OFC together with UEFA helping young players in Oceania dream
Monday, May 19, 2025
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Youth footballers from across the Oceania region gained valuable experience of international football and received advice from France legend Christian Karembeu, thanks to an exciting three-year collaboration between UEFA and the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) as part of the UEFA Together programme.
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Developing youth talent is an important part of UEFA's mission, but that commitment goes far beyond Europe's borders.
Last week, it was the turn of young players in Oceania to benefit. As part of UEFA Together, our global development programme, we collaborated with the OFC in organising a boys’ Under-15 development tournament in Auckland, New Zealand. The tournament is just one strand of our three-year UEFA Together collaboration with the OFC, which also encompasses various capacity-building and knowledge-sharing initiatives.
UEFA Together unites European football with our sister confederations around the world, exchanging knowledge and expertise for the overall development of the game. Since its launch in January, the programme has already made a big impact by providing football opportunities for young girls with CAF, empowering female leaders with CONMEBOL and educating coaches with CONCACAF..
We’re honoured to work with OFC through the UEFA Together programme. Over the next three years, we’ll support youth tournaments and training activities across the region. This partnership will help more young people play football and give local football leaders more tools to grow the game.
New opportunities and experiences
Building on those recent successes, the Under-15 boys’ tournament brought together teams from Cook Islands, Fiji, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Samoa, Tahiti, Tonga and Vanuatu, giving young players the opportunity to gain experience of competitive football at international level and develop their character away from the pitch.
"This is the first time I have travelled to a different country," said Solomon Islands player Lous Oritaime. "I made friends with the boys from Vanuatu in the camp and football means everything to me, so I’m really happy with how it’s gone and that I took the opportunity to play."
"We are incredibly proud of the success of the OFC boys’ Under-15 development tournament in Auckland, made possible through our continued collaboration with UEFA Together. This partnership plays a vital role in helping us raise the standard of youth football across Oceania. It provides our young players with invaluable international experience and a clear development pathway towards elite competition."
This was the third edition of the tournament, which alternates annually between girls and boys. Notably, 70% of participants in those tournaments are now playing at higher levels, including some representation in senior sides.
Each match in this year’s competition consisted of three 25-minute periods, with penalty shoot-outs following every game and results not published, reinforcing the focus on learning and development. A FIFA Talent Development Scheme knowledge-sharing event run alongside the tournament highlighted the value of bringing together multiple stakeholders.
Advice from a legend
Christian Karembeu, who triumphed at the FIFA World Cup 1998 and UEFA EURO 2000 with France, attended the tournament, taking the time to meet the players and coaches and offer advice and inspiration from his own career.
"I never had these kinds of opportunities [at their age]," said the two-time UEFA Champions League winner, who was born in the Pacific Island of New Caledonia.
"It gives the players the opportunity to get experience before going to the next stage of their careers, the pressure zone. They can get their nerves out and be ready. [My players] learned a lot on and off the field."
"This is an investment for their future – to have this experience to go abroad to play a tournament, to be able to handle situations. We are trying to give them tools."
Karembeu also highlighted some of the challenges in the region related to football development. "What we’re missing are facilities and qualified human resources," he explained. "It’s not just about the players. It’s also about educating coaches, technical staff and administrators. That’s what UEFA Together is helping us do."
Steps towards professionalisation
To that end, a workshop was held on the fringes of the event for general secretaries of OFC member associations, helping them to prepare for the introduction of a new professional league by the OFC in January 2026.
The workshop represented another aspect of the UEFA Together partnership, and was delivered with the support of the UEFA Academy. It covered personal development training, professional club management, and scaling up of operations such as player transfers, and involved staff from FIFA’s regional development office based in New Zealand.
Lui 'Aho, general secretary of the Tongan FA, said: "These workshops are very productive, with important topics such as executive coaching enabling me to not only develop myself but also bring back content for my staff.
"Having the other general secretaries present means we can be open and discuss our challenges but also find solutions together."