Rumour has it that Christian Karembeu is lobbying hard to get an Oceania based team in the next round of A-league expansion. Apparently it will be based out of New Caledonia and is backed by a lot of French money and Sponsorship.

Likelihood: I would say about 5 out of 10.

There could be momentum behind it due to the effect the Nix had on NZ football, with Oceania bosses keen to develop the islands and have a professional pathway.

But then again there is the political side. We don't even know if the Nix will be able to keep there spot or be kicked out.

I think if OFC can become a sub-federation of AFC it will happen. But for that to happen AFC will probably need to be split into east/west asia federations, which would work better for all parties.

this could be attractive to FIFA and might assist them in convincing the AFC to accept Oceania into the AFC.

Won't happen unless Oceania gets absorbed into AFC. And I'm not a fan of it until we are more certain about the A-League's viability and until Canberra and Tasmania are in the competition and well established.

This isn't a rumour there's an actual clip on TWGs playlist with Karembeu advocating and describing the bid. He did a good job selling it as well and the details of their plans from what was told seemed fairly impressive.

I'll believe it when they form an official bid team.

I honestly believe there is a lot of potential for the inclusion of pacific islands/indonesian teams because the population and money is there.

Problems with cross confederation comps can be overcome..

but Aussie teams have to come first, we need another 10years to prove the comp is viable before looking to expand overseas. Ideally I'd like to see two NZ, two indonesian and one pacific islands team...reliant on oceania becoming a sub federation of the afc.

I cant see the Indonesian team happening. Especially since they have direct involvement of teams that are already in the Asian Champions League. I think this differs from the Pacific Islands and Oceania because they can easily be excluded from the ACL, should they have teams that come first or second in the A-League. With the Indonesian team in the A-League it would not be in their favour if their sole representative of Indonesia has to come first or second in the A-League just to even qualify for the ACL. That would be financially devastating for them.

Actually its been removed :-s
Though interesting if the logistics can be sorted out... travel is always free thanks to quantas but the distance could make it as big a fortress as the 'nix are getting

Indonesia already has a league methinks, though there was a team who got kicked out who wanted in on the a-league... We all had a big lol

A massive point being overlooked here is if the A-League is ready to expand beyond 12 teams full stop. These days everyone from Western Sydney to Whoop-Whoop is looking to join the A-League, but the FFA need to be smart. Gold Coast and NQF have just recently joined and West Sydney & Melbourne Hearts are joining in the near future. Along with new teams comes insecurity for the entire league. Huge ammount of capital is needed to get the team off the ground, a supporter base must be achieved and so should on field success.

If any of these new teams fall to shit then it all comes back on the FFA, they've got to cover the costs and take responsibility. Along with this, only two of the 8 original clubs have managed to make a positive financial turnover. And unlike New Caledonia these clubs are in fairly secure locations. There's a good base for local support, there is local financial support and most importantly there is actually a local pool of players to select from.

Take a look at New Caledonia, it has a total population of 250,000 people and absolutely no local talent whatsoever. The team is going to be solely comprised of A-League players and a few foreigners looking for a good excuse to go on a holiday. What crowds will a game each second week draw in New Caledonia? What crowds will a game in Australia featuring New Caledonia draw? And don't give that BS excuse about it being an Oceania team. PEOPLE ARE NOT GOING TO GO ISLAND HOPPING EACH WEEK JUST TO WATCH A TEAM OF FOREIGNERS PLAY! But what if the team played on different islands each week instead? How many islands would need to be visited? Fiji? Samoa? Tonga? Vanuatu? Tahiti? The team would only get to play on a particular island once or twice each year. That's great for building local support isn't it?

There might be large sums of money being thrown around by the French, but any businessman expects to make their money back over time. WHERE IS THE PROFIT GOING TO COME FROM? Are they going to charge people $30 entry? We all saw how easily Clive Palmer decided to take shortcuts when he wasn't getting his money back. An Oceania team might seem like a good idea it does not have the potential to give back to it's investors, and they're not going to stand around throwing money forever.

The competition is bleeding enough money as it stands, expansion adds to the cost. Expansion overseas is far more costly. Look at the precedent of the NBL, they expanded too quickly. They invested in Singapore and look where it got them. One day an Oceania team might be feasible, when the countries' socio-economic status rises, when there is a local talent pool good enough to recruit players from and most importantly, when the A-League is in a position of complete financial security.

