Capital Balls FIFA football balls

Fiji club giants Ba secured the Super Six title thanks to a 2-0 win over close rivals Labasa. Goals from Fijian internationals Maciu Dunadamu and Pita Baleitoga were enough to clinch the championship for Fiji’s 2009 O-League representatives. Meanwhile, fellow Fijians Nads have secured the services of three Solomon Islands internationals ahead of the inter-District Cup tournament. Stanley Waita, Godwin Bebeu and George Lui will join the club for its tilt at Fijian football’s ultimate prize.

Defending champions AS Manu Lira are representing French Polynesia at the 2008 Coupe de L’Outre-Mer but lost all three of their matches to Martinique (0-1), Guadeloupe (0-1 > and Oceanian rivals New Caledonia (0-1). New Caledonia – fresh from a second place finish in the 2008 OFC Nations Cup -finished third in Group 1 and will play Mayotte in the match for fifth place.

Papua New Guinea’s 2009 O-League representatives, Hekari Souths United, have signed Solomon Islands internationals Fred Hale and Joachim Waroi ahead of their forthcoming national league campaign. Hekari have been drawn in O-League Group B alongside Koloale and Ba. Koloale defeated Australian club Brisbane Wolves twice during a three-match tour of the Solomon Islands earlier this month.
New Zealand club Auckland City have pulled off a major transfer coup in signing former Barcelona defender Xavi Roca. The 34-year-old will join former New Zealand and Roda JC midfielder, Ivan Vicelich, at Kiwitea Street this season as coach Colin Tuaa seeks to win his first New Zealand Football Championship (NZFC) title.

OFC
Women’s youth football took centre stage at Paita as the New Caledonian football association’s (FCF) FIFA Goal project was put through its paces by age-group teams from across New Caledonia. The project was opened in a blaze of celebrity as FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter and OFC President Reynald Temarii joined FCF President Claude Fournier for the recent Karembeu Jubilee celebrations. FIFA and OFC Ambassador Christian Karembeu said the facility represented a major boost to football across the island territory- The FCF hosted a one-day football promotion at the facility on 23 August – as a precursor to hosting all domestic women’s football competitions at the centre this season. Two seven-a-side age-group tournaments took place: one for U-t 3s, the other for U-16s.
Papua New Guinean champions Hekari Souths United beat Wantok Cup champions Solympics 4-2 and former Solomon Islands 0-League representatives Marist FC 4-1 on their brief tour of the Solomon Islands. Seven out of Hekari’s eight goals were scored by Solomon Islanders now plying their trade with Hekari Souths Utd in Port Moresby.
New Zealand represented the OFC in
both the Men’s and Women’s Olympic Football Tournaments in Beijing and shared similar fortunes. The women earned a 2-2 draw with Japan, before losing 1-0 to Norway and 5-0 to the USA, while the men fought their way to a 1-1 draw in their opening match against hosts China, before falling 5-0 to Brazil and 1 -0 to Belgium. A trio of OFC referees officiated at the Olympic Football Tournaments, namely Mike Hester (New Zealand), Tevita Makasini (Tonga) and Michael Joseph (Vanuatu). The OFC team oversaw the group matches USA v. Netherlands and Korea Republic v. Honduras, with Hester refereeing the matches and Makasini and Joseph working as his assistants.