Exposure for Pacific Island teams will help close the widening gap in Oceania football

One major factor stood out during the recent Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) FIFA World Cup qualifier finals play-off.

The gap between New Zealand and the rest of the Pacific Island team has gotten wider.

It's impossible to ignore that fact.

Unfortunately, for all Pacific football teams - whether in the various club competitions or regional age-group tournaments - the New Zealand clubs or national teams will always be guaranteed winning top spots because of that.

Flashback to 15 years ago, and the Pacific teams were still able to compete.

There were also instances where the Pacific teams won some of the encounters.

But in the last decade, things have changed.

Those changes have come so quickly that teams like Fiji, Samoa, Vanuatu, Tahiti, and even New Caledonia have been forced to be on the receiving end of losses.

What has changed, one may ask.

Exposure - that is what has changed.

Australia used to be in Oceania. They were moved to Asia and have gone on to be competing against some of the top teams in the world.

Their players are now playing professional or semi-professional football across the globe.

New Zealand is following suit, and it is paying off.

And locally, the two countries are competing in the highly-competitive A-League, which keeps professionals at home and offers spots for others from around the globe.

While Australia dominated the make-up of the A-League, New Zealand has two teams in it - Auckland City and Wellington Phoenix.

Monday night's 3-0 win by the New Zealand All Whites over New Caledonia in the OFC FIFA World Cup qualifier final means the team will now have the chance to play against some of the world's best at the 2026 World Cup.

Along the way, they are guaranteed at least three or four internationals, that would focus on giving them some top competition.

New Caledonia, although they lost, still has the chance of making it into the World Cup.

However, head coach Johan Sidaner is being realistic when he says, "there's a slight chance" of them making it from the inter-continental play-off in March 2026.

Sidaner and his team will work on securing some friendlies moving forward to help them prepare for what he believes "will be a tougher competition".

For argument's sake, say New Caledonia does get through to compete at the World Cup. That would be a major boost for the sport in the French Pacific territory and Oceania football in general.

So where does the rest of the Pacific teams go from here?

How can they emulate what Australia, New Zealand and to some extent, New Caledonia are doing?

New Caledonia has players playing in the Third to the Fifth Divisons in the French League on the mainland. One plays in Israel.

Their ability to keep New Zealand scoreless for 60 minutes on Monday night at Eden Park surprised many, including the All Whites coaching team and players as well.

Some believed that if the team had taller players to compete for aerial balls against the All Whites, they might have managed a goal or two.

They definitely had all the sleek skills to outplay some of the All Whites players when they kept to playing ground balls, putting together some fast combinations.

Battling for aerial balls was a challenge, however, against their taller New Zealand opponents.

Certainly, an area that Sidaner and his coaching team will be looking at.

Oceania pro-league

Fiji head coach Rob Sherman, who watched his team get thrashed 7-0 by the All Whites in Wellington on 21 March, believes the current A-League should offer spots for Pacific players.

"I think it would be a great step forward if the A-League would offer two visa slots to every team for just OFC (Oceania) players," Sherman told RNZ Pacific in Wellington.

"That would help. I don't think it will be detrimental to the A-League."

Vanuatu captain Brian Kaltak is probably the lone big-name Pacific player in the competition, which also featured Fiji skipper Roy Krishna for some years, while he was with the Wellington Phoenix.

That is an opportunity gone begging.

Sharman is also hopeful that the new OFC Pro-League, scheduled to kick off in January 2026, can be a game-changer.

He supports it one hundred percent and believes it is a big positive step for Pacific teams.

"Hopefully it comes to fruition and can sustain itself. And it will be a game raiser, it will inspire clubs to raise their standards and raise their game across the whole region."

He said the A-League will offer players the opportunity to develop to professional levels in a tougher competition than what the players are used to across the region.

"When the League comes to fruition, there is an opportunity to actually develop the players present and the future and maximise their potentials," he said.

"At this time unfortunately they are not being maximised."

There is a worry, though, for some of the Pacific islands associations.

The revelation that some of the A-League teams from Australia and New Zealand are part of the 24 clubs that have registered their interest in being part of the new OFC pro-league is worrying.

This is worrying because some believe their inclusion will deny Pacific clubs from their spots.

The focus should be on developing Pacific players, rather than giving players who are already playing in the A-League a second bite at the apple.

It will definitely be interesting to see how the OFC committee, tasked with selecting the eight teams to kick off the pro-league, will make their selections.

The OFC Licensing Committee's recommendations to the OFC Executive Committee will be finalised in August, before the final approval and issuance of licenses to the eight selected clubs in September.

Interests have been received from New Zealand (6), Fiji (4), Papua New Guinea (4), Australia (4), New Caledonia (2), and one each from Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tahiti and Vanuatu.

OFC Professional League manager Stuart Larman told RNZ Pacific that players from outside the club's home countries can be registered, with opportunities from some outside the OFC region as well.

"They will be able to take six players who are not from their home country or eligible under FIFA regulations, of which a maximum of three could be from outside the OFC region," he said.

Some of the key requirements that clubs must meet to be eligible for the new pro-league include the full range of professional football club operations: technical/sporting, legal, personnel, commercial, infrastructure and financial.

"And, yes, there is an expectation that the clubs will provide insight into the financial backing of the clubs," he said.

"Clubs must register between 20 and 23 players, with at least three goalkeepers in the squad."

Other avenues

The onus is also on national associations to start looking at how best they can find opportunities for their players overseas.

That would best start with getting pathways and development programs aligned with international standards.

It would ensure that players are tracking in the right direction.

Linking up with associations outside Oceania would also be a big plus, so players who are identified as top talents can be pushed into competitive competitions that would lift their standards and skills.

New Caledonia and Tahiti have a distinct advantage, as they can have direct links to France, where players who compete in the lower divisions there are still much better than those who would be playing premier grade in any competition across the Pacific countries.

Fijian player Semi Nabenu said after the 7-0 loss to New Zealand he is hopeful alot more of their players can play overseas, adding they have young players who wll only get better with the exposure.

"Ther's alot of young boys out there, after this we will just grow," he said.

"Hopefully we come overseas and do well. New Zealand seems to be going up in football. Maybe in the next qualifiers we will look to compete with New Zealand.

"Fiji Footballl just needs to keep pushing, keep getting players overseas. We just need to keep fighting to the end, one day we will get the results."

His teammate Tevita Waranivalu agreed with him and said New Zealand showed the advantage of having players play in competitive encironments.

"We have a pretty young squad, We are building and next qualifier we will be a team to reckon with," he said.

"The New Zealand team was a well prepared team."

Coach Sherman said New Zealand had too much intensity and fitness, obviously the direct results of players having experienced the same intesnity in their own playing environments.

"The boys are professionals (All Whites) and we just could not cope with that."

He said in Fiji and throughout the region need to have competitions that are up to the standards or close to that of semi-professional or professional games.

"They might train four times a week, but that is not at the level of the professional game nor is the competition," he said.

Case in point is what rugby unions are doing in Fiji, Samoa and Tonga.

While competition and development programs are now aligned to World Rugby standards across all three unions, their players are plying their trade across the globe, from Australia and New Zealand to Japan and Europe.

That has seen a number of Pasifika players and their family members getting to play for international teams like the Wallabies, All Blacks, France, Japan, Scotland, Ireland, England and Wales.

It's testimony that it can be done and Pacific players can be among the best in the world.

The onus is on the respective national associations working on their foundations at home, pushing their players on to the next stage, and getting the exposure they need.

Combined into a package, the rest of the Pacific can achieve what the New Zealand All Whites have done.

That work too has to start now, rather than later.