Courtesy: Solomon Star News


Kurukuru championship’s favourites

Wednesday, 27 May 2009

THE Solomon Islands ‘Kurukuru’ team head into this year’s Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) Futsal Championship as favourites.

They are certainly the favourites after gaining valuable experience as Oceania’s representative at the FIFA Futsal World Cup Brazil 2008.

The countdown to the OFC Futsal Championship Fiji 2009 can now begin after OFC released the official draw.

With four teams confirmed, OFC said the championship is set to take place from July 6-10 at the Vodafone Arena in Suva, Fiji.

According to the draw, Match Day 1 action sees Fiji pitted against Vanuatu while New Caledonia will clash with defending champions the Solomon Islands.

OFC said Vanuatu will be up for the challenge having beaten the Solomon Islands 5-1 last year while New Caledonia, who have arguably the best domestic league, are also likely to be strong contenders.

Fiji, meanwhile, have the all-important home advantage so the stage is set for an intriguing title fight.

“Since the conception of the OFC Futsal Championship in 1992, the event has been held every four years as part of the qualification process for the FIFA Futsal World Cup tournaments,” the OFC said.

Fiji 2009 marks the first year of the new annual format for the championship, which shows OFC’s commitment to developing futsal by providing meaningful competition on a regular basis.

“The popularity of futsal – an indoor form of football played with five players per side and a weighted ball – continues to grow throughout Oceania as a number of Member Associations start to build domestic structures to support the game.

“This year’s championship will follow a round-robin format with the top two teams advancing to the final and the remaining teams playing off for third place,” it said.








Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com