AUCKLAND, 27 March 2003 - The match officials for the 2003 OFC Women's World Cup Qualifying Tournament were confirmed today. The tournament kicks off next week on Saturday 5 April. The venue is the Belconnen Soccer Centre in Canberra, Australia.

The match officials are as follows;

Match Commissioner: Joseph Brondolino (Australia)

Referee Inspector: Ken Wallace (New Zealand)

Referees

Tammy Ogston (Australia)

Krystyna Szokolai (Australia)

Rajendra Singh (Fiji)

Salaiau Sosongan (Papua New Guinea)

Assistant Referees

Ben Lemana(Samoa)

Airlie Keen (Australia)

Jacqueline Leleu (Australia)

Gray Vuke (Vanuatu)

Joash Indu (Solomon Islands)

AUCKLAND - At its meeting last Sunday, 16 March 2003, the OFC Executive Committee confirmed that the OFC Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournament will be deferred to January, 2004.

The OFC Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournament was supposed to be held in June this year, but the busy competition schedules this time of the year for many of the participating teams meant it was appropriate to defer to the tournament. New Zealand will be involved in the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup in France while many of the island nations will be involved in the 2003 South Pacific Games in Fiji.

The 2004 OFC Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournament will involve two groups of five teams as follows:

Group A

Australia

Samoa

Papua New Guinea

Solomon Islands

Fiji

Group B

New Zealand

Cook Islands

American Samoa

Tonga

Vanuatu

The Group A tournament is to be hosted by Australia and the Group B tournament is to be hosted by New Zealand. The winner of each group will play off home and away to find the qualifying team that will represent the OFC at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.

It is proposed that the tournament be held in the last two weeks of January 2004, the exact dates will be confirmed to the national associations shortly.

AUCKLAND - The Oceania Football Confederation has finalised the format for the Oceania Qualifying path to the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The OFC Executive Committee agreed on this format at its meeting in Auckland, New Zealand last Sunday, 16 March, 2003.

The proposed format will be sent to FIFA for its endorsement at the next meeting of the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany organising committee in May, 2003.

The qualifying route to Germany will involve a preliminary competition split into two stages. Stage 1 will be the group tournaments and Stage 2 will be the playoff series involving the top six teams.

A summary of the qualifying format is attached.

OFC Qualification Path for the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany

Preliminary Competition - Stage 1

i) Australia and New Zealand are seeded.

ii) The remaining 10 OFC countries are seeded into two groups of 5 teams based on their placing in the 2002 OFC Nations Cup as follows:

Group A

3rd Tahiti

5th Fiji

7th Papua New Guinea

9th Samoa*

11th American Samoa*

Group B

4th Vanuatu

6th Solomon Islands

8th New Caledonia

10th Tonga*

12th Cook Islands**

* This is based on their placing in the preliminary competition of the 2002 OFC Nations Cup.

** is ranked 12th because they did not participate in the 2002 OFC Nations Cup.

This will involve two group tournaments in two venues with the winner and runner up of each group advancing to Stage II. The venues of the group tournaments have yet to be decided.

Preliminary Competition - Stage II

Australia, New Zealand and the Winner and Runner Up of Group A and Group B will play in a 6 team play off series home and away (5 home matches and 5 away matches).

1. Australia

2. New Zealand

3. Winner Group A

4. Winner Group B

5. Runner up Group A

6. Runner up Group B

* The winner of the Playoff Series will be the OFC Qualifier for the 2006 FIFA World Cup

Proposed Dates

* Preliminary Competition - Stage I in June 2004 in two venues (venues/dates to be confirmed in May 2003)

* Preliminary Competition - Stage II on 5 FIFA fixed double dates to be chosen from the following dates:

2004: 4/8 Sept, 9/13 Oct.

2005: 26/30 March, 4/8 June, 3/7 Sept, 12/16 Nov (dates to be confirmed in May 2003)

18 March, 2003, Auckland: The draw for the 2003 OFC Women's World Cup Qualifying Tournament has been revised after the late withdrawals of both Fiji and Vanuatu.

The revised draw was approved by the OFC Executive Committee at its meeting in Auckland last Sunday with FIFA being informed of the changes.

The withdrawals have reduced the pool of teams to five which means a round robin format of five full match days will be enforced. The remaining teams are Australia, New Zealand, Cook Islands, Papua New Guinea and Samoa.

The Belconnen Soccer Centre in Canberra, Australia will be the official venue for the tournament which runs from 5-13 April, 2003. Next month's winner will represent Oceania at the fourth FIFA Women's World Cup, which will be held for the second time in China from 23 September-11 October, 2003. Sixteen countries will compete for the prized trophy.

