NSL set to kick off

By ISAAC LIRI
SOCCER will be Papua New Guinea’s first major sport to get its top tier domestic competition underway in 2018 with the National Soccer League set to kick off next week, says PNG Football Association vice-president John Wesley Gonjuan.
Gonjuan said the NSL board decided to reschedule the start of the competition from Jan 5 to the 13th to give enough time to the clubs to prepare.
“We made this decision in a meeting on Saturday and all teams have agreed to the date,”Gonjuan said.
The teams confirmed to take part in this year’s competition are defending champions Toti City FC, formerly known as Lae City Dwellers, Madang FC, Besta PNG United, Buang FC and newcomers FC Morobe, FC Momase and Southern Strikers.
Teams from last year who are not on the list are PS United and Yamaros FC.
“It will be exciting to see these new teams take on the challenge and we welcome them. There has been some indication of a team from Kimbe but again they did not meet the requirements so we just have to go with seven teams.
“Eastern Stars who were planning to participate this year came back to us and told us that they were not prepared to take part this year and will most probably do so next season.
“PS United also showed no indication of taking part this year along with Yamaros FC as well however we have new teams coming in and we are happy with those teams but we want them to fully comply with the requirements before we start the competition,” Gonjuan said.
A tentative draw and format to cater for the seven teams has been drawn up however, the finalisation of the draws will be announced on Friday during an official press conference in Port Moresby.