The 12 round tournament was organised by FCF and is one step in the federation’s process as it aims to see its national beach soccer squad qualify for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup being held in Tahiti in September 2013.
With Tahiti having already qualified as hosts there is another Oceania berth up for grabs which New Caledonia aims to secure ahead of some of the region’s more established beach soccer sides from Vanuatu and Solomon Islands.
FCF head of beach soccer and futsal Philippe Jiane says he is pleased at the success of the event, held every Sunday at the federation’s beach soccer field at Paita, and is hopeful that while it was the first, it won’t be the last.
“The objective is to make beach soccer sustainable here in New Caledonia. After that we will try to implement a regular championship,” Jiane says.
“That’s the reason why we have held this competition now. What is also important is that these players have to be very serious about what we want to do.”
Jiane says with the tour done and dusted the focus can now turn solely to the preparations of the national team that will participate in the OFC Beach Soccer Championship scheduled for August.
National beach soccer coach Felix Tagawa says they have some strong competition they will need to overcome in order to earn tickets to Tahiti, but is confident he has the right group of players to do the job.
“We have seen a great level of investment from the players already, and that is what we need in order to be as well prepared as possible for the Beach Soccer World Cup qualifiers,” Tagawa says.
“I’m very optimistic about New Caledonia’s chances, otherwise I wouldn’t be here. But there are still a number of stages to overcome, though we don’t have a lot of time to do it.”
Jiane says the federation is 100 per cent behind Tagawa.
“We believe Felix can build a strong team with a good mix of both new and experienced players. It’s very important for us to give beach soccer a hand,” Jiane says.
“We want to qualify for Tahiti and represent our country well.”
He says while the short term goal of the tour is to help the side qualify for Tahiti, long term he sees it as the perfect launching pad for developing the sand-based sport in New Caledonia.
For more on New Caledonia football go to www.fedcalfoot.com

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