The following 18 players have been selected by National Coach David Brand as part of the National U15 team to play in the Milk Cup in Northern Ireland in July 2003.

It is interesting to note that 3 players from the big island Savaii have been included in the squad with also 11 players having been developed through the Footy Kids Programme. This is a huge testimony to the value and success of quality development programmes.

Eight players have been named as reserves and will continue to work with the full squad right up to departure. This will allow cover for injury and sickness whilst also maintaining competition for places in case of lack of form etc.

Overall the squad is very inexperienced with many only having played a handful of competitive matches. However the raw talent has great potential and will form the basis of the next U17 Team for the U17 World Cup Qualifiers in 2005.

The team will depart Apia on July 8th for England via Los Angeles where they will go into camp in the north west of England and will play 3 warm up games prior to the tournament in Northern Ireland, beginning 19th July.

At present games against Everton and Nottingham Forest are confirmed. The tournament finishes on July 25th with Samoa drawing Preston North End, Livingston and County Armagh in the group qualifying stages.

A finalised itinerary will be available shortly.

National Coach David Brand is available for further comment on +685 26504.

or on email davidbrand2003@yahoo.com.au or dbrand@lesamoa.net

Players			School			 Club
1 Romeo Mapu		Sagaga Secondary School  Footy Kids
2 Seti Talalelei	Savaii - Leiififi College  Footy Kids-Sinamoga
3 Titi Esau		Leiififi College   Footy Kids-Togafuafua	
4 Tominiko Tokuma	Maluafou College	Footy Kids-Sogi
5 Werner Tuatagaloa	St Joseph's College	 Apia Youth
6 Sale Eteuati		St Joseph's College	 Togafuafua
7 Steve Chan Chiu	Robert Louis Stevenson College
8 Aki Seleva		Avele College		 Footy Kids
9 Tuula Puleaiga	Savaii - Leiififi College  Footy Kids-Sinamoga
10 Jerry Aoelua		Leifiifi College   Footy Kids-Lepea
11 Barry Taala		Avele College		 Footy Kids 
12 Eric Falatolu	Leifiifi College         Footy Kids
13 Ioanne Siatulau	Leifiifi College	 Footy Kids
14 Fale Tuasivi		Savaii - Mataevave College
15 Sopo Fakaua		Vaimauga College   Footy Kids-Moataa
16 Keil Burich		Robert Louis Stevenson
17 Ski Ng Lam		St Joseph's College	Moamoa
18 Alo Mauinatu		Leifiifi College								
National Coach - David Brand
Assistant Coach - Malo Vaga
Non-travelling reserves
1 Owen Fidow		St Joseph's College 	Kiwi
2 Isaako Faafete	Leiififi College	Saleimoa
3 Tevita Hoeflich	Leiififi College	Kiwi
4 Max Gwan		Leiififi College
5 Desma Liaina		Leiififi College	Footy Kids
6 Pati Tuavae		Faleata Secondary       Footy Kids-Saleimoa
7 Taafili Punimata	Leiififi College	Footy Kids-Moataa
8 Tauinaola Seu		Aana Secondary 

Photo: Samoa national coach, David Brand

The FIFA Emergency Committee has taken the decision to relocate the 4th FIFA Women's World Cup, originally due to be played in China PR, to the United States of America. Four other countries had also submitted an offer to step in for China PR: Sweden, Australia, Italy and Canada.

The exact schedule of the competition will be announced shortly, but the tournament will still take place around the same period (23 September - 11 October 2003), with only a few minor changes to the schedule.

The Emergency Committee has also decided that China PR will retain its automatic qualification for the tournament. Furthermore, the allocation of qualification slots per confederation will remain the same - AFC 2.5, CAF 2, CONCACAF 2.5, CONMEBOL 2, OFC 1, UEFA 5, plus China PR. Mexico will face an AFC opponent in a playoff for the final slot upon completion of the AFC qualification tournament, due to be held from 10-22 June 2003 in Thailand.

