Kosta Barbarouses is one of the most successful players of all time in Hyundai A-League. The 29 years old winger has already built a bright career in Australia to become a true legend in the most important football league in the country.
Barbarouses won A-League Premiership twice (2011 and 2015) and A-League Championship for three times (2011, 2015 and 2018) for Brisbane Roar and Melbourne Victory. He also won 2015 FFA Cup for Victory and received the Mark Viduka Medal – an award given to the MVP of FFA Cup Final match. He was also named for PFA A-League team of the season in 2011 and 2016. Only two other New Zealanders were named twice for the team of the season: Shane Smeltz (2009 and 2010) and Marco Rojas (2013 and 2017).
Kosta Barbarouses is an idol at Melbourne Victory. Source: FFA Media
He is also one of the all-time top scorers (5th place of all time) of Hyundai A-League with 66 goals scored in 216 matches including regular season and play-offs. The Melbourne Victory’s idol is now playing his first season for Sydney FC. He has also played for Wellington Phoenix and Brisbane Roar.
His notable honours and awards make him one of the players that will be remembered for decades. The New Zealander footballer has not turned 30 yet so he can keep on building a huge history in Australia.
The 2020 OFC Nations Cup will be the 11th edition of the OFC Nations Cup, the quadrennial international men’s football championship of Oceania organised by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC). It is initially scheduled to be played from 6 to 20 June 2020.
OFC president Lambert Maltock confirmed in an interview that the next Nations Cup will be held in New Zealand for the third time (1973, 2002 and 2020).
Current champions New Zealand will host 2020 OFC Nations Cup. Source: OFC Media
Maltock has also confirmed the championship’s format: American Samoa, Cook Islands, Samoa and Tonga will play a preliminary round to fight for a spot in the group stage as the other seven nations are already qualified.
Solomon Islands U14 National Futsal Team departed to Australia to play 2020 FFA National Futsal Championship in Canberra from 13 to 17 January.
Solomon Islands Sports Coalition (SISC) president, Nathanial Seru, SIFF Futsal & Beach Soccer Development Officer, Dickson Kadau and coach Caleb Fox will have the mission to lead these young boys in Australia.
Junior Kurukuru squad
Junior Kurukuru is in the Group B with Football SA Blue, Football West Black Swans, Capital Football and Football NSW Metro Lightning
A very sad case happened in the last 14th December in Solomon Islands after a match between the 1st and 2nd placed teams in Telekom S-League season Solomon Warriors and Henderson Eels.
The Henderson Eels coach Eddie Marahare recently stated the Solomon Warriors player Molea Tigi assaulted his defender Derrick Taebo just after the game. Tigi and his supporters assaulted Taebo that was hit in the face several times – fortunately, nothing serious happened to the U17 Solomon Islands player.
Molea Tigi (left) and Derrick Taebo (right)
Marahare told Oceania Football Center there were exchange of some words during the game between the two players and after of the match the aggressions happened. “I do not know why he did that, I was very confused in that time. He said bad words to me in the pitch, but not me”, stated Derrick Taebo.
“This incident was witnessed by people inside at the main gate Grand Stand side. The Eels management took this matter seriously and reported it immediately to SIFF & TSL Board for action after but as yet nothing was done and the player stills play for his club after the incident on their final match on 22nd December 2019“, said Eddie Marahare, the Henderson Eels head coach.
Until the present moment no sanctions were imposed to Tigi, the fans involved and his club. Although, the situation may not end like this: the Solomon Islands Football Federation technical director Moses Toata already responded to Eddie Marahare statement saying “I can confirm that SIFF has recieved the complain and is going to deal with the matter accordingly“. Toata also added that the case was not in discussions before due the Christmas and New Year Eve break the season in Solomon Islands had.
Molea Tigi already played three times for the national team and is doing a very good season for Solomon Warriors so far, that is close to celebrate a back-to-back national league title.
HJK is the most famous football club of Finland; they have won 29 times the Veikkausliga, the top-tier of football in the country. The club also took part in several editions of the UEFA Champions League, already playing more than 100 matches in the most important club tournament of the planet.
If Browne suceeds in his trials he will help to rebuild HJK that made a very frustrating season in 2019 ending just 5th out of 12 teams in the Veikkausliga, after winning the league twice in a row. According to some appointments, Browne might be the replacement of their star player Harmeet Singh, that recently departed from the Finnish side.
