Exciting times ahead for soccer talents in PNG – POST-COURIER

BY SIMON KESLEP

There is light at the end of the tunnel for soccer talents in PNG and the rest of the Oceania region.

Ticking the boxes step by step and working behind the scenes in terms of setting up the much anticipated Oceania League is what PNG Football Association (PNGFA) president John Kapi Natto is passionate about.

This is one of the events which is close to my heart and we must have a vision.

When I first got into Oceania Football Confederation, I told the president if you and I have no vision for our youths for tomorrow then I am wasting my time in OFC.

I fixed PNGFA; I have set the road map now we have to set the vision for the future generation, we got to create a OFC professional league somewhere, sometime.

2023 will be the launching of the first OFC Professional League, said Kapi Natto who is also the chairman of the interim taskforce working to establish this new league.

He said the task force team commenced two years ago with its preparation and is now into the stages of financial module to identify which format to be used in 2023.

We are not wasting our time but living our young peoples dreams to become professional players someday.

For PNG, we might have two professional clubs that will be based in Port Moresby and going on home and away matches that is a great exciting way for our football to attract more young people, he said.

With the commencement of the 16th PNGFA Mens NSL season over the weekend, young promising talents including senior representative players from the 14 participating franchises have now been given the added boost to play for something which Kapi Natto is keen to see come into fruition.

The women as well as those who will be taking part at this years Youth League will also look forward to taking part in some of the key events PNGFA is embarking on.

PNGFA is embarking on platforms of competitions.

Just about six months ago, we started the Womens NSL and the competition will come back this year around September and October.

Our Youth League will also kick off for the first time at the end of this year both in the Northern and Southern conferences.

We believe in creating a pathway for youth in this country.

PNGFA is also bidding for the Womens World Cup qualifier to be played here in Port Moresby in the early 2022 because other countries could not let teams to go into their country because of COVID-19 restrictions.

We hope to put a good proposal to the Pandemic Controller and win the bid to bring the 10 countries into Port Moresby.

Our women are just on the verge of going into the World Cup, thats a great news and we hope that it will come into reality.

Kapi Natto said the PNG Kapul team (mens) will also travel overseas in January and February 2022 after COVID-19 restrictions denied their entry to Fiji and New Zealand for the World Cup qualifier.

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Exciting times ahead for soccer talents in PNG - POST-COURIER