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)
The World Anti-Doping Agency is considering rewriting its rules to try barring President Donald Trump and all U.S. government officials from attending the LA Olympics in 2028 in a move that could also have implications for the World Cup being hosted by the U.S. this summer.
The proposal, on the agenda for next Tuesday's meeting of the global drug-fighting watchdog's executive committee, is the latest maneuver to come out of a yearslong refusal of the U.S. government to pay its annual dues to WADA. The refusal is part of the American government's unanimous, bipartisan protest of the agency's handling of a case involving Chinese swimmers and other issues.
The Associated Press learned of the agenda item through correspondence it obtained between WADA and European officials involved in the agency's decision-making. Two others with knowledge of the agenda confirmed the existence of the rules proposal to AP; they were not authorized to speak publicly about the agenda, which has not been released publicly.
WADA spokesman James Fitzgerald said “there is nothing new here,” noting that discussions related to the issue of what to do about governments withholding funding have been ongoing since 2020 and aren't directly related to the U.S.
The proposal was, in fact, first brought up in 2024, when U.S. authorities successfully lobbied for its rejection. The U.S. has since lost its seat on the executive committee.
“In spite of WADA’s increasing threats, we continue to stand firm in our demand for accountability and transparency from WADA to ensure fair competition in sport,” said Sara Carter, the director of the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP).
The rule, if passed, would figure to be mostly symbolic, given the limits an international sports federation could have on the president of a country attending an event inside his own borders.
“I have never heard of a $50-million-budget Swiss foundation being able to enforce a rule to, for example, prevent the United States president from going anywhere,” said Carter's predecessor at ONDCP, Rahul Gupta, who was on the WADA executive committee two years ago and led the movement to reject the proposal. “And the next question you have to ask is: How are you going to enforce it? Are they going to post a red notice from Interpol? It’s ludicrous. It’s clear they have not thought this through.”
In a news release after this story published, WADA said the AP story was “entirely misleading," focusing on Fitzgerald's statement to the AP that if proposals being discussed were "introduced, given that the rules would not apply retroactively, the FIFA World Cup, LA and Salt Lake City Games (in 2034) would not be covered.”
Fitzgerald's only answer to three emails from AP seeking clarification on his initial response — specifically about how a rule that had not yet been adopted could or couldn't be applied retroactively on events that are scheduled for the future — was: "I’m trying to say that it would not apply retroactively so those events would not be covered. Given that and the next meeting of the Board being scheduled for November, I don’t see how it could come into play for this year’s World Cup.”
The next meeting of the Foundation Board, which would make the ultimate decision, isn't scheduled until November. But a WADA response last month to a question about potential timing of the rule's passage from the European authorities said: “The proposal could be implemented without undue delay. If necessary, the Foundation Board could consider the proposal by circular or within the context of an extraordinary meeting.”
According to a draft of the proposal, the rule would apply to governments that have not paid dues by Jan. 31 of the year after they’re billed. The U.S. hasn’t paid its WADA dues since 2023. There was no mention of “retroactivity” or lack thereof in the document the executives are considering.
The proposal calls for a three-tiered set of sanctions for countries that don't pay dues. In the U.S. case, that amounts to around $3.7 million from last year, plus $3.6 million it didn't pay in 2024. Among the most extreme sanctions include “government representatives being excluded from participation in major events such as World Championships and Olympic & Paralympic Games.”
That would include Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance and members of Congress, who recently approved hundreds of millions in funding for security and other logistics for the World Cup and LA Games.
Representatives from the International Olympic Committee, FIFA and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee did not respond to emails from AP seeking comment on how a ban on Trump and other U.S. officials might be enforced.
WADA's budget was pegged at $57.5 million for 2025. It receives half its funding from the IOC and the other half from governments across the globe. Contributions from the governments are loosely based on the size of their athletic teams, and the U.S. has always paid one of the biggest bills.
This squabble has been festering since the first Trump administration, rooted in America's distrust of the global anti-doping system, which came under international scrutiny first for its handling of a Russian doping scandal dating to before the Sochi Games in Russia in 2014.
Then, in 2024, news came of 23 Chinese swimmers — some of them on the team that went to the Paris Olympics — who were allowed to compete despite testing positive. WADA accepted the Chinese doping regulator's theory that the athletes had been contaminated by traces of banned heart medication in a hotel kitchen.
The ONDCP and Congress under both the Trump and Biden administrations have withheld the payments to WADA.
In the most recent flare-up, the government restricted payment until WADA subjected itself to an independent audit. WADA defended its auditing practices and, at the Milan Cortina Games last month, once again called on the U.S. to pay the dues.
Now, the agency looks for more leverage in its attempts to collect.
“This initiative is aimed at better protecting WADA’s funding so that it can deliver on its mission to protect clean sport,” said Fitzgerald, the spokesman for WADA. “If WADA’s funding is cut, it is ultimately athletes who will suffer. Indeed, athletes (including those on WADA’s Executive Committee and Foundation Board) have continuously expressed their support for this initiative.”
Associated Press reporter Darlene Superville contributed from Washington.
AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
FILE - FIFA President Gianni Infantino presents President Donald Trump with the FIFA Peace Prize during the draw for the 2026 soccer World Cup at the Kennedy Center in Washington, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough, Pool, File_
