OFC staff members took the opportunity to upskill this week with an internal Introduction to Club Management Certificate course.

The two-hour event served as a pilot before its rollout online across our Member Associations later this year.

The learning material was split into three parts: understanding football environments, understanding club football in Oceania, and developing club capability.

The outcome for participants was to:

  • Understand the context of football in the Oceania region
  • Identify what makes clubs unique
  • Learn basic principles of Club Licensing
  • Create a development plan

OFC Clubs and Leagues Officer Steven Dillon facilitated the course in Auckland.

FIFA’s Technical Consultant for Oceania Tony Readings was also present.

Dillon said the event was useful because the staff were able to refine the areas of club development that create the biggest impact on clubs in OFC’s Member Associations.

“Club Managers and administrators of our football clubs are vital in assisting with the on-field performance of their teams through responsible off field systems and processes,” he said.

“We believe that bespoke support, with programmes such as Club Licensing, will have a long lasting impact on the sustainability of our clubs.

“We will continue our strong collaboration with FIFA and our Member Associations in the design before rolling this out for our people.”

Dillon has a long-term goal of seeing Club Licensing regulations in place in all 11 Member Associations across top tier men’s, women’s, and youth competitions.

OFC Competitions Director Chris Kemp said the course was beneficial for improving competition standards.

“It’s important for us to progress as a region and promote high quality football environments, and it starts in our clubs,” he said.

“The course was enjoyable, it outlined how to develop operational plans for a club to thrive.”

OFC Chief of Football Development Division Patrick Jacquemet said the pilot was one step forward in the right direction.

“It was great to see the collaboration from OFC staff and FIFA representative Tony Readings to identify areas we need to develop in our clubs,” he said.

“Thank you to Steven Dillon for his efforts in putting this course together and I hope many more people in our region take up this opportunity to learn and build on the lessons in this certificate.”

Ends