AUCKLAND -With the number of TV viewers in the millions for last year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup in China, there’s no wonder FIFA believes ‘The Future of Football is Feminine.’Harold Mayne-Nicholls, Kelly Simmons, Heike Ullrich and Juerg Nepfer at Monday's FIFA Com-Unity seminar in Auckland.

 The top echelon of FIFA officials were in Auckland yesterday emphasizing the growth of the women’s game in the first of four regional FIFA Com-Unity seminars. The seminars, which will follow in Wellington, Christchurch and Hamilton, are facilitated regularly around the globe to help national associations build relationships with key government officials, NGO’s, sponsors and media.

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AUCKLAND - The Football Ferns begin the three match trans-Tasman series against World Cup quarterfinalists Australia on Saturday chasing a rare goal.

Despite resilient defensive performances in 2007 that included narrow losses to China, Denmark and Australia, the Football Ferns’ record of one goal in the last 10 internationals leaves room for improvement at the other end.

While that recent record might not strike fear into an Australian side that went through the World Cup group stage unbeaten before losing to finalists Brazil, New Zealand coach John Herdman says his team is ready to take the next step.

Saturday, March 1

Australia vs. New Zealand

Women's International Friendly

Stockland Park, Sunshine Coast

Kickoff: 4pm (7pm NZT)

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PORT MORESBY – Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) and EMTV are pleased to announce live coverage of the OFC Women’s Olympic Games Qualifying match between Papua New Guinea and New Zealand.

 

OFC and EMTV will bring live coverage throughout Papua New Guinea of the do-or-die qualifier from 14H00hrs local time on Saturday 8^th March, 2008, with match commentary from Papua New Guinea international Andrew Lepani and former Papua New Guinea women’s international Cathy Davani.

 

The match will be played on International Women’s Day and has won the endorsement of Dame Carol Kidu, Papua New Guinea Minister for Community Development.

 

Dame Carol said the broadcast of a women’s football match on such a momentous occasion was a first for Papua New Guinea and would help raise awareness of key social issues in the region such as HIV/AIDS awareness and domestic violence.

 

Fiji TV will screen the match delayed with details yet to be finalised.

 

OFC General Secretary Tai Nicholas said the broadcast was a direct outcome of the OFC Television Seminar in Tahiti last year and paid tribute to EMTV CEO Glenn Armstrong and PNGFA President David Chung in helping make television history.

 

“EMTV and the PNGFA have worked diligently to ensure this match was broadcast and OFC is delighted to have played a key role in facilitating this process.

 

OFC is making great progress in developing its television strategy across the region and we’re hopeful of making further announcements in the near future,” Nicholas said.

 

Papua New Guinea qualified for this play-off after winning the XIII South Pacific Games Women’s Football Tournament gold medal after a 3-1 extra-time victory over Tonga in Apia, Samoa.

 

That followed up an earlier runners-up finish at the OFC Women’s Championship held in Lae, Papua New Guinea, in April, 2007 – Papua New Guinea’s highest ever placing at an OFC women’s tournament.

 

New Zealand will start as red-hot favourites to win the play-off after making its debut appearance at the FIFA Women’s World Cup – China 2007 and playing host to the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in November, 2008.

 

Coach John Herdman will take his team to play warm-up matches against Australia prior to arriving in Port Moresby.

AUCKLAND - Do you want tips on how to make it to the top in coaching or refereeing – or simply some advice on starting out in these areas? 

Then come along and listen to England coach Hope Powell and FIFA'S Head of Women's Refereeing, Sonia Denoncourt, who will be holding seminars for elite and grassroot coaches/referees in February

The roadshow - taking in the four host cities of Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch - is part of the legacy approach to the FIFA U-17 Women's Women's World Cup to be hosted by New Zealand Football from October 28-November 16.

England Coach - Hope Powell OBE    
Distinguished by her dreadlocks, Hope played street football with her brothers before starting as an 11-year-old with Milwall Lionesses. Five years later, she played her first game for England and gained 66 international caps. On her retirement as a player in 1998, Powell was appointed England women's national team coach, with responsibility for the senior, Under-19s, Under-17s and Under-15s sides. At the age of 31 she was the youngest ever person to be given the job. Powell leads the way in motivating women to succeed at all levels in football; she is the first woman to achieve the UEFA Pro Licence; is a member of the English Football Hall of Fame, and in 2002 became an Officer of the British Empire for her services to women’s football.  Hope is also a FIFA Coaching Instructor.

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SUVA - With the rain teeming down and squad preparation adversely affected the Fiji Football Association (FFA) has reluctantly postponed the Women's Inter District Cup (IDC) tournament that was set to kick-off at Govind Park, Ba, on Friday.

FFA CEO Bob Kumar confirmed the decision yesterday in a statement to local media and said the continuing unfavourable weather conditions had affected the playing surface and preparation time for the teams.

"We have taken the weather and the timing in consideration and called it off," Kumar said.

"It will now be played at a later date which we will announce at a later date."

The decision to postpone was not made easily with women's football in Fiji experiencing a boost after the women's national team performed impressively at the XIII South Pacific Games - Samoa 2007 where Farouk Janeman's team won it's pool before losing in a dramatic semi-final against Tonga.

