win their third title of the most important football league of India being one of the best players of the league.
Before joining ATK, Krishna had also a stellar season playing for Wellington Phoenix in New Zealand at Hyundai A-League – the forward as chosen the best player of the league and as well collected the golden boot prize.
After two superb seasons in a row – combining 33 goals scored at club football – Krishna caught even more attention in the football market. According to Transfermarkt ratio, Krishna transfer fee is around 700.000 USD Dollars – not the highest mark of Krishna in his career – being its last update at 28th February; the player might have an ever bigger market value at the moment.
But any team interested in the Fijian will not be worried about the transfer fee values; Krishna signed for just one season with ATK in India, unless he renews his contract with the Indian side he can leave free of costs to another club. Krishna had himself a very profitable contract in India, being reported as the 4th highest paid player ever in Indian football.
As reported recently by local Fijian media, the Fijian Flyer now aged 32 is set to have another very interesting move in the new transfer window period. According to Fijivillage the Fiji national team captain has various teams interesting to acquire his services for the upcoming season – currently the player is analyzing all his options before to have a final say.
Krishna is already in Fiji and already gave an important statement for the Fijian football community; he is in a 14-quarantine due the COVID-19 pandemic alongside his wife Naziah Ali after travelling from India to his country – they are not showing any symptoms of the disease as currently reported by local media.
A fantastic season of Brian Kaltak is proven by the records the Vanautu internatinal achieved in the 2019/20 season in the New Zealand top-league ISPS Handa Premiership. Kaltak scored two goals in the process helping his side, the mighty Auckland City, to win once again the most important football league of New Zealand and the most competitive national league of Oceania.
The Ni-Vanuatu central defender was selected six times for the ‘Team of the Week’ award of the ISPS Handa Premiership. Kaltak was a great-performer during the entire season what made him to be inside the best starting XI of the league in the 2019/20 season.
Kaltak alongside other five Auckland City teammates will have more to celebrate than the team success, as they can enjoy individual recognitions as the best rasted players in InStat data – tool used by New Zealand Football to select the best performers in the game weeks and season.
Finally, we might see Lae City and Lae City Dwellers as separated teams in the PNG National Soccer League in the next edition of the national league in the country. Despite the statement his crew is set to bring back the glorious Lae City Dwellers, Gunemba recently talked to The National where he stated him and his teammates wanted to continue to have game time in the second part of the 2019/20 season of the PNG National Soccer League: “The coach’s sacking a day prior to the close of the transfer window was planned in a way to leave us with no choice,” Gunemba told The National. “Former Lae City players are calling on Papua New Guinea Football Association (PNGFA) and Kumul Petroleum National Soccer League (NSL) board to grant them late transfers to join other clubs” wrote The National. The newspaper also confirmed that Emmanuel Simon and Jacob Sabua continues as Lae City FC’s players – being also known that Simon is the new team captain as stated by Oceania Football Center.
Raymond Gunemba also told Oceania Football Center he expects to represent Papua New Guinea national team in their upcoming challenges internationally, as the OFC Nations Cup that is set to be played this year in New Zealand: “I do not know at the moment because of this situation, but whatever happens I will still play the game I love for the PNG Kapuls“, added the star-player.
Hekari United is the most known football club from Papua New Guinea; their eight national titles and the fact to be first ever team that does not come from Australia or New Zealand to win the OFC Champions League are the most remembered achievements about the Port Moresby-based team.
Hekari also recruited the best of Pacific Islands’ talent to achieve their goals during the past decades: the likes of Osea Vakatalesau, Pita Boleitoga and Alvin Singh – historical players of Fiji national team – took part in the most important match of Hekari United history; the 3-0 loss against Al-Wahda from UAE at 2010 FIFA Clubs’ World Cup.
Historically, Hekari also developed a strong relationship with Solomon Islands; many historical players from the country also helped the Papua New Guinean powerhouse to achieve glory, just to mention few of them: Stanley Waita, Gideon Omokirio and Henry Fa’arodo.
Most recently, the likes the current Solomon Islands national team members Gibson Daudau and Tuti Zama Tanito helped Hekari to qualify once again for the 2020 OFC Champions League, after four years without taking part in the most important club football tournament of the region.
In the start of the year, two Solomon Islands players were signed by Hekari’s staff heading for the OFC Champions League and PNG National Soccer League: Robert Laua and the star-goalkeeper Anthony Talo. The two players met another compatriot, the 18-year old fullback Junior David, to restate the strong bonds of Hekari United and Solomon Islands football. Unfortunately, Laua and Talo already left Hekari United squad and only the young David represents the gold and green in the Port Moresby-based squad.
