Held for the first time in American Samoa, the Executive Committee convened at the Tradewinds Hotel, Pago Pago, on 26 November. The meeting opened with a guest appearance from Lieutenant Governor Faoa Ipulasi Sunia and Monsignor Etuale Lealofi, a local minister, who were welcomed by OFC President Reynald Temarii, Football Federation American Samoa President Iuli Alex Godinet and other executive members.
President Temarii called for a minute silence to remember those who tragically lost their lives in the tsunami that hit on 29 September, 2009. He went on to thank President Godinet for his willingness to host the OFC Executive Committee meeting and commended him for leading the Football Federation American Samoa (FFAS) into a position of strength.
“We are humbled by the hospitality shown by President Godinet and his staff in a time when the people of American Samoa are still recovering from a devastating tsunami,” said President Temarii.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank the FFAS for welcoming us and for showing notable improvement in the way football is managed in this country.”
President Godinet then thanked OFC and FIFA for their continued support.
“The OFC President and I share the same vision – to use football as a tool to help social development, education and cultural exchange. These objectives would not be possible in American Samoa if it wasn’t for the support of OFC and FIFA.”
FIFA development manager for Oceania, Serge Dumortier, who also visited Auckland last week for the FIFA/OFC Member Association seminar, praised all of the executive members for their efforts over the past year.
“This is a very active confederation and there is a lot of good development work taking place around the region, particularly with the launch of ‘Win in Oceania’ in 2009. But we also need to recognise that there are challenges ahead. That is why meetings such as this one are so important.”
Agenda items at the meeting included the 2010 budget, the FIFA-funded Win in Oceania Development Project, the Financial Assistance Programme (FAP) and calendar of OFC competitions.
For a list of outcomes see below.
The OFC Executive Committee:
• Approved the OFC Budget for 2010.
• Agreed that a formal merit system, linked with FAP, be established for financial reporting.
• Agreed the O-League format of eight teams will remain for the next two seasons.
• Agreed that the OFC qualifying format for the FIFA World Cup Brazil 2014™ will be:
o Stage 1 – 12 teams will be part of the 2011 Pacific Games with the Gold, Silver and Bronze Medalist teams advancing to the next round.
o Stage 2 – The Gold, Silver, Bronze medal teams and New Zealand will play in a 4 team home and away competition. That OFC will pay the international air travel for each team based on a delegation of 21 as was the case in 2007/08.
• Agreed that U-15 and U-17 youth competitions for boys and girls will need to be introduced in each member association by 2014.
• Approved the OFC Competitions Calendar for 2010/11. With the exception that Tahiti would like to host the OFC U-17 Championship in 2011 and New Caledonia to host the OFC Futsal Championship in 2011. The OFC Competitions Department will do an analysis on the equalisation of airfares between Tahiti and New Zealand and New Caledonia and Fiji as hosts.
• Approved the proposed competition regulations.
• Approved the recommendation of the OFC President and the General Secretary to appoint Patrick Jacquemet as OFC Technical Director from January 2010.
• Acknowledged Tahiti’s bid to host the FIFA World Beach Soccer 2011 and Oceania’s proposed bid to host the FIFA U-17 World Cup 2015.
• Acknowledged that OFC has signed co-operation agreements with the Australian Government and Australian Sports Commission, UEFA, Cuesports Community Trust, Find Your Fields of Dreams Foundation, Pacific Games Council and Pacific Islands Telecommunications Association.
• Acknowledged that co-operation agreements between OFC and the French Government, French Football Federation, New Caledonia Government, the European Union and the CIES/FIFA/University of South Pacific and University of New Caledonia Sports Management Programme are pending.
• Agreed on the meeting schedule for 2010-2011.
The next OFC Executive Committee Meeting will be held on Friday 19 March 2010 in Auckland, New Zealand.