About Papua New Guinea Football Association

Papua New Guinea has never been short on playing numbers with a population bigger than New Zealand. But its developing status and the geographical challenges of the country continue to prove an obstacle for football development.

The focus in the past has mostly been regionalised with no recognised national league. An annual national club championship and a national association cup are the only competitions which keep the numerous Papua New Guinea Football Association affiliates in touch during the season.

The inauguration of the new PNGFA headquarters and national football academy in Lae last year has been a tremendous boost for the game and this has now made it possible for operations to be centralised thus allowing activities to be coordinated more successfully. The new base for PNG football passed its first big test in late 2003 when it coordinated the national club championship which was a huge logistical challenge, but one which was met.

Since the 2002 OFC Nations Cup, the PNGFA has steadily begun rebuilding by introducing youngsters through various national age group squads. While the results have not been all that desirable, the gradual learning curve and exposure will help create an experienced national team by the time of the OFC Nations Cup/World Cup Qualifiers in May. The team will be made up mostly from the national squad which went to the South Pacific Games and also from the recent Olympic men's qualifiers.

The PNGFA also looked to gain more experience to top level football for its elite players by sending them overseas. National reps Reginald Davani and Desmond Sow went to New Zealand with Davani appearing in the New Zealand national league in 2003. His younger brother Alex is based in Australia and was a standout for PNG in the national U-23 and U-20 sides.

Perhaps the real sucess over the past two years has been in the development of women's soccer. Port Moresby is where the strength of the women's code currently resides. But at last year's national women's club championship there was evidence the balance of power was becoming more even with good performances from clubs representing other associations.

PNG was the top placed island nation at the 2003 OFC Women's World Cup Qualifiers and also won the gold medal at the South Pacific Games. PNG is also preparing to host the OFC U-19 Women's Qualifying Tournament from 17-25 April.

National League champion
2000: Unitech FC
2001: Sobou FC
2002: Sobou FC
2003: Sobou FC
2004: Sobou FC
2005: Sobou FC

About New Zealand Football

Translating the huge popularity of the game at youth level to success at the senior level is one of the main goals for New Zealand Football which is set to herald in a newly revamped franchise-based national league in 2004.

The technical direction of the game has been boosted with the arrival of englishman Paul Smalley and from an administrative perspective, the association has been awarded financial assistance under the FIFA goal programme. Coupled with the recent announcement of a lucrative sponsorship deal with sports apparel giants Nike and progress off the field has been tremendous.

The headquarters was at the end of 2003 shifted to their base at North Harbour Stadium where it hosted the Group B Olympic men's qualifiers in January.

After a whirlwind period which saw the national team win the 2002 OFC Nations Cup and qualify for last year's Confederations Cup and AFC-OFC Challenge Cup series, the focus has now shifted back to development and establishing systems and pathways for the next generation of All Whites and women's national representatives to be discovered.

The immediate priority for 2004 is preparing the All Whites for its defence of the OFC Nations Cup and qualification for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Its best players are spread around the globe with the majority based in England and in the USA. New Zealand successfully experimented several promising up and comers against Iran last October and it is also certain some of the U-23 squad will be selected for the All Whites after a confident display in the Olympic qualifying playoff series.

The new national league is designed to improve the standard of football with the smaller number of franchise-based teams. It is hoped the profile of the game will help stem the drain of the country's talent to overseas clubs which has weakened the existing national league.

Grass-roots programmes such as Small Whites has assisted in strengthening youth numbers with high profile internationals such as current All Whites captain Ryan Nelsen used as role models.

New Zealand's best international results since 2002 have been the All Whites win over Australia in Auckland to take out the Nations Cup and draws against Scotland and Australia (U-23 level).

National League Champs
2000: Napier City Rovers
2001: Central United
2002: Miramar Rangers
2003: Miramar Rangers
2004-2005: Auckland City FC
2005-2006: Auckland City FC

2006-2007: Auckland City FC

About Cook Islands Football Association

The Cook Islands Football Association is set to celebrate the inauguration of its goal project in 2004. The site at Matavera will house the new CIFA headquarters, the association's national football academy and two playing pitches of international standard.

When opened, it will signal a new era for the game with the national football academy set to become a fulcrum of development for future elite players identified by the association.

The CIFA is unique in that its operations are challenged by the sheer distance between the islands in the group. At the end of 2002, the CIFA welcomed the Pukapuka as its newest affilate after visiting the remote island to run coaching and refereeing clinics. Covering an area the size of Western Europe, to fly there from the main island from Rarotonga is about same time it takes to fly from New Zealand to Australia.

Despite the geographical obstacles, the CIFA has successfully run its development programmes and regularly holds competitions on a national scale, with the annual youth championship one of the more important dates on the calendar. The best youth players are identified through this exercise.

A national under 15 development national squad was selected from the 2003 National Youth Championship and performed well at the Gold Coast Champions Cup in Australia last year. In future, the best of these players will be trained at the well equipped facilities which will be available at the national football academy where Cook Islands national teams will assemble before embarking for OFC and FIFA qualifying tournaments.

