Kooline fought hard to win Solomon Islands Ports Authority (SIPA) 2019 Futsal League – just overcoming Marist of Elliot Ragomo in the goal difference at the end of the league. The futsal champions of the most important futsal nation in Oceania come as one of the favourite teams to lift the very first OFC Futsal Champions League, to be played this week in Auckland, New Zealand.
The star goalkeeper Anthony Talo says “now every team is working hard for the tournament. It is not easy”. The Kurukuru member sees a lot of good competition coming in the newly launched tournament in the region – “No one is favorite in this tournament”, he adds.
Anthony Talo playing for Solomon Islands – OFC Media
The goalkeeper, that has experience of already taking part of FIFA Futsal World Cup for Solomon Islands, was once again voted as the best goalkeeper in the region after his brilliant performances in OFC Futsal Nations Cup leading to another title of his nation: “It was an amazing feeling to win for Kurukuru“, says Talo.
The goalkeeper admits their first game will be against one of the toughest teams in the competitions: “The hardest opponets for us will be the representants of New Zealand and Tahiti – first games are always hard, especially with a good oposition“. The first game of Kooline in the tournament will be against Pirae of Tahiti.
Talo says that the Kurukuru members of Kooline squad for the OFC Futsal Champions League – five in total – will help a lot with their experience in the court to guide the team to another succesful campaign. “It will be a bonus for us to win this competition after OFC Futsal Nations Cup“, stated the star player.
In the next days we may see what will be the fate of Kooline and their opponents in this very interesting tournament that is making all futsal fans in Oceania anxious to watch.
In the last weekend the champions of the two men divisions of Tonga Football and also the women’s league were defined in the Kingdom. Veitongo FC was already champions since the second round of the Tonga Premier League but this weekend sealed their success after they won Longoteme by 4-2; Veitongo won all 21 matches of the season to make a perfect campaign and rule football in the country.
The Veitongo champions squad
“Despite not training all days in the week, our team got the skills and heart to beat all opponents“, said defender Sione Tuifangaloka of Veitongo. The bad news for the champions is Tuifangaloka will be moving to Australia and will not be able to play for Veitongo in the OFC Champions League qualifiers. Veitongo has various players in the Tonga national team, as Mahe Malafu, Hemaloto Polovili and Kamaliele Papani.
In the Division I, the second tier of football, Nukuhetulu won the grand final of the league after beating Ahau by 2-1 scoreline. Henry Tu’iono was the key man for the champions side as he scored 38 goals in the entire season for Nukuhetulu. The coach Lafaele Moala was also praised by the players and football community for their success. Both Ahau and Nukuhetulu will play in the top-tier of football in the next season.
Nukehetulu Squad
In the grand final of football in the women’s league, Veitongo saw their dominance broken by Navutoka. The usual dominant team in the sport, lost by 4-3 margin to Navutoka, to seal their first football title in women’s football. Veitongo had won all games in the entire season, just being beaten in the decisive day.
Futsal in Oceania now have a new competition; the OFC Futsal Champions League will have its first edition this weekend in New Zealand, counting with national champions of six Oceania Football Confederation members. The confederation made a very important step towards the evolution of the sport in the region.
Some months ago the OFC Futsal Nations Cup – the top tournament of the sport in the South Pacific – was held in New Caledonia and Solomon Islands was once again champions after beating New Zealand in the grand final after penalty shootout. Various players that defended their nations in the Nations Cup will be stepping in the courts once more to play for the best futsal teams of the confederation. You can see the full schedule of the competition by clicking here.
Kooline FC from Solomon Islands in New Zealand – SIFF Media
One of the most anticapated teams to watch is the Solomon Islands champion Kooline FC. The team comes from the most important futsal nation in the region and has very important players in their squad – you can see the full Kooline squad here.
Important players from Kurukuru – five in total – will be representing the Solomon Islands champions. The first choice Solomon Islands national team goalkeeper Anthony Talo will be also playing for Kooline in the competition, as another Kurukuru members as Arnold Maeluma and Alwin Hou.
Dylan Manickum will be represent Auckland in the Champions League – OFC Media
Despite not winning this year national league in New Zealand, AFF – Auckland Football Federation – team will be hungry to show the power of New Zealand futsal. The Auckland-based side was only 6th in the national championship that ended in the last week. The Futsal Whites almost qualified for their first World Cup in the previous month, but could not win a strong Solomon Islands team.
The squad the Kiwis are bringing for the tournament is really strong and can be seem as one of the strongest of the competition. Dylan Manickum was awarded the best players of the previous OFC Futsal Nations Cup and will be donning the jersey of the Auckland team. Marvin Eakins, the player/coach of the Futsal Whites will be also taking part of the tournament, as well Josh Margetts and the national team first choice goalkeeper Ellias Billeh.
Pirae Futsal’s David Auti – OFC Media
Pirae, the Tahiti representatives, will be counting with one of the most important players of Tahiti Futsal national team, Olivier Hirihiri. The player was the joint top-goalscorer of the previous edition of OFC Futsal Nations Cup, where Tahiti just in the semifinals for New Zealand, but could end up with the bronze medal after beating the home team New Caledonia in the third place match. Matana Bea, another player with international experience, also promises to be key for the Tahitian side.
