00:05to secure the future of the Oceania Football Confederation and its 11 members FIFA has
00:12committed to playing a hands-on role in the region I'm very happy to be in New Caledonia
00:19today it's a magnificent beautiful country but also one of football it's a country which has
00:26produced world champions before like Christian Karimbo football champions in 2023 FIFA president
00:37Gianni Infantino inaugurated a headquarters for the New Caledonian Football Association
00:42constructed with support from the FIFA Forward Development Programme
00:50Infantino also spent time in nearby Vanuatu and the Cook Islands
00:55committing to infrastructure development and celebrating the 2023 Women's World Cup in
01:01Australia and New Zealand as a tournament for the whole of the Oceania region we'll invest
01:07together we'll work together we need the land as we were discussing with the Minister and we will
01:13build because we want to give opportunities and chances to all children all girls and all
01:20boys in Vanuatu to have an opportunity to be able to shine we see there is now a Women's World
01:27Cup
01:27going on in New Zealand and Australia this is the World Cup of the whole of Oceania the whole of
01:34the
01:34Pacific and that's why we are here we are the official ball of that Women's World Cup because it has
01:41to be an
01:42inspiration for all women but also for all men for all girls for all boys that football is a possibility
01:49is a way not just for the players but for everything that is around in both New Caledonia and Vanuatu
01:57Infantino promoted the launch of the region's OFC professional league a vital component in the
02:04creation of a football economy we also want to bring professional football in the Pacific Pacific league
02:14of which one cup has to be in Vanuatu which gives again opportunities for the talented children of
02:22this country to shine and then maybe of course if they are good enough and become even better to be
02:29transferred to some of the top clubs in Europe when I was elected and one of the most important
02:41project that I wanted to do for during my mind is you know to create this professional league in
02:47Oceania I think this is one of the most needed platform of competition that we need to prepare
02:54you know to be competitive in the international level so this is what I think Oceania needs that
03:01kind of platform in 2019 the Oceania Football Confederation formed a task force to determine the
03:08viability of a professional football league for the Oceania region the first attempt in 2021 was
03:15aborted due to the COVID-19 pandemic then a second attempt was delayed to 2026 you know the potential
03:23you know notion is is huge but it's very little on top because we had no this level of competitions
03:33in
03:34you know in Oceania this is what there is no much attention from the rest of the world that you
03:40know
03:40there are good players in Oceania but we believe that this is that competition there will be more window
03:50uh showcase about our our potential players and there will be chance that we you know they can join other
03:56uh uh
03:58professional clubs in the in the rest of the world so this is why my ambition
04:07the region is the hardest in the world to establish a competition of this nature
04:12the lack of existing infrastructure the economies of scale and the startup costs mean long-term
04:19success will require a major financial partnership with fifa
04:22and the governing body's commitment to riding out some early speed humps
04:30always dream for it is to create it this ocean uh confederation become
04:37the last professional confederation in the in among the six uh confederations it is the only
04:44imagine and we want changes to become professional and uh with uh this professional league ambition
04:53is we we want to also change the management to become more professional so these two has to go
04:59parallel if you if you don't start to put professionalism in Oceania there will always
05:05some weaknesses in developing professional administration so that it can back up the professional league so
05:12this is what i believe is that the professional league is the main driver project for whole Oceania
05:23to further embed the OFC within fifa delegates from the region are now regular visitors to international gatherings
05:30encouraged to return to their member associations and share examples of best practice from around the globe
05:41it is important to be able to make comparisons
05:44to be able to learn from other countries cultures and organizations to be able to improve to see our
05:52differences at a technological level to see what kind of technology we use what is different what we
06:00can improve what we can do or not do that's what is really interesting in fact is seeing the tools
06:10that
06:10everyone uses and seeing that if something works in someone else's situation then why not try it for us
06:18because it works in the others why not with us
06:21melissa
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