New Oceania soccer competition has a 2029 Club World Cup spot as the winner's reward

A new era in international soccer begins Sunday when Vanuatu United meets Bula FC of Fiji in Auckland, New Zealand, in the first game of the Oceania Football Confederation Pro League.

Eight teams from seven countries in the region — the others are New Zealand, Tahiti, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Australia — will play at least 17 games over the next three months.

Organizers say the new league is a much-needed step for the region, where individual countries are too small to support top-level domestic competitions.

“The OFC was the only confederation to not have a professional league in any of its member associations, something of a restriction in player advancement opportunities,” Stuart Larman, the league’s project manager, told The Associated Press.

“Players from the OFC will now have a significant increase in highly competitive matches per year,” Larman added. “This will be the start point where the best players in the region will become familiar with a professional football environment as they progress in their careers.”

The league will be split into two phases. In the first, each team faces the other seven twice over five rounds. The first is hosted in New Zealand and then matches move to Papua New Guinea, Australia, the Solomon Islands and Fiji.

After 14 games, the eight teams will split into two groups which will be played in New Zealand. The top three from the upper group and a playoff winner will advance to the semifinals which will also be held in New Zealand.

The league will also determine which team represents Oceania at the next FIFA Club World Cup in 2029 and which will bring substantial financial rewards.

Auckland City represented Oceania in last year’s Club World Cup and was paid an entry fee of $3.58 million by FIFA with the chance to earn more from results bonuses.

Auckland caused a major stir in the tournament when the New Zealand side of mostly amateur players drew with high-profile Argentine club Boca Juniors.

Playing regular soccer will also help raise standards around Oceania and provide more professional pathways for young players.

“Technically, the boys (in New Zealand) are very gifted,” said Rob Sherman, head coach of South Island United, an Auckland-based OFC Pro League team. “There’s definitely a mass of talent in the region. Hopefully playing at a different standard than domestically will accelerate and expose that talent.”

There is much to be done off the field, too. Small populations mean limited broadcasting and sponsorship revenue but pooling those resources could make a difference. If so, more clubs from other islands could join.

“Over time it would be a major step to see the league expand from the existing eight clubs,” Larman said. “That will require a lot of things to fall into place at the existing clubs, as well as those hoping to join. As we move forward, we will be working hard with the clubs to ensure they build on the foundations they have to ensure they are well structured off the pitch, which will be reflected on the pitch as well.”

The OFC Pro League could serve as an example for others. A new Baltic League involving Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia is being discussed to help teams grow and compete in wider European competitions. Similar discussions have taken place among Southeast Asian nations.

“In countries where it is hard to sustain a professional football league, the cross-border option should always be one to explore,” Larman said. “The commercial and sporting benefits will help bridge the gap that exists with leading leagues in any region.”

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

FILE - Auckland City's Christian Gray, center left, celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal during the Club World Cup Group C soccer match between Auckland City and Boca Juniors in Nashville, Tenn., June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — David Venturella, a former executive at a private prison operator, will serve as the acting head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Trump administration says, after the agency's current leader steps down at the end of the month.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said late Tuesday that Venturella would succeed Todd Lyons, who led the agency through much of the administration's tumultuous crackdown on immigration. ICE did not immediately respond to an email seeking additional information Wednesday.

Venturella left the Geo Group in early 2023 and has been working at ICE leading the division that oversees detention contracts, members of Congress wrote in a public letter earlier this year.

At the Geo Group, Venturella served in a number of posts, including executive vice president overseeing corporate development, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. It said he also has worked for federal contractors, including one that specializes in security clearances and background checks.

Geo has benefited from President Donald Trump’s mass deportation push, garnering big contracts to open shuttered facilities. Among them was a $1 billion, 15-year deal for a detention center in New Jersey’s largest city.

Venturella will lead ICE at a time when the public mood has soured on Trump’s immigration crackdown, which sent surges of federal immigration officers into American cities to round up immigrants. Those raids sent tensions soaring and prompted clashes between protesters and law enforcement, leading to the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis earlier this year.

Trump returned to the White House on a promise of mass deportations, and ICE has been a central executor of that vision. Under Lyons’ leadership, the agency used a massive infusion of cash to expand hiring and detention capabilities, and it ramped up arrests to meet demand from the Republican administration.

Federal officials announced Lyons’ departure last month. He led ICE amid Trump’s efforts to reshape immigration.

Venturella's appointment comes as DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin settles into his role atop the Cabinet agency overseeing ICE. Mullin has promised to keep his department out of the headlines and has indicated a softer tone on immigration, although he is expected to align with the president's priorities on mass deportations.

One contentious issue confronting DHS now is a plan for converting warehouses into immigrant detention. Conceived while Kristi Noem led the department, the effort has encountered multiple lawsuits and intense community blowback, including in Republican-led states.

The $38.3 billion plan would increase detention capacity to 92,000 beds and mean acquiring eight large-scale facilities, capable of housing 7,000 to 10,000 detainees each, and 16 smaller regional processing centers.

Those, and other sites, were supposed to be running by the end of November. But after Noem’s departure, DHS paused the purchase of new warehouses as it scrutinizes all contracts signed during her tenure.

Last month a judge extended a pause on transforming a massive Maryland warehouse into a processing facility for immigrants, and there are signs that federal officials are scaling back the plans.

FILE - A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent is seen in Park Ridge, Ill., Sept. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley, File)