"I would like to sincerely thank those national associations that declared an interest in organising the FIFA Women's World Cup 2003 in such trying circumstances. The Women's World Cup in 1999 was so successful that FIFA is delighted to see the event return to the United States. Finally, I would like to reiterate my gratitude to the Chinese Football Association for their understanding and cooperation with FIFA following the Executive Committee's decision on 3 May," said FIFA President, Joseph S. Blatter.

AUCKLAND, 22 May 2003: Samoa will be representing the Oceania Football Confederation at the Northern Ireland Milk Cup from 19-25 July. It will be the second time an island nation has represented Oceania at this prestigious international youth tournament since Solomon Islands sent a team two years ago. Australia sent a youth team in 2002.

The assistance OFC is providing is part of its ongoing efforts to promote youth development and providing opportunities for the island nations to experience international football.

The Samoa Football (Soccer) Federation is currently in the process of selecting its national under-15 selection which will be entered in the junior section of the tournament.

The draw for the Milk Cup was done by organisers in Belfast last week. Samoa has been drawn in Group One alongside Preston North End (England), Livingston (Scotland), County Armagh (Northern Ireland).

The Otago Youth team from New Zealand has also been entered for the Milk Cup, making it two teams from Oceania that will be lining up in Northern Ireland. The Otago team is in the premier section and have been drawn in a daunting group which contains Manchester United (England), Panathinaikos (Greece) and County Armagh (Northern Ireland).

The Milk Cup is one of the premier youth football tournaments in the Northern Hemisphere. It regularly attracts some of the finest clubs and international teams in the world. England star, David Beckham, is just one of many active professionals that have graced the Milk Cup stage in past tournaments. This year's tournament comprises three sections; junior (U-15), premier (U-17) and elite (U-19). The elite section is by invite only and this year will be made up of national teams from Brazil, Northern Ireland, Wales, Denmark, Paraguay, Scotland, Poland and the USA.

Auckland, 20 May, 2003: The Oceania Football Confederation president, Basil Scarsella, will officially represent FIFA at the inauguration ceremony of the Goal Project for Papua New Guinea on 24 May, 2003.

The Papua New Guinea Football Association (PNGFA) had been informed that FIFA President, Joseph Blatter, was unable to attend because of a busy schedule but he promised a visit within the next three years. In his place, Mr Scarsella, who is a co-opted member of the FIFA Executive Committee, has been invited to jointly open the new fields, PNGFA headquarters and National Football Academy along with the PNG Prime Minister, Sir Michael Somare.

It is an honour to represent both FIFA and the OFC at this important occasion for Papua New Guinea football," said Scarsella.

We are pleased at the progress being made there at all levels of the game and confident the development of football will grow even more now with these new state-of-the-art facilities accessible to all stakeholders of the game in PNG.

The full OFC delegation to PNG comprises OFC President, Basil Scarsella, OFC Senior Vice President, Tautulu Roebeck (Samoa), OFC Vice President, Adrian Wickham (Solomon Islands) and OFC General Secretary, Josephine King.

A host of other dignitaries, officials and special guests from around the region are also invited to the inauguration ceremony. The occasion will be an historic moment for the PNGFA as it will relocate its headquarters to the site of the goal project in Lae, situated in the Morobe Province. Aside from the new headquarters, the Goal Project also includes a new two-storey accommodation building and educational centre capable of housing up to 30 people. Two international standard, sand carpeted, fully irrigated fields have also been constructed.

Papua New Guinea is the second OFC Member National Association to have a Goal Project inaugurated this year after Fiji's inauguration on 8 February. The Cook Islands celebrated its ground breaking ceremony three weeks ago with inauguration set for December. The Goal Projects for Tonga and Vanuatu are currently under construction while American Samoa and New Zealand have been the latest national associations to receive approval from FIFA. The Solomon Islands and Samoa were chosen as pilot projects and had their Goal Projects completed in 2001.

The FIFA Goal Programme was initiated by President Joseph S. Blatter for the benefit of national associations, and ratified by the 1999 Extraordinary FIFA Congress in Los Angeles. Goal is a tailor-made development and assistance programme designed to realise projects based on the specific needs of national associations.

