Oceania Football Center

Football activities suspended in Vanuatu

Following another Football Associations all over the Pacific, Vanuatu is another country that is set to suspended all its football activities for a period of 30-days as it was informed by Vanuatu Football Federation due COVID-19 concerns.

All Member Associations scheduled activities are suspended, as well the National Team camp that was training in order to compete at OFC Nations Cup. “The VFF is mindful that football games do gather a lot of people, which is advised against in the prevention of coronavirus and this has also the advice provided by Government Task Force“, informed VFF Secretary General Albert Manaroto.

“At present, there are no suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Vanuatu, but there are cases now in French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Guam. Secretary General Manaroto also instructed all the Vanuatu football staff to work from home“, mentioned VFF media in the statement.

Apart from the national team camp, the PVFA Premier League was ready to return to action this weekened in Port Vila and now will need to wait the greenlight from VFF. The football governing body in the country is following the development of COVID-19 outbreak worldwide to allow or not the return of football in Vanuatu. Recently, Oceania Football Confederation postponed all its competitions and meetings until May due the Coronavirus outbreak.

PNG National Soccer League suspended due COVID-19 concerns

The worldwide Coronavirus outbreak continues to interfere significantly in football; now It is time for Papua New Guinea football association to suspended all PNG National Soccer League matches for at least 30 days – counting from 18th March, 2020.

“Following ongoing consultation and collaboration with the President John Kapi Natto with his Executive Committee members and the NSL Board earlier resolve to immediately suspend all PNGFA activities and competitions as effective immediately“, informed PNGFA Media.

“KPNSL has over the last 48 hours received some views from few Club Presidents over the COVID 19 and its effect. Club Chairman/President, KPNSL seeks you view to acknowledge that the matches are suspended as of Saturday 21st March, until April 18th 2020“, said PNGFA general secretary Dimirit Mileng.

Image may contain: 2 people, people playing sports and outdoor — Vitiaz United is the current top-placed side at PNG NSL – *PNGFA Media*

There are already suspicious cases of COVID-19 infection in Papua New Guinea – the decision from the football governing body comes in a right time to prevent a worst scenario due the outbreak in the Oceanian country.

You can check the last updated results, standings and top scorers from the current season in our sessions of the PNG National Soccer League.

La FTF bloque toutes les activités de Football à tahiti

Ci-dessous le communiqué de presse émis par la FTF qui suspend tous les championnats et toutes les activités footballistiques à Tahiti pour minimum 2 semaines:

“Bonjour à tous, compte tenu de la situation sanitaire actuelle et en vue d’éradiquer la propagation de l’épidémie de Coronavirus, plusieurs décisions ont été prises par le Comité d’Urgence de la FTF :

1. Le CU a décidé de suspendre toutes les activités gérées par la Fédération Tahitienne de Football sur l’ensemble du territoire de la Polynésie française jusqu’à nouvel ordre.

2. Le Festival des Îles séniors et jeunes a été reporté au mois d’octobre du lundi 26 au samedi 31.

3. Les bureaux de la FTF seront fermés à compter du lundi 23 mars pour une période minimum de 2 semaines.“

Edwin Bai: I expect to represent Vanuatu in the OFC Nations Cup

Edwin Bai was one of the Malampa Revivors’ most important players in their marvelous campaign at 2020 OFC Champions League group stage. The 24-year-old forward scored one goal and delievering three assists in three matches to lead his team to finish on the Group B’s top.

SEE MORE:
Malampa Revivors make history.

Qualifying for OFC Champions League knockout stage was something pretty special for Revivors because it was the first time they won an official international match after playing the continental tournament twice in 2017 and 2019.

Edwin Bai was Malampa Revivors’ captain in the 2020 OFC Champions League. Source: OFC Media

Malampa’s captain Edwin Bai expressed his pride and happiness for being part of this historical moment – “I am so proud of making the knockout stage. We have worked hard to make it real” – his only goal in the group stage was an amazing goal by lobbing Henderson Eels’ goalkeeper Desmond Tutu as you can see in the video below:

Bai is living the best moment of his career as a footballer and he thinks he deserves a spot in Vanuatu’s National Team – “I expect to represent Vanuatu in the OFC Nations Cup this year,” he said. It is important to remember that he represented his country at youth level in the U20 OFC Championship in 2013 and he is in the 54-men provisional squad released by Etienne Mermer.

Vanuatu counts on good players for 2020 OFC Nations Cup like central defender Brian Kaltak who is living an awesome moment in New Zealand. However the Nations Cup can be postponed because all football activities in Oceania are currently suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mohammed Alam back to Fiji due to work commitments

It was recently reported that Fijian goalkeeper Mohammed Alzaar Alam has signed with Manukau United from New Zealand. However he is back to Fiji due to some work issues but It does not mean that he is not going to play for Manukau United anymore as he is still linked to the team alongside with his countrymen Kishan Sami and Malakai Rakula.

SEE MORE:
Fijian duo debut for Manukau United;
George Konusi ready for one more season at Manukau United.

Alam is a police officer in Fiji and he had to go back to his country due work commitments after signing with his new club. He returned to his homeland in order to get an official permission to move away from work to represent Manukau in the New Zealand’s winter football season. He expects to be allowed to travel to New Zealand soon.

Mohammed Alam is a very talented goalkeeper

Mohammed is one of the most talented goalkeepers from his country. The 20-year-old player represented Nasinu in the last Vodafone Premier League season and he was also Fiji’s starting keeper in the 2019 OFC Olympic Qualifiers.