The defender Taylor Schrijvers resigned for Team Wellington to play the 2020 part of the ISPS Handa Premiership season. The New Zealander is back after a stint in the United Kingdom.
Schrijvers with Team Wellington in UAE – TW Media
The defender played in the thrilling 3-3 match against Al-Ain in UAE for the 2018 FIFA Clubs World Cup when Team Wellington represented Oceania in the tournament – the match ended-up with a defeat for the New Zealand side in the penalty shootout.
He also featured in the OFC Champions League win of the Wellington-based club in 2018, when they beat the Fijian giants Lautoka in the final matches.
TeeDubs is in the run at the top-tier of football in New Zealand and has Auckland City as their biggest rivals in the battle for the national title. A well-experienced player in the continent as Schrijvers can help a lot Team Wellington to hold the pressure of the good attacking teams of the league.
According to reliable sources the Papua New Guinea international David Browne left Auckland City FC in order to attend trials in Europe. The forward still can fly back to Auckland if his trials are not succesful.
Browne turned himself into the first Papua New Guinean player to become a professional player in Europe when he signed for the Netherlands top-tier side PEC Zwolle. He also played in Groningen in the European country before moving back to his former Auckland City.
The nine-time OFC Champions League champions Auckland City added to their squad to very important players. The club is currently at the top of ISPS Handa Premiership and will play the 2020 OFC Champions League.
One of the biggest legends of Auckland City FC history, Emiliano Tade is back to the club. He helped the Navy Blues to win various tournaments and is back to the team after some years of professional football in South Africa – he last played for the top-side Mamelodi Sundowns.
Tade when player of Auckland City FC – ACFC Media
Allongside the 31-year old forwar – according to reliable sources – Auckland City added in the squad the All Whites member Tom Doyle to the squad. The defender that played the last season for Wellington Phoenix has eleven appearences for the national team and played the most recent FIFA Confederations Cup. He last played in German 3rd tier for Chemnitzer FC, but decided to travel back his homeland.
Doyle defending New Zealand collours – NewsHub
Despite the massive additions for the season, Auckland City lost the striker Keegam Linderboom – that did not play a single match since signed last year for the club – as he departed for Thailand.
The Friday starts with very good news for New Zealand and Oceania Football as another player from the confederation enters the Major League Soccer, the most important football league of United States and one of the most imporant in the entire American continent. The full-back Noah Billingsley from UC Santa Barbara was chosen by Minnesota United in the 18th overall pick of the MLS Super Draft.
Billingsley (right) celebrates a goal for OlyWhites – OFC Media
The defender – that is naturally a righ back – can play in various positions, including in the left-side and helped New Zealand U23 side to qualify for Tokyo Olympics playing in full-back position with more offensive freedom. Noah also played 2015 U20 World Cup for New Zealand and has three appearances for the All Whites.
The 22-year old player was praised by Minnesota head coach Adrian Heath in a statement made by the club in social media:
Minnesota United also has the All Whites member Michael Boxall in their squad and the club made a very good season in 2019 – finishing 4th in the Western Conference.
Billingsley is expected to be part of the squad for the upcoming season in United States, although he has still to battle to conqueer his spot in the team in the pre-season.
Lambert Maltock is the current president of Oceania Football Confederation and Vanuatu Football Federation. The 63-year-old Ni-Vanuatu football administrator talked to Oceania Football Center about the next steps of Oceanian Football. You can check the full interview below:
How are the plans for OFC Nations Cup? Are the dates and venues confirmed? I have got all details with me now. New Zealand will host this tournament. It should be around May and June.
Will the format of the competition be the same as the previous editions? There will be a preliminary play-off first and then the winner of the four Polynesian nations will join the other seven nations for the final stage. We have not changed the format this time, but it is still under discussion for the next OFC Nations Cup.
Do Oceania Football Confederation have plans to make the national teams more actives? Yes. We have already made substantial progress in discussions together within the OFC to have all 11 Nations playing regularly against each other every year, if possible. With the proposed format under discussion, we want to include all OFC countries together and group them by ranking and region, so that any activity will be affordable, cost-effective and sustainable.
Is this about the OFC Nations League idea? Yes. It was my idea for improving football performance in the region. It is to be played every year or two years, rather than waiting four years to play a minimum of four international matches.