“It is my second season now, I started last year’s season at Hekari“, informs David. The young player spent one year with strong Solomon Islands’ side Marist FC at Telikom S-League back in his home country before joining Hekari United in 2019.
“It is a great experience to be playing in Hekari; in terms of training with well experienced players in the pacific, which gives a boost to my football, always working hard“, states the 18-year old. The fullback also added that “the OFC Champions League gave me a lot of lessons to learn and improve from. It also gave me experience and confidence“.
The experience at OFC Champions League was certainly crucial for the development of David’s football career; but the young player was not fully satisfied with his performance at his 1st ever OFC Champions League appearance: “It is my first appearence at OFC Champions League. The pressure and opponents are different from domestic league, so for me I am not at my best yet. But, comingom from this first Champions League appearence, I am looking forward for upcoming editions and I will do better. The team really played well, just unlucky for us. We hope to do well in next Champions League”, explains Junior David.
Junior David training with his national team – OFC Media
In 2019, David represented Solomon Islands at OFC U23 Olympic Qualifiers where his team reached the grand final match of the competition. Unfortunately for them, they were beaten by a very strong New Zealand side in the final and could not qualify for the Tokyo Olympic Games Men’s football tournament.
Recently, Junior David was called up in a provisional squad of Solomon Islands to prepare heading for the OFC Nations Cup that is schedule to play this year in New Zealand: “For me it is a previllage to be named in the Solomon Islands national team camp. It is what I dreamed of, to be in the senior national team. Now, for me, I to work hard and train hard to be in the final squad. I am so thankful and happy“, mentions David.
Junior David tells his countrymen that are eager to see the big prospect he is that “I will continue to work hard and perform in the league and all competitioms” and adds that “playing in big clubs in other country is my next step I am working towards“; Also to his fans in Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea, David adds: “I am confident that I will peform to my best – reach my potential. I will just keep on working hard and improve from my mistakes“.
To finish his interview with Oceania Football Center, David responds one very important question especifically to Hekari United fans: Is Hekari United underperforming at PNG National Soccer League? David responds: “I think the team can perform well. It comes back to us players to make it happen. We just need to focus more and work hard to get back to the team expectation”, says David not denying the frustrating results Hekari United had before the break of the national league due the COVID-19 pandemic.
Solomon Islands football fans can be proud of the young talented Junior David; Hekari United is a very important team at Oceanian football scenario and the 18-year old fullback has a very good place to develop his football. The still very young player is already very useful for Hekari United – being a starter at OFC Champions League – and with his development can turn into one more Solomon Islands’ star to represent the Papua New Guinean powerhouse.
It was recently reported by Ba FA in its official social media that Rishi Kumar resigned from his position as Ba football president.
“Ba soccer President, Rishi Kumar has resigned from his position after being at the helm for the past 17 years. Kumar who is one of the most successful sports administrators in the country has won 43 titles with the Men in Black”.
Rishi Kumar – Ba FA Media
“Under Kumar’s leadership, Ba represented Fiji 10 times in the OFC Champions League and they came close to winning the title in 2007, where they lost to Waitakere United on away goal rule. An emotional Kumar says he informed the Ba FA Board a few weeks ago that he will resign from his position as he wants to spend quality time with his family and business“, informed Ba media.
An official statement is still to be released regarding Rishi Kumar departure of Ba’s football presidency role, while it is still unsure who will take his spot to guide the most important football team of Fiji to even more glories.
Current Papua New Guinea National Soccer League leaders, Vitiaz United is currently facing some changes at their coaching staff. It was confirmed by the team’s chairman Matthew Strach that head coach Trevor Ire has decided to leave the club to turn his attention to other personal projects.
Assistant coach Nathan Vincent must take the charge to lead Vitiaz in the remainder of the season.
Vitiaz United is currently leading the league. Source: PNGFA Media
The football season in Papua New Guinea has stopped due to the Covid-19 pandemic as Vitiaz United leads the league with 25 points in ten matches.
Covid-19 keeps bringing lots of trouble to football community as almost every single country in the world postponed their football activities during the pandemic, including Oceanian countries like Fiji.
Fijian Football Association has recently made a post in its website with some Roy Krishna’s instructions to Fijian footballers to follow during this pandemic. The ATK’s star pointed that it is very important to have a healthy diet and exercise. He also remembered people about of the importance of staying at home and keeping up with the news about Covid-19.
