Hailing from the villages of Alamagoto, Faleapuna and Vaitoomuli Savaii Setefano started his footballing career as a ten-year-old.
After growing up playing for his village with Adidas Sports Club in Samoa’s Premier League Setefano left for New Zealand in 2010 to play for Upper Hutt City in the country’s capital of Wellington.
“Playing in New Zealand was a really good experience, especially against players from other countries like Argentina, Chile, Australia and Solomon Islands,” he says.
Setefano has also come face-to-face with a range of talented footballers throughout his international career, which began when he was selected for the Samoa U-12 national team in 1999 and has continued with his last appearance in Samoa colours coming during the OFC Nations Cup in 2012.
Despite his success he never forgot his roots in Samoa and is now pleased to be returning to work with FFS at the Centre for Development and on the Fun Football Programme.
Setefano says as a child he was shy and had low self-esteem but picking up football really helped to bring him out of his shell.
“I remember the first day I practiced football, me and my little brother used our dad’s tennis ball to dribble in our garage,” he recalls.
“It has always been a dream to play football in the professional level and that’s the main purpose why I’m here, because I want to help out with the development of football in Samoa.”
Setefano believes that following personal success, we should give back to the community to help other people benefit from our experiences.
“I’ve had a lot of success in my footballing career and now I am inspired to share this success with our youngsters.”
Setefano recently participated in a FIFA Youth Coaching course held in July and was part of the Zova introductory workshop in early August. He is a FFAS volunteer and a referee as well as a footballer.
For more on Samoan football go to www.footballsamoa.ws

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