The two-week course was held at the Dr MS Sahu Khan National Football Association Academy in Ba and featured 20 participants from OFC member associations American Samoa, Cook Islands, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu.
The content of the course was delivered by OFC technical director Patrick Jacquemet and technical coordinator Didier Chambaron, who are both FIFA instructors.
The objective of the course was to introduce the new OFC coaching accreditation licensing system and the two weeks were broken down into an Instructor Refresher Course (D Licence – grassroots and youth football) and Coaching Course (C Licence – senior).
Fiji Football Association (Fiji FA) technical director Saiyad Ali attended the course and was joined by Fiji FA colleagues Usenio Lagaivau, women’s development manager and national women’s coach, and Iosefo Vosoboto, Western development officer.
“The Fiji FA technical department has set a pathway for our local coaches and courses of this nature will guide us,” Ali says.
“The idea is to develop our local coaches so they keep up with the trends of football. The participants of this course have been accredited and are now able to go back to their respective countries and deliver the course to other coaches there.
“We will be doing the same in Fiji to make sure our coaches are upskilled.”