The advices given by Krishna are very important and every one must follow them in Fiji or wherever people are now. However his speech also shows that Fijian football still struggles when it comes to professionalism.
It is important to clear that we are not talking about professionalism in financial terms, but in terms of attitude. There are lots of recent news showing the lack of discipline by footballers in the country like drinking sprees, assaulting and use of drugs.
Footballers must be aware of their impact in society even being semi-professional players and they must give the example to those who are around. Fijian players should follow Krishna’s advice about staying fit and healthy all the time and not only during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Good attitudes bring more good attitudes. It is time to be responsible and carry this responsibility on to the pitch when the season returns.
The current Papua New Guinea national champions Lae City faced a tough situation in the past weeks with the departure of several important players from their team. The likes of Nigel Dabinyaba and Ronald Warisan are not Lae City players anymore – pillars of the five consecutive PNG National Soccer League titles Lae City had in the last five seasons.
But, certainly, the biggest loss of Lae City is the PNG Kapuls star player Raymond Gunemba that also was part of the group of players that left the team after the Lae City’s chairman Ian Chow sacked the head coach Peter Gunemba. Raymond was the captain of Lae City during all its glorious period, but now a new era is set to start: Emmanuel Simon is the new captain of Lae City FC. Simon is also a historical player of Lae City, part of the last titles of the club and the OFC Champions League campaigns of the club – he scored four goals in the last edition of the regional tournament, but his team could not proceed to the knock-out stage.
Emmanuel Simon
Simon is the most important player that decided to stay in Lae City that is now coached by the former Papua New Guinea national team head coach Bob Morris. The 27-year-old player already represented his country 18 times internationally scoring four times. Simon previously played in the other PNG football powerhouse Hekari United and also in Solomon Islands’ outfit Malaita Kings.
Football is a part of our lives; we can not deny we are missing a lot the tournaments and players we are used to follow and wait so long to kick-off. Sport has the power to unite people: this is a good opportunity to use this power in favour of all of us amid many difficulties everyone is having during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Oceania Football Center is certainly missing the national leagues there were running in the region, as PNG National Soccer League, Vodafone Premier League in Fiji – the New Zealand top-tier ISPS Handa Premiership was forced to end as they were approaching the final moments of the national league -, Ligue 1 Vini in Tahiti and the New Caledonian top-league Mobil Super Ligue. In Vanuatu, the most important regional league – Port Vila Premier League – was set to resume, but it needed to be suspended due the threat imposed by Coronavirus.
Malampa Revivors vs Henderson Eels at OFC Champions League 2020 – OFC Media
All activities of OFC were postponed until May, when the football governing body is expected to reschedule the tournaments and organised events by the entity.
Oceania is certainly not the only place in the world affected by the outbreak: one of the last leagues in action, the Hyundai A-League in Australia, recently postponed its final games. In Europe, only the Belarusian national league is still running – all the known La Liga, Premier League and UEFA Champions League matches are postponed.
Football attracts thousands of people – the perfect condition for the very fast-spreading COVID-19 virus to infect a lot of fans. Not only the spectators would be in danger: the players, staff and all people involved during a football match could be put in risk. The biggest issue in this story is that none health system worldwide is prepared to treat so many people at the same time – it means the health systems will collapse rapidly and none other person will receive proper treatment because there will no more places for that. Here we see the importance of the self-isolation and social distancing in this moment, to give time to the governments to expand the most they can their capabilities.
COVID-19 already is responsible for more than 30.000 deaths worldwide, we will need to work as team to stop this new disease, set our strategies and tackle it hard to now allow it to attack our defensive box. After this all, the world will come out stronger from this and our beloved sport will be played with more passion than ever.
Hamilton Wanderers ended the season at the 6th place in the ISPS Handa Premiership table, but they will have something very important to celebrate: the attacker Derek Tieku was chosen as the Most Valuable Player of the 2019/20 season of the New Zealand top-league.
The 24-year old Ghanian-born English player scored eight goals in the season and provided five assists in the process. Previously, Tieku also defended the colours of Eastern Suburubs in New Zealand football.
Derek Tieku – NZF Media
Wanderers had in the previous season (2018/19) the Papua New Guinea international Tommy Semmy in the 2nd place of the run for MVP, but finally in the season that just finished due the COVID-19 outbreak, the Hamilton-based side will have the MVP coming from his team!
Oceania Football Center 