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