Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) General Secretary Tai Nicholas has confirmed that the Solomon Islands will represent OFC at the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Marseille 2008.

“The change in timing of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup from November to July created significant challenges for OFC which prevented a qualifying event being made possible,” said Nicholas.

“Financial constraints of both OFC and participating Member Associations and other factors outside of OFC’s control created uncertainty over a host venue and the availability of participating teams.

“Currently, there is no international standard beach soccer pitch in the region and domestic competition is marginal across Member Associations.”

As a result the OFC Executive Committee agreed to nominate the Solomon Islands as the OFC representatives for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Marseille 2008.

The Solomon Islands were nominated on the back of two years of strong performances in Beach Soccer.

They were crowned OFC Beach Soccer champions in 2006 and 2007 and have performed creditably at both the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup’s in Rio de Janeiro those same years.

FIFA accepted OFC’s nomination on 7 December 2007, and OFC is now committed to assisting the Solomon Islands with preparing a detailed programme in the build up for the tournament.

It is anticipated an OFC qualification event is planned to determine Oceania’s representatives at the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in 2009.  

Solomon Islands record at finals of FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

FIFA BEACH SOCCER WORLD CUP - RIO DE JANEIRO 2007

First Stage

Match   Date      Time                                                             Results
2       02 Nov – 11:00                       Brazil                     11 : 2             Solomon Islands
11      04 Nov – 12.30                       Solomon Islands        2 : 5             Russia
20      06 Nov – 14.00                       Solomon Islands        3 : 6             Mexico

FIFA BEACH SOCCER WORLD CUP - RIO DE JANEIRO 2006

First Stage

Match   Date                                                                            Results
4       02 Nov                               Solomon Islands            5 : 2            Cameroon
9       07 Nov                               Uruguay                      2 : 5            Solomon Islands
20      06 Nov                               Solomon Islands           2 : 14          Portugal

FIFA BEACH SOCCER WORLD CUP QUALIFIER – NEW ZEALAND -2007

            Date                                                                           Results
07 July                                    Vanuatu                         2-3               Solomon Islands
07 July                                  Solomon Islands                 5-3              Tahiti
08 July                                     Solomon Islands              4-3              New Zealand
 
Final
08 July                                     Solomon Islands              5-3              Vanuatu

FIFA BEACH SOCCER WORLD CUP QUALIFIER – TAHITI - 2006

            Date                                                                     Results
31 August                     Vanuatu                              9-4                     Solomon Islands
01 September              Solomon Islands                      2-1                     Tahiti
02 September              Solomon Islands                     13-0                    Cook Islands
 
Final
03 September              Solomon Islands                        6-2                   Vanuatu