Excitement is brewing among the soccer community ahead of the 2016 OFC Under-17 Women’s Championship.
The championship, which kicks off this afternoon (local time) at the CIFA complex in Matavera, will be contested by eight teams.
Group A led by defending champions New Zealand has Samoa, New Caledonia and Tonga while Group B has hosts Cook Islands, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu.
New Caledonia will take on Tonga in the opening match of the championship at 2.30pm followed by the New Zealand versus Samoa clash at 5pm.
Tomorrow, home side Cook Islands will take the field against Fiji at 5pm, followed by the PNG versus Vanuatu tussle at 7.30pm.
Up against the odds, the Samoan side is expected to have backing of a good number of supporters in their opening clash.
Members of the Samoan community on Rarotonga which welcomed the team at Rarotonga International Airport on Sunday are expected to turn up in numbers to support their side.
The Fijian community is also gearing up to provide plenty of support for their team in the championship.
Locally-based Fijians welcomed the team after midnight last night and are also expected to turn up in large numbers with their best “bula” smiles for Fiji’s opening match against Cook Islands tomorrow.
“Fiji teams have a very good support from the Fijian community in any sport such as rugby, netball, athletics, volleyball and others, said Fijian community president Josua Tawakedrau. “We have notified the members of our community about this competition and we are hoping to have a large number of supporters during this tournament,”
“Sport unites people and the nation and we hope this tournament will bring different communities together in the coming days. This event will also help in the development of football in the Cook Islands.”
Tawakedrau has asked the members of his community to come out in Fiji colours to the tournament.
And director Pauline Dean is calling on all of the different communities represented on Rarotonga to support their teams in the event, which ends on January 23.