Oceania Football Center

Benjamin Totori and three other players suspended from Solomon Islands National Football Team

Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) recently released a 31-men provisional squad for the Tri-Nation in March and the OFC Nations Cup in June with lots of good young players including some players that represented Solomon Islands in the U17 World Cup in Brazil last year like Raphael Lea’i, Leon Kofana and Javin Wae.

However the big news does not come from the called-up players. SIFF technical director Moses Toata announced that four players are suspended from the national teams due to a indiscipline case that happened last year right before the Pacific Games held in Samoa: Benjamin Totori, Dennis Ifunaoa, Joses Nawo and Michael Boso.

According to sources the indiscipline case was a drinking spree. Toata pointed that these players were very close to not travelling to Samoa with the team last year. However the disciplinary decision was finally taken – “When players do not respect the rules, they have no place in the team. It is simple”, said Toata.

It is not known the duration of their suspensions but Oceania Football Center will keep investigating in order to keep our followers updated about it.

You can check the 31-men squad by clicking here.

OFC Champions League – Groups A & B Guide

THE LONG WAIT IS OVER! OFC Champions League is back and the Groups A and B begin this weekend in two different venues: Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu. Oceania Football Center releases this full guide about these two groups with everything you need to know about each team.

It is important to remember that Groups C and D will be played in March so we will release another guide for these groups soon.

The Group A must be the toughest one in the Champions League. Current winners Hienghène Sport will have some hard challenges against Eastern Suburbs, Galaxy and pool hosts Hekari United. Hekari is back to the tournament after missing the last edition while Suburbs and Galaxy are debuting in the tournament.

Malampa Revivors will be hosting group B at Luganville Soccer City Stadium in Vanuatu and they will have the necessary support from local fans to face three good teams that are going to fight hard for two spots in the quarterfinals: Henderson Eels, Lae City and Lautoka.

Oceania Football Center wishes good luck to all teams. You can check the full texts by clicking in the banners below:

GROUP A

GROUP B

Ishmael Pole: we are excited and ready

The countdown is almost over and the OFC Champions League is ready to begin. After not playing 2019 OFC Champions League, Hekari United is back to the most important club competition in Oceania.

Hekari has a difficult mission in the Group A as they are grouped with current OFC Champions League winners Hienghène Sport from New Caledonia, Eastern Suburbs from New Zealand and Galaxy from Vanuatu. They will count on four foreign players that have the mission to help the team in the tournament: Erick Joe and Vinícius came from Brazil while Vito Laloata (Samoa) and Junior David (Solomon Islands) are also in the squad.

Hekari United’s goalkeeper Ishmael Pole talked about the importance of these players for the team – “They are a big boost for the team, specially the two Brazilians […] Erick Joe organizes the defense very well and Vinicius is very talented. We love his footworks“.

The Papua New Guinean club has the opportunity to play the group stage in their homeland and Pole is very excited about it – “Playing in front of our home crowd is special to me. It is a big challenge for us“. The supporters might be the necessary extra-strenght for Hekari to qualify for the knockout stage.

Ishmael Pole (left) is ready for the battle

Currently leading the 2019-20 Papua New Guinean National Soccer League with seven wins in seven matches, the team managed by Jerry Allen is ready for the battle – “We are excited and ready […] Everyone understands Jerry Allen very well,” said Pole. The 27-year-old goalkeeper shows confidence but he points that they need to be cautious – “We are not overconfident. We are in a death pool and every game is our grand final match but we trust each other”.

Hekari will debut on Sunday against Eastern Suburbs.

Nova competição de clubes na Oceania pode surgir este ano

O futebol é um esporte jogado em todo o planeta, sendo este uma linguagem universal. Surgido na Inglaterra, o futebol se espalhou e hoje é o esporte mais popular no mundo, desde as grandes potências europeias até pequenos países e micronações.

