Football activity in the OFC is increasing all the time with over 70 courses delivered in Technical Development each year and a competitions calendar jam packed with tournaments from the OFC U-17 Men’s Championship in January through to the OFC Men’s Olympic Football qualification event in December. There is, of course, the FIFA U-20 World Cup New Zealand 2015 to look forward to with a further nine tournaments in Beach Soccer, Futsal, women’s and club football mapped out over the next 12 months.
As we head toward the conclusion of another busy year at the OFC, it is important that we reflect on our achievements since 2011.
During my tenure as OFC President we set about implementing OFC’s vision based on 5 key objectives:
1. Growing the Game
2. Promoting our Elite
3. Becoming Financially Sustainable
4. Making the Pacific a better place
5. Professionalising the way football is managed
Here are our key achievements in each of these five areas:
1. Growing the Game
With FIFA investing 30 million US dollars every four years in the region we have been able to establish headquarters and technical centres in all our countries and create centres of excellence and development centres and implement a number of OFC grassroots, player development, referee and women’s football programmes.
2. Promoting our Elite
We have employed mentors who reside in our member countries to teach local coaches and players and have established elite academies and made it compulsory to enter the OFC qualifying for U-17 for Men and Women. We provide preparation grants for OFC representatives who qualify for FIFA tournaments and developed external partnerships with UEFA, the Spanish Football Federation and The Football Association to assist developing elite football in OFC. Similar partnerships with the Asian Football Confederation, CONCACAF and the Qatar Football Association will be finalised soon. New tournaments like the OFC Futsal Championship Invitational and OFC President’s Cup promote elite football and strengthen our relationships with fellow bodies outside of our region, a key element in driving forward our interests in the football world.
3. Becoming financially sustainable
• Stage 1 of the 20 million dollar home of football currently being constructed at St. Johns in Auckland is completed and Stage 2 is expected to be completed in June 2015.
• OFC’s property portfolio has 5 million dollars in assets generating rental income back to the development of football
• OFC TV continues to provide television equipment and training in each member association to ensure football fans around the Pacific can watch football live and profile football in the region.
• OFC Commercial Limited, our business arm, became profitable in 2013 after only two years of operation as we continue to expand our supply of apparel and football equipment to our members as well as launch our own FIFA approved range of footballs and project 1 million dollars in sales in 2014.
4. Making the Pacific a Better Place
Our Football for Life programmes continue to provide financial grants to support victims of natural disaster – in Fiji, Turkey and Papua New Guinea while FIFA’s football for health was launched in Solomon Islands and Tonga. Just Play through the generous support of the Australian Government and UEFA continues to grow reaching 150,000 children and 2500 teachers of which 43% of girls. We have renewed our partnership with the Special Olympics and also partnered with UNICEF in our social responsibility programmes, integrated into the OFC Champions League and OFC President’s Cup.
5. Professionalise the Management
Our player registration database and competition software programme O-Link is 50% completed and we have launched the OFC Club Licensing to professionalise the way our clubs are managed. FIFA Performance provides the tools for our members to implement sound strategic and financial planning practices and next year we hope to launch the OFC Certificate in Sports Management in collaboration with FIFA.
As Oceania’s representative on the FIFA Executive Committee I have a strong and close personal relationship with the FIFA President and General Secretary and other members of the FIFA Executive Committee. Maintaining these relationships is key to strengthening our position in world football and delivering improvement In the development of our game in this region.
On the field of play we have enjoyed witnessing Tahiti host the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup and finish fourth, and also qualify for the FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil the same year. New Zealand’s Junior Football Ferns advanced to the quarter-finals of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Canada 2014, and our OFC Champions League is attracting more fans through the turnstiles along with a higher standard of play as more and more players from inside and outside the region sign for our top clubs.
Finally I take this opportunity to thank our member associations, administrators, coaches, players and fans, from near and far, for your support as we seek to raise standards in Oceania football. Your commitment and the sacrifices you have made and your dedication to grow the game we all love should be acknowledged.
Yours in football
David Chung
OFC President
FIFA Vice President