Oceania Football Confederation President Reynald Temarii recently visited Fiji as part of a series of trips focusing on learning and understanding how different national associations within the Confederation operate.

Mr. Temarii will make similar trips to Samoa and Vanuatu in the next month and attend their FIFA Goal Project celebrations.

While in Fiji Mr. Temarii outlined the Confedration’s plan for the next 12 years as OFC prepares for Australia’s shift to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

One of the key tasks is the implementation of youth programmes and tournaments to develop OFC’s next generation of players.

The “OFC Youth Festival” will begin in mid-2006 with the Executive Committee to finalise the Youth Festival concept at the FIFA congress in Marakesh, Morocco in September this year.

With the imminent departure of Australia, the improved performance of the island nations, and OFC having direct entry to all FIFA’s tournaments (except the World Cup and Beach Soccer World Cup) more players will have the opportunity to perform on the world stage.

“It is a big challenge for Oceania to field quality teams in FIFA tournaments, our players must be ready and that will be helped with competitive matches from an early age” said Temarii.

“But the objective of such &091;youth&093; competitions is not only about football, but also educating our younger generation about other issues like health and education” he continued.

Temarii also indicated that discussions with both AFC and UEFA (European Confederation) about further assistance on and off the pitch would continue in the next few months.

Other key tasks outlined by Mr. Temarii included the development of coaches and referees.

*The FIFA Futuro III Coach Education course concludes in Auckland on Friday (22 July, 2005).