The first two days of the seminar covered the strengthening of national leagues, followed by a day of CEO/GS mentoring before concluding with financial management.
The OFC Champions League is a key event on the Oceania football calendar and only once has the New Zealand stronghold on the competition been broken since Australia left the Confederation.
The need to build a strong foundation and create financial autonomy was at the forefront as discussions were steered towards the possible ways of achieving this in the region.
Singapore FA CEO Winston Lee shared his experience of growing the S-League into a marketable brand, using limited resources.
“Before you start you have to have goals, and especially when it comes to marketing,” Lee said. “When you want to market a league you have to consider before and after the game – that includes talking to tour customers, sponsors and fans regularly.”
But a Member Association can only be as strong as the people leading, as FIFA Development Officer Eva Pasquier pointed out on day three as the seminar switched focus.
“Most important is the three ‘W’ system – who, what and when. This system provides a good overview and especially in assessing the results,” she told the gathered CEOs and General Secretaries.
The final two days moved to financial management, linking the topics of the previous three days as the presenters helped participants explore the role good financial management can play in the success of an association.
Fiji FA CEO Bob Kumar explained to the audience how effective the decision to outsource the association’s accounts has been.
“The system of an in-house elected treasurer was not ideal as finding a volunteer for the position proved difficult on a part-time basis and the federation had to wait for cheque signing and so on,” Kumar said.
“With a bigger turnover of activities it became cumbersome to manage and this has proven a successful option,” Kumar said.
This was seconded by Pasquier who said outsourcing can reduce some of the risks associated with having a sole-charge accounts person.
“Some Member Associations have not had a good experience with a single person working as a financial manager, outsourcing provides assurances this won’t happen because it’s a company that stands behind its services, the dangers are much less,” Pasquier said.
New regulations are being adopted by FIFA in regards to its Financial Assistance Programme and the finance officers were given help coming to grips with how they will be effected, as well as the consequences of non-compliance.
The seminar concluded earlier this afternoon with Pasquier crediting the Member Associations on their ability to continue to strive in the face of the many challenges they are faced with.
“It’s been amazing to see over the past few years your development and in 2014 we will continue working together to achieve even better results,” she said.
“Thank you for all your hard work, for all your initiatives, for all your comments and I would also like to say for your friendship. I always enjoy visiting this region because I feel in a really warm environment.”
OFC General Secretary Tai Nicholas was charged with officially closing the FIFA/OFC Development Seminar, but not before he extended an official thanks on behalf of the OFC President and the OFC Exectutive Committee he thanked the FIFA delegation for all their work over the past five days and beyond.
“Speaking frankly, financial management is a weakness for our member associations and the President and I, and the executive want to spend as much of our resources and manpower as we can to ensure this is improved over the next 12 months.” Nicolas said.
“Everything that you see today and everything that OFC has achieved since 2011 is really thanks to the work that Eva, Thierry and Cyril are doing on our behalf. I think as a confederation we are really fortunate for the amount of money, resource, help and assistance we receive from the entire FIFA Development division.
“We should be pleased by what we’ve achieved in the past, and by what we will achieve in the future as a confederation.”
The FIFA/OFC Development Seminar was held in Auckland, New Zealand from 15-19 November. Representatives from ten of the 11 OFC Member Associations were present throughout the event.

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