Current OFC Nations Cup champions New Zealand will host 2020 OFC Nations Cup
Are there other ideas to be put in practice in order to reduce the gap from OFC to the other confederations? We have made discussions and agreements with other confederations like AFC and CONMEBOL to see how they could assist OFC in improving their performance. In June we will sign an agreement with AFC and CONMEBOL. We already have an agreement with UEFA to fund youth football development with exchanges of football and tournament promotions in Europe or in the region that started in 2019.
How they could assist OFC? We focus on all categories with special emphasis on youth football elites to meet our vision for 2026.
Will we see more youth tournaments and more friendly matches against AFC, UEFA and CONMEBOL members in that case? Exactly.
What do you think about the changes made by FIFA in the FIFA Club World Cup? Will it affect OFC? No, it will not affect OFC. It should help OFC by raising our standard of performance. This will allow OFC and other Confederations to introduce new competitions between them to help local clubs better prepare for Club World Cup every year. We will also introduce other tournaments to benefit our clubs in the region.
The first ever OFC Youth Development Tournament was played in 2019 with six teams. Source: OFC Media
What are your plans for VFF after the re-election? Do you have new ideas to develop Ni-Vanuatu football? I have outlined several programmes after the election which can be found on VFF page. We are planning all our activities according to the FIFA Forward 2.0 programme which set specific requirements and targets to meet in order to get access to funding from FIFA. VFF, like any other small OFC nation, rely heavily on FIFA funding. These are the requirements and some other things we are doing: • Minimum of four FIFA international matches for senior men and women; • Four international matches for youth men and women; • The VFF National Youth League Championship has already been launched and must continue for both male and female; • Vanuatu National Super League for clubs will continue and its format may be changed; • Vanuatu Senior National League Championship will be launched on 23 January 2020 for the first time ever; • Strengthening of Northern Region Academy to become a full academy like Teouma Academy; • Create a new Football Forum to include representatives from stakeholders to have in football of the country, this will be hosted in June 2020; • A feasibility to set a task for initiating professional football platform in the country along with OFC in 2021; • Complete the new Fresh Water Stadium (also known as Freswota Stadium) for VFF.
The champions of the first ever VFF National Youth League. Source: VFF Media
The National Super League intends to be played throughout the year. Will the teams from other member associations have more game time against the top teams of the country as Galaxy and Malampa Revivors? We have divided our leagues into two main streams up until now. Port Vila Football League is called the Elite League and the other seven member associations Leagues (including Luganville Football Association) are called Promotional Leagues. It was given a trial period of four years to match up with the Port Vila Elite League. In 2016 Nalkutan FC became Champions of Vanuatu by beating Champions of Port Vila, and in 2019 Malampa Revivors became the Champions by beating Galaxy FC from Port Vila. We are now looking into a new format to embrace the leagues in order to make it more competitive so that clubs can improve their standard. There will be a football forum in June which will talk about all these assessments to explore new horizons on how to move forward.
Are there any new investments in media being made by OFC and the local federations? OFC is little known in the football world and the lack of proper information is one of the main reasons for that. Each federation has its own internal problems. Normally within the funds which are allocated to each member association, media should be included. But each member association set its priorities and apply for funding. With regards to OFC we have MyCujoo that relay all continental matches and our website reports all activities. The OFC Media Officer left last year and we have not yet replaced her. In Vanuatu we brought in a new Media Officer, Matt Temar, at the end of last year.
The main issue comes from the local leagues. People struggle to know reliable information about the leagues like squads, standings, final scores and top scorers. It also happens in other nations, specially at the bottom four ranked Polynesian nations. Yes. I agree with that because we concentrate mainly running the tournaments or activities and there was no specific media officer to relay these activities. That is why we recruited Matt Temar for purpose and with the COMET system, it will become easier. The Congress has raised these concerns because many activities happened in the islands without report updates. Just for information, we (VFF) have registered more players (seniors and youth alike) more than before in the COMET system. We have discussed that information such as fixtures, results, scorers etc. must be updated on a regular basis – weekly at least.
Thanks for your interview it will be very important for the followers of Oceania Football You welcome. This is what we need to let the world know about Vanuatu and Oceania.
Oceania Football Center thank Lambert Maltock for hist availability and patience to answer all these questions.
Oceania Football Center 