With promising young players such as Campbell Best, Geoffrey Strickland, Tuka Tisam, and Steven Willis attending school in Auckland, New Zealand. All players are part of a promising core that have been earmarked or have represented the senior national team.

The CIFA currently runs a national league for its best clubs with a knock out cup organised at the end of the season. However, the most popular fixture is arguably the five-a-side competitions run prior to the start of the main season. With the lack of indoor facilities to hold proper futsal competitions, the CIFA has improvised with its outdoor version played on marked fields. The five-a-side competitions attract a broad cross-section of participants from registered club players to social players, men and women of all ages and abilities.

National League Champions
2000 Nikao Sokattack
2001 Tupapa FC
2002 Tupapa FC
2003 Tupapa FC
2004 Nikao Sokattack
2005 Nikao Sokattack

About Football Federation American Samoa (FFAS)

Football Federation American Samoa (FFAS) came into existence following inaugural elections held in late 2007. The new general secretariat took office under newly elected FFAS President Iuli Alex Godinet in the first elections for the national body since 2005.

Godinet headed off four other candidates in the race for the top job that included Pou Supapo, Tony Langkilde, Malia Perelini and Maselino Tautu. American Samoa football has struggled on the pitch since it was admitted to the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) in the 1990's with a 31-0 defeat against Australia in an OFC Nations Cup match an unwanted blemish in its short history.

American Samoa is currently ranked 201st in the FIFA world rankings but there is hope for the territory with the completion of work on the Pago Stadium Goal Project that was inaugurated prior to the XIII South Pacific Games - Samoa 2007 under the watchful eyes of former FIFA World Cup winner and OFC Player of the Year Christian Karembeu.

Senior eleven-a-side competition for both men and women recommenced in 2007 with Konica FC winning the men's title after a 4-2 victory over Peace Brothers.

About Federation Caledonienne de Football

New Caledonia became the 205th member of FIFA during the 54th FIFA Congress in Paris, France in May 2004, and was officially be inducted as the 12th full member of the Oceania Football Confederation at the OFC Extraordinary Congress in Port Vila, Vanuatu on 10 July 2004.

A consistent performer at OFC tournaments since at least the early 1950s, the Melanesian territory has produced a FIFA world champion in 1998 in Lifou-native Christian Karembeu, who played for France.

The French territory has already shown its mettle in the Oceania region at a variety of levels. In 2003, New Caledonia made the final top two playoff of the OFC Under 17 Qualifying Tournament against Australia. New Caledonia also claimed the silver medal at the South Pacific Games Football Tournament the same year .

New Caledonia came excruciatingly close to reaching Stage 2 of Oceania qualifying in 2004, finishing with seven points from four matches in Group 1 of the preliminary competition in Honiara, Solomon Islands.

ABOUT THE SAMOA FOOTBALL FEDERATION

Internal stability and a strong emphasis on youth development has seen the Samoa Football (Soccer) Federation through a successful period capped off recently by arguably its best ever international result when their national under 23 team defeated the Solomon Islands at the Olympic men's qualifiers in Sydney.

The result was proof that the development programmes that had been put into place in the 1990's and which were accelerated with the completion of the Toleafoa JS Blatter Football Fields, was now starting to bear fruit. These magnificent facilities were the first of FIFA's goal projects to be completed in the Oceania region in mid-2001. The first FIFA Turf Maintenance workshops for the region were held there last year.

Part of the more recent success is credited to the arrival of national coach David Brand in 2002. The english-born coach has helped establish a defined technical programme for the association. In his first official assignment, Brand selected a national under 20 squad which came close to beating New Zealand at the 2002 OFC U-20 Qualifiers in Fiji.

With that U-20 team forming the core of his U-23 squad for the 2004 Olympic men's qualifiers, he led them to victory over the Solomon Islands and a draw with Papua New Guinea, a game which they led until a late equaliser in stoppage time.

Samoa now plays host to Group 2 of the combined OFC Nations Cup/World Cup Qualifiers in May and it is expected the majority of the U-23 squad will form the senior team.

The other significant international result since 2002 was the national women's team first ever international win (against Cook Islands 1-0) at the 2003 OFC Women's World Cup qualifiers.
Since 2002, football has established itself as the most popular sport with youth at the primary school level with the help of the Samoan government. The SFSF development programmes are far reaching to the two main islands which has assisted in spreading the game to the rural communities.

The district schools competitions culminate with the annual national youth champ of champs which is a major event and rivals the national league as the main showpiece on the SFSF calendar. The Footykidz programme has been one of the spinoffs from the youth development programmes. The Footykidz concentrates on providing elite youth with special clinics held weekly. Teams are entered in the national league youth divisions to monitor their progress.

Samoa's national under 15 team represented the OFC at the 2003 Northern Ireland Cup last July. While the competition proved tough and wins hard to come by, the young Samoans proved great ambassadors and their determination to win the hearts of the locals were rewarded when they took out the tournament's fair play trophy.

National League (Club) champs
2000: Titavi
2001: Sogi
2002: Lepea
2003: Lepea
2004: Tuanaimato Breeze
2005: Tuanaimato Breeze