OFC Professional League

So hubs are only about 1 week long. I thought they were going to be 3 weeks?

Congested playing schedule with mostly 3 games in a week. But then gaps between the hubs for travel and prep I guess.

Big 3 week gap between Round 4 (Honiara) and Round 5 (Ba/Suva).

Will the whole 12 game Auckland Round be at Eden Park?
NZ derby to kick things off.

coochiee

So hubs are only about 1 week long. I thought they were going to be 3 weeks?

Congested playing schedule with mostly 3 games in a week. But then gaps between the hubs for travel and prep I guess.

Big 3 week gap between Round 4 (Honiara) and Round 5 (Ba/Suva).

Will the whole 12 game Auckland Round be at Eden Park?
NZ derby to kick things off.

International break after Round 4 - March 23rd to March 31st.

As stated previously, they're pretty much national teams anyway - Tahiti, Fiji and Vanuatu having their National team coaches also coaching the respective club sides from those nations. 

"Participating clubs need to have signed their squads by December 23rd"
Sth Island Utd better get a move on.

Jessie Merino

"Participating clubs need to have signed their squads by December 23rd"
Sth Island Utd better get a move on.

They've got about another 4-5 (probably more than that too) signed up and waiting in the wings for an announcement.

Some of these island sides need to get a move on though.

I suspect a lot of teams have their teams mostly sorted behind the scenes but just haven't been very onto it with announcements.

PNG Hekari for example have had full squad training pics out even though they only announced a few signings on social media.

I wonder if the Nix could put in place some sort of relationship with one of the island nations like Fiji whereby as part of this relationship that they loan a couple of their better reserve team players for free. 

Could be a win/win for both.

Wouldn’t hurt someone like AKH and Fergus Gillion for example playing in this comp for game time and development. 

I expect whoever is the reserve keeper at the time for AFC would play in this comp. Likewise a number of NZ under 20’s players contracted as scholarship players.

At the same time this action would only be viewed  as a positive by OFC, next time the Nix are applying to join. 

Obviously a clause would be inserted that if our number one goal keeper goes down then he can be recalled.

McCarron or Foord yes. Not AKH.

Oluwayemi could injury himself in a pre game warmup. You don't jeopardise ALM points by then not having AKH there to immediately go in between the sticks.

National League finishes 14th Dec. Preparations for the new Central League season will start in February. Most of the Weenix kids will probably enjoy a little off season break from football, and the better ones will be training with the first team squad over the summer.

Wonder what Lewis Partridge will do after the OFC League finishes in May. Sign for junior club ChCh United or head back to the Weenix - if the Nix think he still has potential to play in the ALM?

LT01

I suspect a lot of teams have their teams mostly sorted behind the scenes but just haven't been very onto it with announcements.

PNG Hekari for example have had full squad training pics out even though they only announced a few signings on social media.

Yeah, the PNG, Vanuatu & Solomons domestic seasons only finished at the end of Oct / start of November and the Tahitian season looks like it has finished only the weekend just been. Fiji Premier League finished a little while back too.

Think the squads would have firmed up a bit more after the conclusion of the MSG Prime Ministers Cup as well (won by Vanuatu). 

Some interesting signings and names popping up. Pretty sure Roy Krishna won't be turning up for Bula FC either...

Roy Krishna may sign for Bula FC and it seems South Island United will announce the signings of Josh Rogerson and Ollie van Rijssel tommorow

Auckland FC is proud to announce Luke Casserly as Head Coach of our inaugural OFC Pro League team. 👏

Luke steps up from our Reserves, bringing his attacking philosophy and proven success into the new competition.

First match: Jan 17 at Eden Park vs @Southislandunited. ⚔️ pic.twitter.com/ckTBLb0e3F

— Auckland FC (@fc_auckland) December 2, 2025

Not sure if this should go here or in the Auckland thread (but the Auckland thread seems more about the A-League team) 

Luke Casserly has been announced as stepping up from the reserves team coach to be the coach of the OFC Pro League team. 

Obviously whoever wrote the article saying it would be Terry McFlynn was wrong.

coochiee

So hubs are only about 1 week long. I thought they were going to be 3 weeks?

Congested playing schedule with mostly 3 games in a week. But then gaps between the hubs for travel and prep I guess.

Big 3 week gap between Round 4 (Honiara) and Round 5 (Ba/Suva).

Will the whole 12 game Auckland Round be at Eden Park?
NZ derby to kick things off.

From day dot it has always been five week-long hubs of three matches each (two matches in the March one which is on eve of international window)

Eden Park for MD1 only is my understanding, then NHS for the rest

As mentioned above, MD1 at Eden Park then the rest at NHS

Sounds good to me.