Solomon Islands provisional squad for Futsal World Cup is released

Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) has released the 19-men provisional squad for 2020 FIFA Futsal World Cup that will be held in Lithuania. All these players are going to start training together at the Multi-purpose Hall in Honiara. Francis Lafai will be in charge of the national side in the absence of Brazilian Australian based Vinicius Leite.

As it was previously reported, Micah Lea’alafa and Benjamin Mana are confirmed in the squad. The provisional list also counts on all twelve players that represented the country in the 2019 OFC Futsal Nations Cup. You can check the full list by clicking here.

Solomon Islands squad in the 2019 OFC Futsal Nations Cup. Source: SIFF Media

The Futsal World Cup is scheduled to take place from September 12th to October 4th. However it might be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Auckland City is crowned ISPS Handa Premiership champions

As reported recently by New Zealand Football, the ISPS Handa Premiership 2019/20 season was concluded. The top-tabled side Auckland City was crowned the national champions, having Team Wellington as 2nd while Waitakere United and Eastern Suburbs complete the top-four. The decision was taken due the COVID-19 threats that are concerning worldwide football federations.

Auckland City retakes the national glory – *NZF Media*

New Zealand Football also set public a list of indications to its football coommunity, stating that all community football has been postponed until 2 May. The conclusion of the national league – ISPS Handa Premiership – is one of the decisions taken by the government body to protect players and people involved in the football activities in the country.

The league was interrupted with still two matches remaning for each of ten-teams in the process. As normally, the playoffs would take place after the conclusion of the regular season – the premiers, the winners of the regular season, would seal a spot at OFC Champions League 2021 as the national champions. According to NZF, due this exceptional change, the first and second places in the at the moment in the league granted a berth in the next regional tournament, confirming so Team Wellington is back to the OFC Champions League after not taking part of the competition in this year.

Myer Bevan was the golden boot winner of the season, as the Auckland City striker scored 15 goals in the season. Dane Schnell of Waitakere United and Martin Bueno of Eastern Suburbs followed him in the process. To see the final standings and complete results of the season, visit our session of the ISPS Handa Premiership.

Lea’alafa and Mana called for Kurukuru’s provisional squad for 2020 Futsal World Cup

Solomon Islands have already started their preparation for 2020 Futsal World Cup that will be held in Lithuania. According to Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) a 19-men list will be released soon as a Solomon Islands National Futsal Team’s provisional squad for the World Cup. Despite we do not have the full list yet, the federation has confirmed that two players are in this list: Micah Lea’alafa and Benjamin Mana.

SEE MORE
Benjamin Mana: a new talent for Solomon Islands Futsal

Lea’alafa has already played three FIFA Futsal World Cups for Kurukuru and he is back to Solomon Islands after leaving Maritzburg United from South Africa while young Benjamin Mana is in the Kurukuru’s list for the first time ever after being 2020 SIPA Futsal League’s top scorer with eleven goals in five matches. He was also the top scorer of 2019 OFC Futsal Champions League.

Oceania Football Center recently published an article talking about the possibility of calling Micah Lea’alafa to represent the country at this year’s World Cup and it seems that he will be there for the fourth time.

Lae City: who left and who stayed?

After a pretty crazy and controversial weekend in the Papua New Guinea National Soccer League which saw five-time championship winning coach Peter Gunemba fired and a core of his players join him by walking out of the club, we can finally confirm which players left the club, and which have stayed.

Eleven players in total have walked out of the club. These players include, as previously reported, Raymond and Troy Gunemba, attackers Nigel Dabinyaba and Obert Bika, defenders Valentine Nelson, Mosie Milubwa and Goropaul Albert, and goalkeepers Ronald Warisan and Matheson Nasa.

Raymond Gunemba has officially left Lae City alongside eleven other players. Photo: PNGFA

In addition, Eddie Managu and Kevin Yalu have also left the club.

Contrary to previous reports, midfielders Jacob Sabua and Emmanuel Simon have not left the club.

Local paper the Post Courier reported today that the players who had left the club had asked owner Ian Chow to return to the side, a request which Chow rejected. After the players quit, Chow also informed them that he was no longer obliged to pay them their final settlement, because they were in breach of contract.

New-look Lae City drew 1-1 with Tusbab Stallions on Saturday, and are set to face in-form Gulf Komara this weekend.

Tahiti a appelé un joueur qui joue en Europe pour la prochaine Coupe des Nations de Oceanie

Kader Lazreg en action avec son equipe le Lannion FC

Kader Lazreg est le nouveau nom de l’équipe nationale de Tahiti. La FTF l’a sélectionné pour la premiere fois. Lazreg est un attaquant qui joue au metropole en N3 avec le Lannion FC, en Bretagne. Le père est algérien et la mère polynésienne.”

Le joueur a fait quelques déclarations à France Ouest: “C’est une fierté et un honneur de pouvoir représenter le pays de ma maman, je suis content de rendre heureux mes parents, ce sont mes premiers supporters. Je suis retenu du 19 mars au 27 mars pour assister à un tournoi triangulaire organisé par la FIFA aux Fidji. Nous allons disputer deux rencontres amicales, une contre les îles Salomon et l’autre contre les îles Fidji. Du fait du décalage horaire (12h) je suis obligé de partir lundi (9 mars) car il faut compter un jour de récupération par heure de décalage Le pays qui remporte ce tournoi disputera des barrages qualificatifs pour la coupe du monde qui se déroulera au Qatar en 2022 Il me faudra être performant que ce soit en matchs ou durant les entraînements. C’est inespéré pour un joueur comme moi de vivre une telle expérience, je ne me prends pas la tête et je vais tout faire pour que le sélectionneur me convoque à nouveau en juin”