Em termos futebolísticos, certamente o futebol da Oceania é o que há de mais obscuro no planeta bola devido a distância e a falta de um grande fluxo de informações a respeito das competições locais. De qualquer forma, esta lacuna vem sendo preenchida com o surgimento de novas tecnologias e novas mídias como a Oceania Football Center.

Já é de conhecimento geral que a Liga dos Campeões da Oceania começará neste final de semana e que dezesseis times disputarão a fase de grupos. Entretanto, se o futebol oceânico já é algo obscuro, nós podemos estar realmente muito próximos de mergulhar em definitivo na Deep Web futebolística.

A Oceania Football Center entrou em contato com a Associação de Futebol das Ilhas Marshall, uma pequena nação localizada no Oceano Pacífico e que não é filiada a nenhum órgão internacional de futebol – nem OFC, nem FIFA e nem CONIFA.

Logo da Marshall Islands Football Association

De acordo com a MIFA (Marshall Islands Football Association), eles estão encabeçando a ideia da criação de uma nova competição de clubes na Oceania: a Liga dos Campeões das Ilhas do Pacífico. A competição contaria com equipes de Palau, Micronésia, Kiribati, Ilhas Marshall, Tokelau e Nauru, ou seja, apenas times de nações não filiadas a FIFA disputariam o torneio. Ainda não há nenhuma confirmação oficial sobre a criação do torneio, mas a primeira edição pode acontecer ainda este ano.

Outras nações não filiadas a FIFA como Niue também poderão ser convidadas para participar do torneio. Entretanto a Associação de Futebol das Ilhas Marshall ainda não conseguiu fazer contato com Niue.

O grande problema para a criação do campeonato é logístico, uma vez que o futebol nestas nações é totalmente amador e as federações/associações locais não dispõem de muito aporte financeiro. A ideia inicial consiste em um torneio de curta duração, que deverá ser disputado em uma ou duas semanas.

A Oceania Football Center está em contato constante com a MIFA para trazer todas as informações possíveis relacionadas a Liga dos Campeões das Ilhas do Pacífico.

Samoa willing to recruit Samoan descendants for OFC Nations Cup

Football Federation Samoa released a statement inviting football players with Samoan roots to represent the country in the 2020 OFC Nations Cup.

The interested players must mail info.footballsamoa@gmail.com, smalo.ffs@gmail.com or msaofaiga.ffs@gmail.com and send videos for assessment.

OFC Nations Cup Preliminary round is expected to be played next month in Cook Islands.

Ali Mekawir wins tournament in England

Solomon Islands player Ali Mekawir won his first tournament in England. He helped Langney Wanderers U23 to win Sussex Under-23 Challenge Cup by scoring a goal in the 4-0 win against Horsham at Culver Road on Tuesday.

Mekawir (circled) celebrating the title with his teammates. Source: SimonRoe Photography

The Solomon Islands forward entered in the second half and scored in the 89th minute to seal Langney’s title. He arrived in England in August through Royals Academy and he joined Langney Wanderers some weeks after arriving in Europe.

Sussex Under-23 Challenge Cup is a cup held in Sussex County with local teams.

Terence Carter: we will be as strong as we can be

Galaxy FC will play the OFC Champions League for the first time ever. Despite being a debutant they count on a strong squad that must be very competitive in the tournament. However they have some tough challenges as they are grouped with current champions Hienghène Sport, Hekari United from Papua New Guinea and Eastern Suburbs from New Zealand.

They will count on some great players that are able to take Galaxy to the knockout stage including English player Terence Carter that came from Australia to play for the Ni-Vanuatu side in the most important club competition in Oceania. The 26-years old striker can be a game changer for Galaxy and he is ready for this challenge.

He talked to Oceania Football Center about the team’s preparation for the tournament. He knows that Galaxy will have difficult challenges but they are already aware of it – “We have briefly spoken about the teams knowing that they have all done well previously,” said Carter – “We will be as strong as we can be. We have worked hard on our fitness and tactics so all we can do is apply them once we start playing,” he added.