Vasconcellos is Fijian. Thomas Dunn who was also at ES, has likewise signed for Bula FC

They have made 7 signings, with 3 more being announced today.
Adam Supyk maybe being one of them.

Sterling Vasconcellos has signed for Bula FC in the OFC Pro League!

Sterling joined Eastern Suburbs ahead of the 2025 Northern League season, he now heads to Fiji as the second Lilywhite to sign a pro contract with Bula FC.

Good luck, Sterling! 🤍@OFCProLeague @thebulafc pic.twitter.com/LRDj9OGTLm

— Eastern Suburbs AFC (@ESAFC) December 8, 2025

Isn’t South Melbourne going to have a massive advantage?

martinb

Isn’t South Melbourne going to have a massive advantage?

You'd probably make them early favourites.

Already playing at a very decent level (VIC NPL). Settled squad, probably a few ex ALM guys, who know all about pro football. Might make a few decent additions from the VIC NPL - especially if some of their usual guys can't give up careers/jobs to be outside of Australia for 3-4 months.

But we don't know much yet about the AFC II squad, and sounds like they maybe signing a few grizzled OFC veterans like Tade?? ie not just playing 18-20 yr old kids.

I'm sure Auckland are eying up the FIFA tourney splash for cash.

Fatigue could play a huge role too. The likes of AFC, South Melbourne and South Island Utd have been playing all year with barely a break, and playing in the islands brings with it even more of that challenge. Not sure about the formats of their competitions, but with where this league has been put on the calendar it adds another variable to the mix.

SamCoughlan

Fatigue could play a huge role too. The likes of AFC, South Melbourne and South Island Utd have been playing all year with barely a break, and playing in the islands brings with it even more of that challenge. Not sure about the formats of their competitions, but with where this league has been put on the calendar it adds another variable to the mix.

Fatigue? These guys are late teens, early twenties.

Mental staleness/fatigue likely as much an issue. Not everyone likes playing/thinking about football for 12 months straight without a bit of a break.

It's the reason some of the Weenix guys (and I think AFC II) got a month long break around July this year, before starting to prepare for the U20 WC in Chile. Those that had been around the Nix/AFC first teams last ALM season, could have gone through nearly 18-24 mths of continuous football training (if not playing). At some stage you just need time away from the game. 

Still this new OFC League is an exciting first pro opportunity for many guys, so that in itself will be a powerful motivator. Plus travelling off to exotic locales like Suva, Honiara and Port Moresby.

But you'd imagine when this OFC Pro League finishes, a few might need a few weeks break before finishing the winter season at their domestic NZ clubs.

The ALM being a spring-autumn comp, OFC League being summer-autumn, and domestic leagues being autumn-spring, make our part of the world a bit unusual compared to say Europe where all league tiers basically have the same off season timeline.


The National League going to a Nationwide (12 team?) winter league format from 2027 (finishing September?). That should sort of make the season a bit shorter ie an off season break Oct-November, before the OFC League guys start training again in December for a late January kick off.

Sounds like in 2026 AFC might effectively have a AFC III team playing Northern League.

South Melbourne should win this comp. However is it correct they cant play any of the FIFA tournements if they win because they are not in the Oceania Fed?

austin111

South Melbourne should win this comp. However is it correct they cant play any of the FIFA tournements if they win because they are not in the Oceania Fed?

Yes pretty sure that is correct, and Wiki concurs plus another article I quickly read.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OFC_Professional_League
The league will also serve as Oceania's qualifying pathway for the FIFA Intercontinental Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup, apart from South Melbourne (who cannot qualify for other competitions as they are based in Australia, which is part of the Asian Football Confederation).

.@fc_auckland are here for the OFC Pro League 🙌#OFCProLeague pic.twitter.com/ZPgPkURwSp

— OFC Pro League (@OFCProLeague) December 10, 2025

Ben Cahn is the head coach for Solomon King FC. They've begun training this week, a few fans lamenting it as a bit last minute as other sides have been training for months. I'm not the best at recognising faces but seems like it's a lot of the national side + Jez Lofthouse formerly of brisbane roar

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/16iKjPNsR4/

LT01

Ben Cahn is the head coach for Solomon King FC. They've begun training this week, a few fans lamenting it as a bit last minute as other sides have been training for months. I'm not the best at recognising faces but seems like it's a lot of the national side + Jez Lofthouse formerly of brisbane roar

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/16iKjPNsR4/

Very good find.

And on the flip side of that, Vanuatu haven't even started training yet. Which was kind of what I was worried about with this league - How will the island sides adapt to the professional game.

I dunno, I guess it’s all preety much the same for all the teams with the exception of South Melbourne.

I mean how many training practices have South Island had?