OFC Women's World Cup Qualifying Tournament

Belconnen Soccer Centre, Canberra ACT, Australia, 5-13 March, 2003

Revised Match Schedule:

5th April 2003

4:30pm Cook Islands vs Papua New Guinea

7:00pm Australia vs Samoa

New Zealand bye

7th April 2003

4:30pm Australia vs Cook Islands

7:00pm Samoa vs New Zealand

Papua New Guinea bye

9th April 2003

4:30pm Cook Islands vs New Zealand

7:00pm Australia vs Papua New Guinea

Samoa bye

11th April 2003

4:30pm Papua New Guinea vs New Zealand

7:00pm Cook Islands vs Samoa

Australia bye

13th April 2003

4:30pm Papua New Guinea vs Samoa

7:00pm Australia vs New Zealand

Cook Islands bye

Photo: Australia Matilda rep Olivia Hoenke in action against South Korea during the recent Australia Cup in Canberra. Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images

Courtesy Relay - The FIFA World Cup^TM will head to South America in 2014 following a decision taken by the FIFA Executive Committee, chaired by President Joseph S. Blatter, on the second day of its meeting at FIFA headquarters in Zurich.

This decision fulfilled the long-time wish of CONMEBOL to see the competition return to South America for the first time since Argentina in 1978, and advocates the recommendation of the FIFA Strategic Study Committee.

In view of this decision, the executive felt that further discussions regarding the future rotation of the hosting of the FIFA World Cup^TM could provisionally be put on ice.

With regard to the FIFA Club World Championship, the Executive Committee unanimously stood by the decision it took in Zurich on 8 March 2002 to next hold this event in 2005.

The coordinated international match calendar for the 2005-2008 period was endorsed and can now serve as the basis for the coordination of fixture lists for national leagues, continental club and national team championships, as well as for all FIFA competitions (see attachment).

A report from the chairman of the Sports Medical Committee, Dr Michel D'Hooghe (Belgium), on the World Conference on Doping in Sport, held in Copenhagen earlier this week, met with full consent from the executive (see separate media announcements on FIFA.com on this topic explaining FIFA's position on doping).

Satisfaction was also expressed at the report from the first meeting of the Internal Audit Committee on 5 March as well as the financial status of FIFA at the end of 2002 and the four-year cycle from 1999 to 2002. A detailed rundown of FIFA's finances will be presented at a special media conference once the audit has been completed (see separate media release on the first meeting of Internal Audit Committee).

Additional topics covered included:

- The executive confirmed the proposal from the Organising Committee for the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany^TM that the confederations governing football in Africa (CAF) and South America (CONMEBOL) be permitted to commence their qualifying competitions this autumn, prior to the Preliminary Draw on 5 December 2003.

- It was decided that a proposal from CONMEBOL to increase the number of finalist teams at the 2006 FIFA World Cup^TM from 32 to 36 must first be discussed in detail with the various parties involved, most notably the hosts of the competition (the German Football Association), before a final decision can be made at the next FIFA Executive Committee meeting on 3 May.

- A code of conduct for the six African candidates bidding to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup^TM finals was approved. The same code was previously used for the candidates for the 2006 competition.

- The executive was delighted with the work of the Players' Status Committee, under the leadership of Slim Aloulou (Tunisia), and also the positive and constructive dialogue between club and players' representatives in the Dispute Resolution Chamber. Furthermore, the committee agreed to President Blatter's proposal that the revised FIFA Statutes explain in clearer terms FIFA's responsibilities in matters such as international transfers.

- The executive also heard about discussions with the European Union concerning the special status of sport, due to be laid down in the draft of the new European Constitution.

- The chairman of the Referees' Committee, Angel Maria Villar (Spain), spoke about ongoing work in his area and confirmed his committee's support for the use of artificial turf. Proposals to the Executive Committee regarding the upper age limit for international referees and the ranking of referees are being prepared by the Referees' Committee.

- The chairman of the Organising Committee for the Olympic Football Tournaments 2004, Issa Hayatou (Cameroon), reiterated his concerns about the precarious situation regarding a stadium in Athens itself. FIFA hopes to find a concrete solution to this problem during a forthcoming inspection visit on 11-17 March 2003.

- The executive ratified the proposal from the Committee for Women's Football to award the hosting of the second FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship to the Football Association of Thailand.

- The Chinese Taipei Football Association was granted the honour of staging the FIFA Futsal World Championship 2004.

- As for beach soccer, the executive decided to gather information from FIFA's member national associations in order to obtain a better insight into this variation of the game.

- The executive backed the request from the chairman of the National Associations Committee, Dr Viacheslav Koloskov (Russia), to make a final effort to solve the conflict between the government and football authorities in Azerbaijan, which has now drawn out for some months. Furthermore, the committee discussed current issues concerning various other national including American Samoa, and also stressed the importance for national associations to respect the Standard Statutes drawn up by FIFA.

