This article (Natyional Indigenous Times) mentions that not all OFC countries have expressed an interest in entering so far. There won't be teams from the minnows like Samoa, Tonga, Cooks, American Samoa etc, but they would hopefully have a few players signed up in the league.
The Francophile nations Tahiti and New Caledonia not mentioned. Apparently a professional rugby league from Tahiti maybe launched to enter the Queensand Cup (tier below the NRL). Maybe that's soaking up some of the commercial sponsors in Tahiti?? There is already a PNG team in the Queensland Cup
https://nit.com.au/29-11-2024/144/oceania-football-confederation-set-to-launch-the-pacific-football-league-inside-the-next-two-years
Oceania football federations of Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu have expressed a real interest in either creating new elite teams or endorsing current clubs of national leagues to participate in the first professional league
Aotearoa-New Zealand is considering entering at least one team formed from several of its Polynesian communities, including many of the under-represented Maori players in a competition that will be run separately to existing clubs that play in the top-tier, but semi-professional New Zealand National League.
The Francophile nations Tahiti and New Caledonia not mentioned. Apparently a professional rugby league from Tahiti maybe launched to enter the Queensand Cup (tier below the NRL). Maybe that's soaking up some of the commercial sponsors in Tahiti?? There is already a PNG team in the Queensland Cup
https://nit.com.au/29-11-2024/144/oceania-football-confederation-set-to-launch-the-pacific-football-league-inside-the-next-two-years
Oceania football federations of Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu have expressed a real interest in either creating new elite teams or endorsing current clubs of national leagues to participate in the first professional league
Aotearoa-New Zealand is considering entering at least one team formed from several of its Polynesian communities, including many of the under-represented Maori players in a competition that will be run separately to existing clubs that play in the top-tier, but semi-professional New Zealand National League.
It has also led to a push to invite Australian clubs amid ongoing delays and the ongoing uncertainty to establish its own national second-division competition to support the A-League, in addition to the AFC's decision at the end of its 2006 World Cup campaign to leave Oceania for Asia.
The OFC is privately hoping the Australian government will subsidise multiple Australian clubs to join the league akin to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese financing a Papua New Guinean NRL bid.
The OFC is privately hoping the Australian government will subsidise multiple Australian clubs to join the league akin to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese financing a Papua New Guinean NRL bid.
The projection of a Pacific competition in 2026 is set to supersede the much-maligned OFC Champions League that every time bar twice since the competition started in 1987, only an Australian or Aoeatora side has won the Champions League.