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 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)
NEW YORK (AP) — Ryan Weathers was steamed when he found out he was joining the New York Yankees.
“I had had just finished up my bullpen and I get back to the house — I have like a little travel sauna,” he recalled Thursday. “I literally probably had sat on my couch for about two seconds and I got a phone call from Peter Bendix that I had been traded.”
Bendix, Miami's president of baseball operations, sent the 26-year-old left-hander to New York for four prospects on Tuesday: outfielders Brendan Jones and Dillon Lewis, and infielders Dylan Jasso and Juan Matheus.
Weathers is the son of David Weathers, a pitcher who helped the Yankees win the 1996 World Series after he was acquired from the Marlins at the trade deadline.
“We’ve kind of had a weird, similar paths as to how we got to New York,” Ryan Weathers said.
David was in the Dodger Stadium bullpen when he found out two minutes before the trade deadline he had been dealt to the Yankees. Manager Rene Lachemann called him on the bullpen phone and said Weathers needed to speak with general manager Dave Dombrowski.
“I went in the locker room and Kevin Brown, Al Leiter, John Burkett, Robb Nen, they said, `Hey man, good luck. You're going to win a World Series ring,' and they turned out to be prophetic,” David Weathers said.
David learned his son had been traded while watching a basketball game with wife Kelli at Loretto High School in Loretto, Tennessee, where he has coached baseball.
“One of my friends came up and said, `I think Ryan’s been traded to the Yankees.' And I said: `Well, if he has, I hadn’t heard anything about it,'" David recalled. "We laughed, and about that time my phone started ringing. It was Ryan.”
When Ryan makes his Yankees debut, they will become the fifth father-son duo for the pinstripes, joining Yogi and Dale Berra, Clay and Cody Bellinger, Mark Leiter and Mark Leiter Jr., and Ron Davis and Ike Davis.
Ryan was in shock when he spoke with Yankees general manager Brian Cashman and manager Aaron Boone.
“I just couldn’t believe that the New York Yankees were a team that I could ever have a chance to play for," he said.
New York’s rotation at the season's start projects to also include Max Fried, Cam Schlittler, Will Warren and Luis Gil while Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón rehab from injuries.
Weathers, 26, was 2-2 with a 3.99 ERA in eight starts last year in his second straight injury-shortened season. He missed time with a strained left flexor, made his season debut on May 14, then didn’t pitch for Miami between June 7 and Sept. 11 because of a left lat strain.
He was 5-6 with a 3.63 ERA over 16 starts in 2024, when he was sidelined by a strained left index finger.
“This is the best I’ve probably felt in a year-and-a-half,” Weathers said. “I really did a dive and worked with company on figuring out how to lengthen my lat out, lengthen my back out. We really adjusted a lot of my lifting patterns. We really adjusted my mobility and my prep work, and I think my arm is reaping the benefits right now.”
Ryan grew up in big league clubhouses and remembered the Cincinnati Reds' room with Ken Griffey Jr. and Joey Votto. He played pickle with Dusty Baker, Ramón Hernández, Eric Milton and Juan Castro.
“There’s been a lot of hours put in the Cincinnati Reds' batting cages,” Weathers said. “I just remember Pops taking me to the field every day. I know when his arm was hurting, he’d still throw me BP.”
Ryan was the seventh overall pick by San Diego in the 2008 amateur draft and made his first big league appearance against the Dodgers in the 2020 NL Division Series — among only six players to make a major league debut in the postseason. His dad's knowledge helped him during tough times.
“When I first started going through it and getting adversity and getting traded, he really helped me along those lines of figuring out: This is what you do with your new team. This was what you do in your day-to-day,” Ryan said. “So I’ve been doing mechanics since I was age 10.”
He has remained close with pitcher Aaron Harang, a teammate of his father who last played in 2015.
“He still texts me all the time,” Weathers said. “When I was younger, I didn’t really care about pitching. I just wanted to hit bombs in the outfield, so I didn’t really think about it.”
For David, pitching in the World Series was less nerve-racking than being in the seats at Ryan's games.
“It’s way tougher being a dad and watching your son pitch than being a pitcher,” David said. “When he pitches, man, it is just like all day, it’s like I’m pitching. I’m thinking about what I would do, how I would attack these guys.”
Notes: New York finalized its $2 million, one-year contract with right-hander Paul Blackburn.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
FILE - Miami Marlins starting pitcher Ryan Weathers throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Sept. 24, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson, File)