OFC RELEASE - The venue and official draw for the 2003 OFC Women's World Cup Qualifying Tournament has now been confirmed.

The Belconnen Soccer Centre in Canberra, Australia will be the official venue for the tournament which runs from 5-13 April, 2003. The Belconnen Soccer Centre was the venue for the highly successful Australia Cup involving the top women's national teams of Australia, Sweden, Mexico and South Korea last February.

Australia and New Zealand are the two seeded teams and will head Group A and Group B respectively. Joining Australia in Group A are Samoa, Fiji and the Cook Islands. Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu joins New Zealand in Group B.

There will be three matches played per match day during the group stages from 5-9 March. The top two teams from each group will then contest the semi-finals on 11 April. The semi-finals will follow a cross-over format where the top placed team from Group plays the second placed team from Group B and the top Group B team will play the second placed Group A team. The losers of both semi-finals will contest a third and fourth place playoff on 13 April. This match will be the curtain raiser for the final.

The last OFC Women's World Cup Qualifiers were held in Auckland, New Zealand back in 1998 with the FIFA Women's World Cup held in the United States the following year. Australia qualified through on that occasion. The decision to push back this year's World Cup and Oceania qualifiers was to avoid a clash with the FIFA World Cup in Korea/Japan last year.

Next month's winner will represent Oceania at the fourth FIFA Women's World Cup, which will be held for the second time in China from 23 September-11 October, 2003. Sixteen countries will compete for the prized trophy.

2003 OFC Women's World Cup Qualifying Tournament

Belconnen Soccer Centre, Canberra ACT, Australia

5-13 March, 2003

Group A

Australia

Samoa

Fiji

Cook Islands

Group B

New Zealand

Papua New Guinea

Vanuatu

Match Schedule:

5th April 2003

2:00pm / Pool A Samoa vs Cook Islands

4:30pm / Pool B PNG vs Vanuatu

7:00pm / Pool A Australia vs Fiji

7th April 2003

2:00pm / Pool B Vanuatu vs New Zealand

4:30pm / Pool A Fiji vs Cook Islands

7:00pm / Pool A Australia vs Samoa

9th April 2003

2:00pm / Pool A Fiji vs Samoa

4:30pm / Pool A Australia vs Cook Islands

7:00pm / Pool B New Zealand vs PNG

11th April 2003

TBA Semi-final 1 - Winner Pool B vs Runner up Pool A

TBA Semi-final 2 - Winner Pool A vs Runner up Pool B

13th April 2003

TBA 3rd/4th Loser SF1 vs Loser SF2

TBA Final Winner SF1 vs Winner SF2

Sydney speedster Brett Emerton has continued the Australian run of success as the latest Oceania Footballer of the Year. Emerton was announced today as the 2002 winner by 17 votes from defending champion Harry Kewell with third-placed Mark Schwarzer completing a Socceroo trifecta.

Emerton, who plays with Feyenoord in Holland, polled 63 votes from Kewell (46) and Schwarzer (39) to score his biggest total in the poll and his first major individual success.

It is a great achievement after finishing third in the previous year and another boost for Australia and Oceania," Emerton said.

We've shown our potential with the recent win over England and that we have quality players who can match it with the best in the world.

With the Oceania winner going direct to the World Cup finals, I hope Australia can now qualify."

Emerton praised the decision by Australian coach Frank Farina to look for a base in England to play internationals.

The team is full of intelligent players and it's anybody's guess what we can do if we get together and play regular games," he said.

Oceania president Basil Scarsella said the result showed the depth of talent in the region, especially in Australia.

He pointed out that Emerton decided to wait until he had more senior experience before trialling in Europe.

Emerton has done very well in his career and I think the best is still to come for him in the stronger leagues of England, Italy and Spain," Scarsella said.

I'm sure we'll see him in those leagues, sooner rather than later."

Emerton first appeared in the poll in 2000 when he was fifth with 21 votes while Kewell and Schwarzer have regularly received votes since 1998.

The poll this year attracted 27 player nominations, one less than the biggest figure established in 1997.

Another interesting factor was the spread of voting with other leading Oceania players gaining increased figures.

New Zealand"s Simon Elliott came fourth with his biggest total so far of 34 while team mates Ryan Nelsen and Ivan Vicelich also polled strongly. The best of the other Oceania nations was Fiji's Esala Masi with 18.