Fiji later clinched the bronze medal after beating Tahiti 1-0 thanks to a goal from Unaisi Vatulili.

The three day IDC tournament was set to get the ball rolling on another busy Fiji football season.

The decision to postpone means the 2008 season will now start with the men's promotion/relegation series between Nadroga and Savusavu on Saturday week at Lawaqa Park.

This will coincide with the National Club Championships (NCC) zonal play-offs.

All districts need to nominate their clubs by Friday.

"We have informed the districts that only those clubs will be accommodated," Kumar said.

"Club that finish on top after the completion of the local league."

"Districts can't nominate clubs through knockout or just by having the leaders of the competition half way."

This has meant districts like Suva will not have their clubs play in the NCC.

Suva has failed to finish its local league.

"The clubs are the ones who should push the districts to complete the local league," Kumar said.

"Most districts tend to just concentrate on the National Soccer League and tournaments but forget the local league."

 

FIJI JOY: Fiji women celebrate qualification for the semi-finals of the XIII South Pacific Games - Samoa 2007 

  

TIANJIN, CHINA – The Football Ferns’ final FIFA Women’s World Cup group match against China in Tianjin has been postponed for a day due to Typhoon Wipha.

The match was due to kick-off at 8pm Wednesday (midnight Thursday NZ time) but will now be played 24 hours later due to a Typhoon sweeping through the Shanghai area.

On Tuesday, FIFA decided for safety reasons to postpone Wednesday’s Brazil-Denmark match in Shanghai, and the Group C match between Norway and Ghana in neighbouring Hangzhou, breaking from the established FIFA protocol of playing final group games at the same time.

Hours before Wednesday night’s kick-off FIFA subsequently announced New Zealand’s match against the hosts in Group D, and Australia’s match against Canada in Group C were also postponed – despite being unaffected by Typhoon Wipha – to allow for all group matches to be played simultaneously as originally scheduled.

All four rescheduled matches have a bearing on deciding the playoff places for their respective groups.

The match will be shown live on Sky Sports 3 at 12am Friday NZ time (8pm Thursday China time).

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WUHAN, CHINA - Brazil took their goal tally to nine in two games after banging in four against China to all but guarantee a quarterfinal spot on matchday five of the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup.

Two goals each to Marta and Christiane inside 70 minutes ensured an easy win for the Selecao while China must now beat the Football Ferns and improve their goal difference substantially if Denmark beat Brazil on Wednesday.

Marta’s second double in as many games takes her to the top of the golden shoe race with four goals ahead of Christiane and Australia’s Lisa De Vanna whose late equaliser against Norway keeps both teams equal at the top of Group C.

Meanwhile, Canada kept their quarterfinal hopes alive by beating Ghana 4-0 and must now beat Australia in their final group game to prevent the Australians from progressing out of the group stages for the first time in four attempts.

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WUHAN, CHINA – Two set-piece goals were ultimately the difference between New Zealand and Denmark on Saturday night as the Football Ferns lost 2-0 to the world number 6 in their second FIFA Women's World Cup group match. 

Heading into the tunnel at halftime level with the Danes, the Football Ferns were in with a real chance of making history with New Zealand’s first point at a senior World Cup, but they were ultimately undone by two ruthlessly efficient set-plays.

From a foul on the edge of New Zealand’s 18-yard box, Denmark’s Katrine Pederson curled the ensuing free-kick exquisitely over the New Zealand wall and into the top corner of Jenny Bindon’s net for a 61^st minute lead.

Five minutes later, Pederson again punished the Ferns from a set piece, this time by picking out the head of Cathrine Paaske Sorensen at the back post to double the lead.

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Goalkeepers at the FIFA Women's World Cup will take to their beds tonight fearing dreams (or rather nightmares) featuring opposing players unleashing power drives past them from long range. On Day Three at China 2007 there were some explosive examples of accurate shooting and it helped the host nation to launch their campaign with a spectacular 3-2 victory over Denmark in Wuhan.

Elsewhere Brazil employed similar speculation against New Zealand and received a handsome reward in the shape of five goals without reply, while a small slice of history was made as Australia won their first game in the competition at the tenth attempt. They defeated Ghana while former winners Norway edged out the 2003 semi-finalists Canada.

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NZF/September 12, 2007

WUHAN, CHINA – Brazil produced a masterclass in long-range finishing to beat New Zealand 5-0 in their group D opener at the FIFA Women's World Cup in Wuhan, China on Wednesday night.

All but the last of Brazil's goals were scored from outside the penalty area with classy finishes, including a stunning 35-yard shot from holding midfielder Renata four minutes from time. 

Three goals in the last 20 minutes gave the score-line some padding as kiwi legs tired from a second half spent increasingly in their own territory and under immense pressure, but with just one goal in it at half time, the chance for the senior women to emulate their U-20 counterparts and get a result against the Selecao was within reach.

Starting five players from that 2006 U-20 side – with another two on the bench – New Zealand frustrated Brazil throughout the first half, content to defend strongly, upset the Brazilians rhythm, force them into mistakes, and hit them on the counter attack.

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