Football: President's Cup set for November

Auckland City FC and Amicale FC will participate in the first edition of the OFC President's Cup. Credit: OFC via Phototek.

The Oceania Football Confederation have invited teams from Asia and Concacaf, as well as the top two clubs from Oceania to compete in the President's Cup in Auckland in November.

OFC President and FIFA Vice-President David Chung says the competition is designed to strengthen the Oceania confederation's political and sporting ties with the AFC and CONCACAF.

Kiwi and Oceania champions Auckland City FC, Amicale of Vanuatu, Bodden Town from the Cayman Islands, former Bahraini champions Busaiteen FC, Fiji U-20 and Singapore U-23 will compete in two groups of three, before the winners of each progress to a final at Trusts Stadium.

"The purpose of the OFC President's Cup is to offer opportunities for teams within our region to gain important experiences against teams from other nations outside Oceania.

"At the same time this competition also builds important relationships with confederations with whom we share a lot in common.

"Bodden Town (CONCACAF) and Busaiteen FC (AFC) are two clubs with strong links in their confederations and by involving them in the spirit of competition we can further strengthen our ties in that part of the football world.

"From an operational perspective we also embrace the opportunity to work more closely with the local football community in New Zealand and football stakeholders such as New Zealand Football (NZF), the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the FIFA U-20 World Cup, Auckland Football Federation and the Northern Football Federation," Chung says.

While the OFC President's Cup may have an altruistic theme in its design, the competition itself is expected to be intense.

Both Bodden Town and Busaiteen were recently crowned national league champions in the Cayman Islands and Bahrain respectively.

Busaiteen were also runners-up in the King's Cup in Bahrain earlier this year.

Six-time Oceania champions Auckland City FC completed a domestic and regional clean sweep in the OFC Champions League and ASB Premiership last season and will be in full preparatory mode for the FIFA Club World Cup in December.

And Fiji U-20 and Singapore U-23 have their eyes set on the world stage.

Fiji qualified for the FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand and Singapore are keen to get to Rio de Janeiro for the Men's Olympic Games Football Tournament in two years' time.

The competition will be played in two groups of three teams with the top team in each section advancing to the final.

The tournament will be staged at the Trusts Arena in Henderson from 17-23 November.

The official draw for the OFC President's Cup will be held in early October.