Format not new: PNGFA

THE national playoff competition format to determine a member association’s representation in the Oceania Football Confederation Champions League is not a new concept, Papua New Guinea Football Association says.
Competition manager Ahmjad Tekwie said the same format was used last year where the top two teams – Lae City and Hekari United – had a single-leg playoff that saw City qualify for the 2022 O-League.
Tekwie’s comments came after football administrators and fans raised concerns on the competition format, and PNGFA’s failure to notify National Soccer League clubs.
An OFC circular on Oct 6 to all member associations stated that the executive committee made a decision on Sept 15 to “retain the same format that was played for the OFC Champions League 2022”.
Tekwie admitted that PNGFA were at fault for not circulating the information to participating clubs when they had received the circular.
However, he said “we may have been late to disseminate the information but the clubs should have made it their business and enquire to find out rather than speculate and misinforming their followers”.
“You paid K9,000 affiliation fee to compete, take responsibility and find out what happens after the tournament.
“Besides, clubs were well aware of the tournament format prior to the national league starting so there shouldn’t be an issue here.”
The OFC circular, under competition format for national playoff, stated that “the winner and runner-up of the top domestic championship from each of the member associations…will be involved in a national playoff, played in a home and away match series within each respective member association. The winner of each national playoff will qualify for the group stage of the centralised tournament”.
The member associations are Fiji, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tahiti, and Vanuatu.
“The national playoff format is not a new thing, it has been here since 2019 and was used last year to the decide the representative for PNG, where Lae City qualified and went on to compete in the tournament in Auckland,” Tekwie told The National yesterday.
“All clubs that participated in the National Soccer League season (2022-2023) were well aware that at the end of the season, the two grand finalists will have a chance to challenge for the berth to represent PNGFA.
“Lae City and Hekari United are not new to the O-league. Both teams have participated in the past tournaments so they should be aware of how things goes.”