Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) is pleased to bring you another in our series of profiles featuring international players expected to be key performers at the OFC U-20 Women’s Championship New Zealand 2009 to be held at Auckland’s North Harbour Stadium from 5-9 October.

Today we feature a multi-talented athlete who will form the heart of the Tonga defence, Vaisioa Niukapu.  

Vaisioa Niukapu Biography

Name: Vaisioa Niukapu

Profession: Athlete

Full Name: Mele Vaisioa Niukapu

Date of Birth: May 8 1990, (age: 19)

Place of Birth: Ha’apai

Height: 174m

Playing Position:  Goal Keeper

Current Club: Kaimai Glamour Girls

Football Years: 7 years

Favourite Soccer Star: Martha Vieira da  Silva.

Favourite Colour: Red

Nickname: Sioa

NATIONAL TEAM

2006 – OFC U-20 World Cup Qualifiers (Samoa) Silver

2007 – OFC Senior Women’s Qualifiers (Papua New Guinea) 3rd

2007 – South Pacific Games (Samoa) Silver medal

SPECIAL AWARDS

TFA Scholarship – 2006, 2007, 2008.

DETAILED BIO:

Tonga U-20 Women’s goalkeeper Vaisioa Niukapu is a multi talented young sportswoman proudly focusing her natural sporting ability on football.

Niukapu’s first taste of football came in her final year of primary schooling in the Tongan Football Association’s (TFA) 2003 Primary Schools competition where she represented Nukualofa Primary school.

She continued her academic and football education at Tonga High School where she also participated in variety of other sports including athletics, tennis and netball. Niukapu credits these other sporting interests with having a great impact on her physical and mental toughness. 

Despite all these other sporting interests, Niukapu remained most passionate about football and is determined to fashion a career in the beautiful game. She nominates popular England football star David Beckham and highly respected female international players Martha Vieira da  Silva (Brazil) and Mia Hamm (USA) as her favourite footballing role models.

Niukapu first gained national representative selection as goalkeeper for the 2006 OFC U-20 World Cup Qualifiers tournament in Samoa, an event where Tonga won silver. Being multi-skilled, the following year she gained her second national cap in the OFC Women’s Championship Papua New Guinea 2007 as a defender, a position she retained in the 2007 South Pacific Games hosted by Samoa (where the Tonga also won the silver medal).

These exposures undoubted gained her much needed experience which no doubt will come in handy as she prepares for OFC U-20 World Cup qualifiers in New Zealand.

After only recently rehabilitating from a knee injury, Niukapu has passed her physical fitness test with flying colours and will be a key contributor as Tonga’s first choice goal keeper. In the 2009 TFA Major League competition Niukapu kept an admirable record of averaging less than one goal conceded per match.

Courtesy of TFA Media