OFC

The executive, David Chung, was the president of the Oceania Football Confederation, whose 14 members wield little power competitively or politically in FIFA. But Chung, of Papua New Guinea, had outsize influence as the most senior of FIFA’s eight vice presidents.

Chung cited personal reasons for his decision, but the announcement came as he found himself under mounting pressure to step down after an audit into a multimillion-dollar project to build a new headquarters for the O.F.C.

     One year on from the devastation of Tropical Cyclone Pam and six months on from Tropical Cyclone Winston, the Just Play Emergency Programme has been shortlisted for the Beyond Sport Innovation award in recognition of the work in both Vanuatu and Fiji.

Many attempts by Papua New Guinea in the first half shook the Solomon Islands side before flanker Nigel Dabinyaba found an opening at the corner for a cross which Michael Fosters  who was  in front of the goal  mouth dribbled  to confuse the opposition before slamming home the first goal of the match.

However, Solomon Islands retaliated seven minutes  later with a corner kick from striker Judd Molea that curved right through the corner post slipping off PNG goal keepers hand Ronald Warrisan to even the scores at 1-1.

This will be followed by New Zealand versus Samoa later in the afternoon.

Samoa clashes with Tonga on 15 January then Tonga meets New Zealand three days later. Samoa also meets New Caledonia on 18 January.

Since the start of the partnership in 2013, Just Play – the Oceania Football Confederation’s sport for development programme – has worked alongside UNICEF on several projects, to reach thousands of children through the powerful medium of sport.