D’York Stret squad before travel to New Zealand – Vanuatu Sport
The VFF National Futsal champions, D’York Stret, qualified for the regional tournament after beating Tonga United in the grand final of VFF Futsal Top Four. The team will count with the experience of some players that competed for Vanuatu in the previous OFC Futsal Nations Cup. Jesse Takaro might be the key man for D’York Stret – Takaro has experience of playing his club futsal previously in New Zealand.
Suva’s Setareki Hughes receives honours of national league win – Fiji Times
Suva is current Fiji Futsal national league winners and will also count with some important players of the national team that took part in the previous OFC Nations Cup. The national team captain Setareki Hughes might be a key man for the team, alongside another important teammates as Bruce Hughes. Fiji ended up in the 5th position in the last regional national teams tournament.
AS PTT Olympique Nouméa will represent New Caledonia in the Champions League – PTT Media
The last side to secure a spot in the regional club tournament was the New Caledonians ide AS PTT Nouméa that recently won the Coupe de Caédonie de Futsal in its nation. The club will count with important players that represented the country in the OFC Nations Cup held in their nation, the national team captain Cédric Humuni will be key for the team alongside Christ Pei.
The tournament will take place in Auckland, New Zealand, starting on 5th December and finishing on 8th December to seal the winners of the first OFC Futsal Champions League ever. There is an expectance to see more natios of the confederation represented in the upcoming editions of the tournament that can increase a lot the interest in the sport in the region.
Fiji National Sports Commission (FASANOC) released a statement advising that all sporting tournaments and competitions should be postponed to 2020 due to the measles outbreak in the country.
There are some youth tournaments and women leagues being played in Fiji. The Champion vs Champion series that will be contested between Labasa and Ba may be postponed too. Fiji Football Association has not released anything about it yet but they already postponed 2019 NCC due to measles outbreak. Oceania Football Center keeps an eye on this situation to update in the website.
Southern United won Tasman United by 4-0 in the ISPS Handa Premiership Week 1. However the match is declared to be forfeited by Southern United and shall be recorded as a 3-0 win for Tasman.
According to local sources, Cameron Mackenzie signed with Southern United but he was not in the official team squad so he could not play. He entered in the second half in the 4-0 win.
Southern won by 4-0 but they lost the three points because they fielded an irregular player
Tasman United protested and New Zealand Football competitions manager found that Southern United fielded one player not named on the club’s official list of players. Southern lost three points while Tasman won three points from this match. Both teams have six points now
Roy Krishna wins “Hero of the month” award in Indian Super League. He was elected by fans as the best player of November in the league.
Krishna is the winner of Hero of the Month award. Source: ISL Website
Krishna scored three goals in three matches during the month, helping ATK to keep the first position in the table. He is 32 years old and this is his first season with ATK.
This is his second appearence in five matchweeks in the Team of The Week. Kaltak is 26 years old and he is the Vanuatu National Team captain. He is an inspiration for Pacific Islanders.
Vanuatu is set to be given a new football stadium in the next upcoming years. In 2018 FIFA approved Qualao Consulting Limited as engineers for the new planned stadium in Freswota, a residential community of Port Vila.
Freswota Stadium is a 200 million Vatu (1,8 million USD) project funded by FIFA and it is orignially projected to be ready in 2021. However there has been some delays recently due to water connection on the field.
An outline of the project. Source: VFF Media
According to local sources workmen are currently working on field and drainage. There are no reports about the Freswota Stadium’s capacity but some news can be released soon once Freswota Stadium is one of the agenda subjects in the 29th VFF Meeting that is being held in Sanma Province.
Port Vila already counts on some stadiums like Korman Stadium and Port Vila Stadium.
As everybody already knows, Lionel Messi won the Ballon D’or for the sixth time in his career. Ballon D’or is an annual football award presented by France Football and it is voted by one journalist from each country/territory. The 2019 edition had almost 200 voters and four of them are from Oceania.
Messi won the Ballon D’or award for the 6th time
Check the Oceanian votes below:
🇨🇰 Cook Islands (Rashneel Kumar – Cook Island News) 1- Messi 2- Cristiano Ronaldo 3- Salah 4- Mbappé 5- Hazard
🇳🇨 New Caledonia (Anthony Fillet – Les Nouvelles Calèdoniennes) 1- Messi 2- Van Dijk 3- Cristiano Ronaldo 4- Mané 5- De Jong
🇳🇿 New Zealand (Gordon Watson – OFC TV) 1- Messi 2- Van Dijk 3- Cristiano Ronaldo 4- Mané 5- Salah
🇵🇫 Tahiti (Olivier Hue – Tahiti Nui Télévision) 1- Van Dijk 2- Messi 3- Mané 4- Cristiano Ronaldo 5- Salah
Lambert Maltock won the Vanuatu Football Federation’s presidential election and he is going to be the VFF president until 2024. The election took place in the VFF 29th congress heldin Hog Harbour, Sanma Province.
Maltock has beaten Stephen Felix in the final poll to remain as VFF President.