Carter also pointed good things about Galaxy’s coaching staff that includes two Oceanian legendary former players: Batram Suri and Moise Poida – “I like what they are trying to implement with the team“. The English striker seems to be well adapted to his new club as he has been scoring a good amount of goals in the friendly matches since he arrived in Vanuatu.

The Ni-Vanuatu side is currently having the final moments of its preparation for the tournament and some new things could be seen in Galaxy’s gameplan – “There are some ideas we have and we are looking for executing it. Both Poida and Suri have worked well on preparing the team,” he said.

Galaxy FC will debut in the continental tournament on Sunday against current OFC Champions League winners Hienghène Sport.

Indiscipline case affects Lautoka

It was reported that some Lautoka players had an exaggerated celebration after beating Nadi by 6-0 in the second matchweek of 2020 Vodafone Premier League last Sunday.

According to reliable sources some players went on a drinking spree after the match and it lasted until the early hours of Monday. Lautoka’s management decided to solve this case after the Champions League in order to not disturb the team for the continental tournament.

Fines and suspensions might be on the cards. We do not have information about players’ names but it was reported that a good amount of Lautoka players were involved on it.

Lautoka will debut on Champions League on Saturday against Malampa Revivors at Luganville Soccer City Stadium in Vanuatu.

A non-FIFA international club competition might be born in Oceania

OFC Champions League is ready to begin and Oceania Football Center team is already making the best coverage possible of the tournament that starts this weekend. However we received an information that a new international club competition could be born in Oceania soon.

It was reported by Marshall Islands Football Association that there might be a new international club competition in Oceania involving some minor nations that are not associated to FIFA: the Pacific Islands Football Champions League.

The tournament would have football teams from some places like Palau, Micronesia, Kiribati, Nauru, Marshall Islands and Tokelau and the first edition could happen this year. There is no further information about it currently but Oceania Football Center keeps investigating in order to bring accurate information to our followers.

We also stand our support to this idea and we hope that this tournament can become a reality soon.

Hienghène Sport will not count on key players for OFC Champions League

The current title holders of OFC Champions League will not count on some important players of their squad to take on Hekari United, Eastern Suburbs and Galaxy FC in the Group A of the OFC Champions League 2020. The 18-men squad of Hienghène Sport from New Caledonia – the champions of Mobil Super Ligue, Coupe de Calédonie and OFC Champions League in 2019 – will not count with some key players that held their team in the dream season they had in 2019.

Hienghéne Sport in FIFA Clubs World Cup – *AFC Media*

Hienghène will not count on the usual starters and New Caledonian internationals Geordy Gony, Anthony Kaï and Miguel Kayara, players with important roles in their road to the continental glory in the last edition of the competition. The midfielder Geordy Gony was crucial for Hyehen as he scored two important goals in knock-out stage against Ba from Fiji and Team Wellington from New Zealand. Giani Kayara, Joris Gorendiawe and Yewene Yewene will be also missing the tournament. According to reliable sources, the players will not be travelling to Port Moresby due job commitments, as they were not being released to take part in the competition – also remembering Hienghène Sport works as an amateur/semi-professional team despite their recent sucess.

Despite missing some important members of the squad, Oceania Football Center talked to midfielder Joseph Athalé and he seemed very positive about the competition: “We expect to advance to the knock-out stage,” stated the player that got worldwide recognition for his performance against Al-Sadd in their 3-1 defeat in the last FIFA Clubs World Cup.

Hienghène’s squad is still full of important players even missing the likes of Gony and Miguel Kayara; the legendary Bertrand Kaï, the two-time OFC Champions League champion Roy Kayara, the goalkeeper Rocky Nyikeine and the asset forward Amy Antoine Roine – that scored in the grand final in 2019 and also in the FIFA Clubs World Cup – are all travelling with the team to Port Moresby to feature in the Group A of the OFC Champions League edition of 2020.