Yeah the process is openly being declared. Anyone from Nelson Suburbs to Bill Foley's NZ franchise can submit a EOI. That's democracy at work. How many of those 24 EOIs get to the next stage, we wait to find out.
OFC badly want the thing to work, so yeah of course you go through a proper DD process. I expect the most monied applications with good facilities get the 8 spots, noting it's a max of 2 teams per country. And yes you can expand in the future all going well.
https://www.oceaniafootball.com/strong-interest-as-24-clubs-eye-historic-spot-in-ofc-professional-league/
The race is now on for clubs to secure a spot in the elite eight-team competition, which will run from early January to May 2026, with the application process continuing through until the end of June.
Timeline:
End of June 2025: Conclusion of the club application process.
August 2025: OFC Club Licensing Committee’s recommendations to the OFC Executive Committee.
September 2025: Final approval and issuance of licenses to the eight selected clubs.
January 2026: OFC Professional League kicks off.
OFC badly want the thing to work, so yeah of course you go through a proper DD process. I expect the most monied applications with good facilities get the 8 spots, noting it's a max of 2 teams per country. And yes you can expand in the future all going well.
https://www.oceaniafootball.com/strong-interest-as-24-clubs-eye-historic-spot-in-ofc-professional-league/
The race is now on for clubs to secure a spot in the elite eight-team competition, which will run from early January to May 2026, with the application process continuing through until the end of June.
Timeline:
End of June 2025: Conclusion of the club application process.
August 2025: OFC Club Licensing Committee’s recommendations to the OFC Executive Committee.
September 2025: Final approval and issuance of licenses to the eight selected clubs.
January 2026: OFC Professional League kicks off.