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OFC Professional League

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2 days ago

2026 Team of the Season
Oscar Mason - Auckland
Hassan Ramazani - Vanuatu Utd
Jordon Lampard - S. Melbourne
Ronan Wynne - Auckland
Owen Smith - Vanuatu Utd
Daniel Normann - Auckland
Sota Higashide - Kings
Jez Lofthouse - Kings
Yuki Uchida - S. Melbourne
Alex Saniel - Vanuatu Utd
Jordan Swibel - S. Melbourne

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2 days ago · edited 2 days ago · History

3 Kiwis, 4 Aussies, 2 Japanese, a Norwegian, with only one player born in the Islands (Daniel).

Still early days.

Hassan Ramazani (ex Roar) Aussie born of Congolese descent. I didn't even notice him in the OPL. Can't have watched enough Vanuatu U games.
Left footed CB?

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1 day ago

coochiee wrote:
3 Kiwis, 4 Aussies, 2 Japanese, a Norwegian, with only one player born in the Islands (Daniel).

Still early days.

Hassan Ramazani (ex Roar) Aussie born of Congolese descent. I didn't even notice him in the OPL. Can't have watched enough Vanuatu U games.
Left footed CB?

Must develop local juniors next OFC Pro League season. Crucial. Got to make a better generation of national team players next. Dream of an OFC team winning the intercontinental playoff for World Cup.

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1 day ago · edited 1 day ago · History

FIFA & OFC are apparently to invest $70M into this league. That's a big amount of cash.

Hopefully some of it goes towards helping the 5 clubs based in the Islands setup their own club academy structures, with some decent youth coaches part of that.

A kid in Honiara, Port Vila, Noumea or whereever now knows there is a fully pro team based in their home town. They now need a quality coaching pathway to help them best prepare, and raise overall standards.

It will take time. Might be 5 years plus before any real progress is noticeable. Hopefully the league survives long enough to see the fruits.

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1 day ago

coochiee wrote:
FIFA & OFC are apparently to invest $70M into this league. That's a big amount of cash.

Hopefully some of it goes towards helping the 5 clubs based in the Islands setup their own club academy structures, with some decent youth coaches part of that.

A kid in Honiara, Port Vila, Noumea or whereever now knows there is a fully pro team based in their home town. They now need a quality coaching pathway to help them best prepare, and raise overall standards.

It will take time. Might be 5 years plus before any real progress is noticeable. Hopefully the league survives long enough to see the fruits.

Or maybe insist that the big Oceania clubs get directly involved in youth development of PI youngsters. Either by running coaching clinics in the islands or by offering academy scholarships to promising youngsters. I think SIU is already started doing this. The Nix have 8 squads, plenty of room for some PI talent.

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about 22 hours ago

To be fair to the Nix they tried it with Rafael Le’ai and another promising Solomons kid years ago. They didn’t stay in Welly that long

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about 21 hours ago

austin111 wrote:
coochiee wrote:
FIFA & OFC are apparently to invest $70M into this league. That's a big amount of cash.

Hopefully some of it goes towards helping the 5 clubs based in the Islands setup their own club academy structures, with some decent youth coaches part of that.

A kid in Honiara, Port Vila, Noumea or whereever now knows there is a fully pro team based in their home town. They now need a quality coaching pathway to help them best prepare, and raise overall standards.

It will take time. Might be 5 years plus before any real progress is noticeable. Hopefully the league survives long enough to see the fruits.
Or maybe insist that the big Oceania clubs get directly involved in youth development of PI youngsters. Either by running coaching clinics in the islands or by offering academy scholarships to promising youngsters. I think SIU is already started doing this. The Nix have 8 squads, plenty of room for some PI talent.

There are issues playing players under 18 in a foreign country - if they've moved for football reasons then they can't be registered with a club. Its why Calvin Harris couldn't play for a 'Nix team until he was 18 but played school football and trained at the academy.

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