00:04To secure the future of the Oceania Football Confederation and its 11 members,
00:11FIFA has committed to playing a hands-on role in the region.
00:16I'm very happy to be in New Caledonia today.
00:19It's a magnificent, beautiful country, but also one of football.
00:24It's a country which has produced world champions before,
00:27like Christian Carambo, football champions.
00:33In 2023, FIFA president Gianni Infantino inaugurated a headquarters
00:39for the New Caledonian Football Association,
00:42constructed with support from the FIFA Forward Development Programme.
00:49Infantino also spent time in nearby Vanuatu and the Cook Islands,
00:55committing to infrastructure development
00:57and celebrating the 2023 Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand
01:02as a tournament for the whole of the Oceania region.
01:06We'll invest together. We'll work together.
01:09We need the land, as we were discussing with the minister,
01:12and we will build because we want to give opportunities and chances
01:16to all children, all girls and all boys in Vanuatu
01:21to have an opportunity to be able to shine.
01:25We see there is now a Women's World Cup going on in New Zealand and Australia.
01:30This is the World Cup of the whole of Oceania,
01:33of the whole of the Pacific,
01:34and that's why we are here.
01:35We are the official ball of that Women's World Cup
01:40because it has to be an inspiration for all women,
01:43but also for all men, for all girls, for all boys.
01:47That football is a possibility, is a way,
01:50not just for the players, but for everything that is around.
01:54In both New Caledonia and Vanuatu,
01:57Infantino promoted the launch of the region's OFC Professional League,
02:02a vital component in the creation of a football economy.
02:08We also want to bring professional football in the Pacific,
02:12a Pacific league of which one club has to be in Vanuatu,
02:17which gives, again, opportunities for the talented children of this country
02:23to shine, and then maybe, of course,
02:26if they are good enough and become even better
02:28to be transferred to some of the top clubs in Europe and all over the world.
02:34When I was elected,
02:38one of the most important projects that I wanted to do during my Monday
02:44is to create this professional league in Oceania.
02:47I think this is one of the most needed platforms of competition that we need.
02:53To prepare, you know, to be competitive in the international level.
02:58So this is where I think Oceania needs that kind of plan.
03:02In 2019, the Oceania Football Confederation formed a task force
03:07to determine the viability of a professional football league
03:10for the Oceania region.
03:12The first attempt in 2021 was aborted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
03:17Then a second attempt was delayed to 2026.
03:22You know, the potential in Oceania is huge,
03:25but it's very little untapped
03:28because we had no this level of competitions in Oceania.
03:35This is why there is not much attention from the rest of the world
03:39that, you know, there are good players in Oceania.
03:43But we believe that with that competition,
03:47there will be more window showcases about our potential players
03:53and there will be a chance that, you know,
03:55they can join other professional clubs in the rest of the world.
04:00So this is why my ambition.
04:06The region is the hardest in the world
04:09to establish a competition of this nature.
04:12The lack of existing infrastructure,
04:14the economies of scale and the startup costs
04:17mean long-term success will require
04:19a major financial partnership with FIFA
04:22and the governing body's commitment
04:24to riding out some early speed humps.
04:29I always dream for it is to create
04:32this Oceania Confederation
04:35become the last professional confederation
04:39among the six confederations.
04:43It is the only imagine
04:44and we want changes to become professional.
04:47And with this professional league ambition
04:53is we want to also change the management
04:56to become more professional.
04:58So these two have to go parallel.
04:59If you don't start to put professionalism in Oceania,
05:03there will always have some weaknesses
05:05in developing professional administration
05:08so that it can back up the professional league.
05:11So this is what I believe
05:14is that the professional league
05:16is the main driver project for all Oceania.
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