April 20 – New Zealand club side Wellington Phoenix have signed what they claim is the largest sponsorship deal in New Zealand football history with China’s Huawei. The deal is estimated to be worth $2 million a season, though no official figure was given.
August 25 – The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) has adjourned an appeal by New Zealand over their under-23 men’s team’s expulsion from the Olympic qualifying tournament final last month in Papua New Guinea.
By David Owen
July 8 – Football is generally a low-scoring game, but it is not invariably so. Arbroath 36 Bon Accord 0 in September 1885 in the Scottish Cup is one well-known counter-example that springs to mind. Australia 31 American Samoa 0 in April 2001 in a World Cup qualifier is another.
April 14 – Australia has given a lukewarm response to the idea of co-hosting the World Cup with New Zealand. Oceania is the only Continent still to stage the tournament and the Kiwis are apparently eyeing up the possibility of sharing the tournament with their neighbour.
January 7 – Oceania Football Confederation President David Chung says obtaining direct entry into the World Cup instead of his region being forced every time into an intercontinental playoff will be a major priority after he was re-elected unopposed to run FIFA’s smallest regional bloc, in terms of footballing stature at least.
August 6 – With so much competition at home, another British coach plying his trade overseas to make a name for himself is moving up the international ladder.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 5 – The Oceania Footbball Confederation will make no comment over its alleged role into how Qatar won the right to stage the 2022 World Cup until FIFA’s ethics committee investigator has completed his inquiries.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 29 – Oceania, by far the weakest confederation in world football and predominantly made up of tiny island nations, wants to give itself a better chance of World Cup qualification by combining its playoff pathway with that of the Asian Football Confederation. The AFC is currently allocated four automatic qualifying slots, with the fifth-placed Asian team going into an intercontinental playoff. Oceania, by contrast, has no direct route to the finals,
By Mark Baber
Ocotber 17 – FIFA and the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) have appointed a normalisation committee to take control of the Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) after the federation’s funding was put on hold whilst an investigation looks into poor accounting by the federation’s administrators.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 19 – Buoyed by the hiring of Italian icon Alessandro Del Piero, the Australian Football Federation (FFA) have announced a new broadcast deal providing unprecedented coverage of both the national team and the Hyundai A-League.
By David Gold
October 4 – Football Federation Australia (FFA) has announced that Hyundai will continue to sponsor the A-League until 2016.
By David Gold
October 2 – The tiny pacific nation of Tuvalu is determined to win membership to FIFA next year at its annual congress, despite having never played a home match.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 7 – Australian soccer has broken new ground with Sydney FC’s signing of iconic Italian playmaker Alessandro Del Piero.
By David Gold
August 21 – Football Federation Australia (FFA) chief executive Ben Buckley will leave his role following the conclusion of negotiations for a new broadcast deal.
By David Gold
August 19 – Australia’s youngsters are travelling to Bolivia to get used to playing at altitude before they start their World Cup qualifying campaign next month.