The fifth FIFA Women’s Football Symposium is set to be held by the sport’s governing body in Frankfurt from July 15 to 17 and will be attended by two representatives from each of OFC’s 11 member associations.
OFC Women’s Development Officer Emmie Sope and FIFA Development Officer for Oceania Glenn Turner are also taking part and will be joined by New Zealand Football Women’s Development Manager Bev Priestman, who is scheduled to feature in a panel discussion on the opening day.
The purpose of the symposium is to discuss the state of women’s football and examine some of the issues and challenges faced within the female version of the game.
Women’s football has become a worldwide sporting phenomenon and some 26 million women and girls now play, making one in ten footballers on the planet female.
A number of keynote addresses and presentations by leading figures are planned while the participants will also be broken into working groups to look at case studies.
The three-day gathering will have a fitting finale in the form of the FIFA Women’s World Cup final between USA and Japan, which takes place on Sunday evening and will be attended by all the participants.
Representatives from FIFA’s 208 member associations will take part in the symposium and most of the countries are sending their national women’s coach and general secretary.
Jimmy Katoa, technical director for the Cook Islands Football Association, is representing his country at the meeting with administration officer Mii Piri. Katoa is coach of the national women’s side and says he will be looking to exchange ideas about the development and promotion of female football with the other coaches present in Frankfurt.
“It will be a full on three-day programme covering many areas of the game, in particular looking at ways to increase the participation of women and girls in football,” he says.
“It is my hope that what I gain from this symposium will help to structure and promote our programme here in the Cook Islands.”
The full list of participants for the FIFA Women’s Football Symposium from the Oceania region is:
Tavita Taumua, Faleuplu Oney (American Samoa), Mii Piri, Jimmy Katoa (Cook Islands), Bob Kumar, Susan Wise (Fiji), Christophe Coursimault, Bina Ramesh (New Caledonia), Nicola Demaine, Shelley McMeeken (New Zealand), Dimirit Mileng, Linda Wonuhali (Papua New Guinea), Toetu Petana, Emily Young (Samoa), Edward Ngava, Maria Rufina (Solomon Islands), Patrice Flaccadori, Eugene Haereraaroa (Tahiti), Lui Langi, Atelaite Tuivailala (Tonga), Fabien Hoeppe, Angela Malas (Vanuatu).