I guess AFC have just had a national league campaign but according to someone here 80 per cent of the team will come from elsewhere and they only announced their first five players the other day.

 Can’t quite figure out who has been training together for months.

AucklandPhoenix

I dunno, I guess it’s all preety much the same for all the teams with the exception of South Melbourne.

I mean how many training practices have South Island had?

I guess AFC have just had a national league campaign but according to someone here 80 per cent of the team will come from elsewhere and they only announced their first five players the other day.

 Can’t quite figure out who has been training together for months.

Of information that can be pieced together from online sources and social media, PNG Hekari seem to be the most organized (😱) and have been training for several weeks now. 

South Melbourne you'd imagine would be pretty settled and ready to go after winning the Australian Championship. Auckland will have a lot of guys who have been playing National League, so they'll be relatively fit and ready to go. Several have even been training with the wider Auckland squads previously.

Does Auckland have to keep their squads kind of separate as its different money paying for the players. Eg tade can't fill in during the a league season?

If the Solomon Islands side is mostly national team players as expected too, they'll have had time together with the recent Prime Ministers Cup in PNG (though the less said about the results the better).

Wonder if they will sign Raphael Lea'i?
For awhile there it looked he was going to be a genuine OFC star.

See he was playing for the Wollongong Wolves in this year's NSW NPL.
4 goals & 3 assists in 28 games.
https://www.transfermarkt.com/raphael-leai/leistungsdatendetails/spieler/616253

Think OFC/NZF/Eden Park might need a reality check on these prices. Perhaps they'll drop before matchday. This is for all 6 double headers in Auckland, including 3 without any NZ teams...

image.png 26.58 KB

NZKnowledge

Roy Krishna may sign for Bula FC and it seems South Island United will announce the signings of Josh Rogerson and Ollie van Rijssel tommorow

"Roy Krishna may sign for Bula FC."

Any updates on this rumor?

HattyCW

NZKnowledge

Roy Krishna may sign for Bula FC and it seems South Island United will announce the signings of Josh Rogerson and Ollie van Rijssel tommorow

"Roy Krishna may sign for Bula FC."

Any updates on this rumor?

His Super League Kerala team Malappuram FC are in the semi finals which will be played on Monday, so I imagine the Final will be next weekend - then after that his season is over.

So I guess we'll see, teams have to be finalised by the end of December if I recall correctly. Maybe a pre Christmas announcement if he intends to play in the OPL 

According to their Wikipedia page, Tahiti United have signed Kiwi keeper Callum Roberson, formerly of East Coast Bays, Northern Rovers, and Mosgiel. It also shows an Indonesian keeper Nurdin Rijal Ardhi, who I've struggled to find out anything on...

Hopefully they won't be underprepared for this competition.

Semi Nabenu leaving AFC II for Bula FC

Bula FC welcomes Fiji international defender Semi Nabenu as our 16th Warrior.

Former Auckland United, Birkenhead United & Auckland AFC Reserves. Fiji U-23 & senior debut in WC qualifiers vs NZ.

Welcome to Bula FC, Semi! #BulaFC #OFCProLeague pic.twitter.com/3J6s8MJ2w0

— Bula FC (@thebulafc) December 14, 2025

But on money on offer in India, is still too good, so won't be playing in the OFC League??

The @FijiFootball_ and OFC legend, @RoyKrishna21, is excited for what our new Pro League means for young players in Oceania 🫡#OFCProLeague #RoyKrishna #Fiji pic.twitter.com/IZ2ov1wH8q

— OFC Pro League (@OFCProLeague) December 15, 2025

I imagine a few of The Port will turn up, which will help create some atmosphere at least.

https://www.friendsoffootballnz.com/2025/12/15/how-much-fans-will-pay-for-tickets-to-ofc-pro-league-games-in-auckland/

For Eden Park, match organisers have allocated active supporter bays for fans of South Island United (Bay 405) and Auckland FC (Bay 413), for Saturday’s double header.

Be very interesting to see how large the support for SI will be.

AucklandPhoenix

Be very interesting to see how large the support for SI will be.

Probably not a lot where the games are in Auckland...

Probably quite similar to the number of Christchurch United fans I'd say, if they ever get a chance to show that they're fans.

Might get a few travel up, plus there is quite a big Cantab diaspora in Auckland.
Have some mates that always go to cheer for the Crusaders at Eden Park. 

SIU verus AFC II is 17th Jan at EP. 
Then SIU's next game is verus Vanuatu United at NHS Jan 23rd.

Auckland play CCM at Mt Smart in the ALM Jan 24th.

So a few (a small few) Sth Island football fanatics may even make a week of it in the 09, and try catch an A League match to finish it off with. AFC does after all have ex Mainlanders - FDV, Elliot and Howieson in it's ranks.