The national coaches and senior officials of all national associations as well as selected sports journalists from around the Oceania region, are invited to vote. The Oceania Footballer of the Year Award is coordinated annually by veteran Australian based journalist Ted Simmons, in conjunction with the Oceania Football Confederation. An official presentation of the award to Emerton will be made later in the year upon his availability. - AAP

Photo: Brett Emerton

Courtesy Relay - In view of the current world political climate and having carefully weighed up all the options, the FIFA Executive Committee, meeting today (Thursday) in Zurich, has approved FIFA President Joseph. S Blatter's proposal to postpone the FIFA World Youth Championship 2003 to a later date. The tournament was due to be played in the United Arab Emirates from 25 March - 16 April.

For FIFA President Blatter, the welfare of all parties was always the prime consideration. "FIFA regrets having to make this decision, because the team of local organisers, who have worked tremendously hard, were more than ready to host this tournament. But FIFA must take into account its responsibilities towards the players, officials and other parties, as well as towards the media and spectators.

OFC release - Australia beat New Caledonia 4-0 in the second final playoff match at the Stade Pentecost in Noumea, New Caledonia played on Saturday 1 March, 2003.

The match played in hot, humid conditions was evenly poised at half-time with the New Caledonians managing to get several shots on goal. None found the mark, but the Young Socceroos struggled to get into their pattern and only had their first real opportunity near the break.

But after an evenly balanced first half, the Young Socceroos struck the first blow just several minutes into the second half with Adam Casey scoring. From there the morale of the New Caledonians sapped away as the young Australians quickly capitalised with three more goals in quick succession to Eric Paartalu, Matthew Deegan and a penalty to Kristian Sarkies after Deegan was brought down in the box.

New Caledonia proved to be highly competitive yet again today but the class of the Young Socceroos was too much in the end. Having benefited from playing in a tough group qualifying series, the Aussies were able to finish the job with a convincing overall 7-1 aggregate over the final playoff series and now move on to represent Oceania at the 2003 FIFA U-17 World Championship in Finland from 13-30 August, 2003.

2003 OFC U-17 QUALIFYING TOURNAMENT

FINAL PLAYOFF 2: Australia vs New Caledonia

KICK-OFF TIME: 9:00am

VENUE: Stade Pentecost, Noumea

HALF-TIME SCORE - 0-0

FULL-TIME SCORE - 4-0 Australia

CAUTIONS - # 8 Laurent Cazassas (NCL) 37'; # 8 Adrian Leijer (AUS) 77

EXPULSIONS - none

WEATHER/CROWD - fine, warm - crowd: N/A

MATCH OFFICIALS - Referee: Derek Rugg (New Zealand), Assistant Referee 1: Sam Hunt (Samoa), Assistant Referee 2: Teariki Goodwin (Cook Islands), Fourth Official: Peter O'Leary (New Zealand)

TEAM LISTS (goal-scorers, subs):

Australia:

5. BENJAMIN PHILLIP GRIFFIN, 6. EVANGELOS KARAVITIS (sub # 2 Jacob Timpano 45'), 7. YIANNI SARRIS, 8. ADRIAN LEIJER (goal 52'), 9. ERIC ENDEL PAARTALU (goal 61'), 10. ADAM MICHAEL CASEY, 12. KRISTIAN RONALD SARKIES (pen 82'), 13. TIMOTHY JAMES SMITS (sub # 16 Matthew Deegan 66'), 14. MATT CHRISTOPHER HILTON (sub # 17 Angelo Martino 45'), 18. MARIO ANDRES APARICIO, 19. DANE ADAM RICHARDSON

Subs - 1. NATHAN JAMES HUGHES, 2. JACOB LUIGI TIMPANO, 3. NIGEL BOOGAARD, 4. KEEGAN BRADY WOLFENDEN, 11. LACHLIN CAHILL, 15. RICHARD CARLOS CARDOZO, 17. ANGELO MARTIN

16. MATTHEW DEEGAN (sub 74')

COACH - Ange Postecoglou

New Caledonia:

4. XENIE JEAN-CHRIS, 5. VENDEGOU KENJY, 7. WAMOWE MONE, 8. CAZASSUS LAURENT, 9. BOANEMOA RAPHAEL (sub # 2 Xanatare Pascal 52'), 10. BOWEN ULRICH (sub # 18 Adrien Poatyie 63'), 11. HNAGEJE ALBERT, 12. BOAOUTHO ALOPHE, 16. GAEL OUEDOY (sub # 13 Diela Roberto 76'), 19. NEIMBO JORDAN, 20. WEJIEMEE MMANUEL

Subs - 1. MOLEANA-MOUGEL THIBAUD, 2. XANATARE PASCAL, 3. JOEL WAKANUMNE, 13. DIELA ROBERTO, 14. CHEVRY ARNAUD, 17. PAWAWI ROMARIC, 15. MANUEL CONSIGNY, 18. POATYIE ADRIEN

COACH - Eric Altmeyer

* All kick-off times and match day dates are local.

(ends)