Tonga’s Sosefo Tolu and Solomon Island’s Dalton Saeni (right) battle for the ball. Photo: OFC Media via Phototek
The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) has revealed that the new OFC Professional League competition will be a focus area in the new year.
Responding to questions from RNZ Pacific, the OFC said more information on the series will be revealed in the new year, adding that they have appointed a competition manager.
"OFC has appointed a Pro League Manager who will be starting work in the New Year," an OFC spokesperson said on email.
"When the Manager is announced in January we will be in a position to reveal more information about the establishment of the OFC Pro League," the added.
The OFC Pro League was approved by world soccer's governing body, FIFA, and OFC has been earmarked for the new competition.
While Fiji and Vanuatu have stated they are working on having their own Pro League set-ups internally, the OFC's statement means the competition might not start sooner than 2025 or 2026.
Tonga Football also confirmed to RNZ Pacific that they were still a long way yet to having their own pro league set-up finalised.
"The plan is still on the planning side, and it is slow to implement," Tonga Footbal Association president Lord Ve'ehala said.
"The plan is for all the 11 (OFC) members association. There have been some countries showing some interest but the implementation of the plan is the most challenging phase."
OFC and Vanuatu Football president Lambert Maltock said the professional league would play a critical role in elevating football in Oceania.
"As leaders of Oceania football, we are responsible for the growth of football, and we need to move forward to make this happen," he told the Vanuatu Football Federation Congress in Port Vila on Wednesday.
"This will mean that the national federations will have to form professional clubs that will affiliate with the (OFC) professional league.
He added the professional league is what is needed to support the OFC's long-term goal of qualifying two teams to the FIFA World Cups in 2026-2027.
In an earlier story, RNZ had reported that FIFA chief Gianni Infantino has thrown his "200 percent support" behind the new league in Oceania.
Infantino told the OFC's 29th Ordinary Congress in Auckland earlier this year, before the Women's World Cup, that OFC's ambitions to qualify two teams for senior world cups can only happen if there is such a high-level competition for men and women.
He said it would be a "true game-changer" for Oceania.
"We are aware that there are challenges, distances, travels, and finances, but we have to transform these challenges into opportunities and that's exactly what we are doing together with the FIFA team, the OFC team, working together in a true partnership. To establish this professional league here in Oceania," Infantino was reported as saying then.
"I'm 200 percent behind it. I believe in it."