Photo: OFC President, Basil Scarsella

AUCKLAND - Further to its decision on 16 March confirming the qualifying path the Oceania Football Confederation will be taking to the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, the OFC Executive Committee yesterday agreed on the dates for the Stage Two Preliminary Competition home and away series playoff.

The chosen playoff FIFA fixed double-dates are as follows:

2004: 4/8 September.

2005: 26/30 March, 4/8 June, 3/7 September, 12/16 November.

The abovementioned dates are subject to change depending on if the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2005 will be held.

All six teams in Stage Two of the Preliminary Competition will play home and away matches on each of the abovementioned dates. Each team will therefore play a total of five home and five away matches.

Australia and New Zealand are the seeded teams for Stage Two with the other four teams to be decided at a Stage One Preliminary Competition to be held in mid-2004. The dates for this competition have yet to be confirmed.

FIFA Release, Zurich -The 4th FIFA Women's World Cup 2003, due to be staged in PR China from 23 September to 11 October, will be transferred to another country in view of the current health threat in China, which is greatly affected by the SARS epidemic.

The FIFA Executive Committee, chaired by President Joseph S. Blatter, passed this decision at its meeting today, in compliance with a unanimous recommendation from the Sports Medical Committee of football's world governing body (chairman: Dr Michel D'Hooghe, Belgium). The FIFA Sports Medical Committee had advised against holding the world championship in China after consulting experts at the World Health Organisation (WHO) and specialists in epidemiology and travel medicine in universities throughout Europe.

To date, the USA and Australia have expressed interest in staging the competition. The FIFA administration will be clarifying the situation over the next few weeks, especially with regard to the timing of the championship. The final competition should, ideally, coincide with the timing of that originally planned for China. Either the FIFA Emergency or Executive Committee will pass the final decision.

At the same time the Executive Committee announced that the 2007 Women's World Cup would be awarded to China.

Further information will be given at the media conference to be held after the Executive Committee meeting at 15.00 h today, Saturday. The media conference can be watched live via the official website of FIFA (www.fifa.com).

FIFA RELEASE, Zurich - At a meeting held in Zurich today - Saturday, 3 May 2003 - the FIFA Executive Committee agreed to raise the number of finalist places at the 2006 FIFA World Cup^TM from 32 to 36, but only on condition that a match schedule be drawn up that ensured the sporting credibility of the event.

A final decision will be passed at the next meeting of the executive in Paris at the end of June 2003.

The South American confederation, CONMEBOL, had submitted a request to have the number of slots for the 2006 FIFA World Cup^TM raised from 32 to 36 at the Executive Committee meeting in Zurich on 6/7 March 2003.

During the meeting today that lasted more than seven hours under the chairmanship of President Joseph S. Blatter, the executive body of 24 members furthermore decided to transfer the 4th FIFA Women's World Cup 2003, due to be staged in PR China from 23 September to 11 October, to another country. In reaching this decision, the executive complied with a unanimous recommendation from the Sports Medical Committee of football's world governing body (chairman: Dr Michel D'Hooghe, Belgium). The committee had undertaken a detailed investigation of the unstable health situation in China, which is seriously affected by the SARS epidemic (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and had advised against holding the world championship in China after consulting experts at the World Health Organisation (WHO) and specialists in epidemiology and travel medicine in universities throughout Europe (see separate media release).

To date, the USA and Australia have expressed interest in staging the competition. The FIFA administration will be clarifying the situation over the next few weeks, especially with regard to the timing of the championship. The final competition should, ideally, coincide with the timing of that originally planned for China. Either the FIFA Emergency or Executive Committee will pass the final decision. At the same time, the Executive Committee announced that the Women's World Cup in the year 2007 would be awarded to China.

With regard to the planned revision of the FIFA Statutes, the new version of which will be put to the vote at the FIFA Congress in Qatar in October, the Executive Committee discussed several points in the current amendment stage. The next step will be to dispatch the revised draft for comment to the confederations and national associations. Furthermore, the executive body directed FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation, AFC, to devise a plan to rebuild football in Iraq and to ensure its implementation.

Finally the members ratified a decision passed by the Emergency Committee to suspend the association of Azerbaijan.