Edited by arsenal melbourne fc: 23/11/2009 11:02:39 AM

250k is a decent population, newcastle has 141,752, gosford: 158,158, townsville has 145,879 even when combined with its nearest city.
Their population is comparable with the rest of the a-league who are averageing decent crowds... and no doubt these french players are enticing to the former french colony, hopefully the semi-pro national team which is normally competative will be a big part of the squad. Besides, the fans should get behind, what Im pretty sure is, the islands first fully professional team

Btw I'm not advocating for an island team... I just hate a onesided debate :lol:
There would have to be a lot of effort put in and a lot of scrunity by the FFA during the entire course of the team's existance to make it successful

http://player.sbs.com.au/twg#/twg_08/ALeague/A-LeagueNews/playlist/A-League-Pacific-Plan/

;)

Edited by Higashi: 23/11/2009 12:03:41 PM

Possibility

Absolutely no chance in hell.
FIFA are already uneasy about a NZ team being in the A League, and would not let another foriegn team in. If the Nix are around in 5 seasons time Id be very surprised indeed.

But out of that population, what percentage of people would have the money to regularly support this team? A balance must be struck between providing affordable avenues of support (ie tickets, merchandise) and keeping a sustainable organisation running. The starting capital from the French is great, but an insurance policy is needed if they bail. The FFA has got it's hands full keeping the current clubs above water, let alone supporting a foreign consortium.

Also I doubt that any of New Caledonia's semi-pro footballers would be of A-League calibre. There might be a few French players with New Caledonian heritage willing to play for the team and can be qualified as locals and that can be great. But for the short term, instead of starting a team, the focus should be on buliding academies to train the locals,a nd the involoved parties seem to have already begun that. And once these players start coming through, then a local team can be considered.

IMO if this team is to go ahead, each local team needs to be financially independent, or close to, so that a potential bomb-out of New Caledonia doesn't end up killing the league. There also needs to be a player development framework in place to provide local talent. A New Caledonia team would be great for the future, but it just doesn't seem practical within the next few years.

Right, based on what? Have FIFA ever actually said any of this stuff?


For me, I think the AFC and OFC will merge in the future, and get the 5 full World Cup spots - it's a massive carrot for the AFC. People always talk about the travel problems, blah, blah, I'm sure for qualifications, the AFC/OFC merged entity will just split the Island nations out to a small league, the winner of which will join the bigger teams in the next round. A very easy solution. For NZ, the carrot is more meaningful NZ matches, very similar to Australia's old situation.

Regarding the A-League teams, I have always been in favour of getting a Papua New Guinea/Solomon Islands combined team. The team would undoubtedly need government support, as well as local businesses, but with a focus on creating community interest it would succeed. In those countries there is a lot of trouble because people have nothing to do, so governments would be potentially interested in providing some backing.

The biggest businesses in those nations could probably also be involved, as it provides a chance for them to grow their businesses, so financially, it would definitely be possible.

That said, I really doubt we will ever have enough of a cowboy at the top to ever make it happen...

As for New Caledonia, well, the population is a bit more of a worry, but, if it's well backed, then why wouldn't it work? I don't think there are any other major sporting teams there.

IMO, it's capitalising on this sort of thing that will make the HAL work, it needs to increase it's market share, and it is probably easier to do that through the Islands initially, than trying to take on the AFL, which it will lose out doing.

Edited by jhayward: 24/11/2009 04:30:03 PM

Population is all well and good but what is the disposable income like for these people?

Edited by Joffa: 24/11/2009 10:15:13 PM

^US$36,376 per capita.

](*,) ](*,)
Get your facts right.

Despite the backing of FIFA, AFC President Mohammed Bin Hammam has stated that due to AFC criteria the Wellington team must move to Australia or disband by 2011.[8] However in an interview aired on SBS on 21 December 2008 FIFA supremo Sepp Blatter stated unequivocally that "It is not the matter of the confederation, it is the matter of the FIFA Executive Committee... If Wellington will go on play on in Australian League, then as long as Australian league wants to have them and Wellington wants to stay (and) Both association in this case, New Zealand Soccer and Australian Football are happy with that then we will give them the blessing. The confederation can not interfere with that." [9]


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellington_Phoenix_FC, (NOT MUCH of a source but actually quotes)

Letting facts be facts, Mohammed Bin Hammam said he wasnt against the Nixs being in the A-League, Its just there is no chance of Wellington Phoenix gaining access to the ACL untill its a fully run & Australian based A-League side.

The Pacific team wont have these issues as Karenbou says "We will be a Oceania side, An Oceania 11's involed in the A-League, and as a OFC team we have been given early agreement for patisipation in O-League so Asian is not a option. We need to build Oceanian football for the future.

For the good of the game in this country please let this go ahead so once again we can trump the NRL!!!

Sign the papers now

How's the revolution going? Can't seem to find any word of it in the streets of Dulwich Hill and Marrickville!:-k

go sit at the cafe were YBR is on marrickvilel road or victoria yeeros and youll hear about the revolution.

Olympic is back baby.

But back to the thread my friend New Caladonai is a winner

Victoria Yeeros.....you're on!!