The first edition of the Coupe des Top 8 was held at the Federation Tahitienne de Football technical headquarters in Pirae with eight teams taking part in the three-day competition.
Following their visit to Wellington, New Zealand to attend the FIFA Women’s Football Seminar, James Perry and Angela Taiarui of the FTF launched the tournament to provide a chance for women to play football and promote the game as a sport women can take part in.
After a series of matches played throughout the weekend, two exciting semi-finals were set-up between Pirae and Punaauia and Tefana and Papara.
The first of the semi-finals was an incredibly close match-up with neither team managing to edge ahead at the end of regular time – two halves of 15 minutes each – sending the game to a penalty shootout. It was eventually Punaauia who won through to the final the score ending 2-0 in their favour.
The second semi-final was a much different affair with Tefana’s Mariko Izal and Mimosa Marmouyet scoring a goal a-piece to take a 2-0 lead into the break. In the second period Tefana continued their dominance with a third goal to team captain Maruina Tom Sin Vien coming five minutes from the final whistle and ensuring a final between Tefana and Punaauia.
The play-off for third/fourth between Pirae and Papara was played over one 20 minute period with Pirae taking third place with a 3-1 victory.
With two 20 minute halves to be played in order to find the first ever Coupe des Top 8 champion, Tefana made their plans obvious from the get-go as Marmouyet opened the scoring in the first few minutes of the game. The women from Punaauia didn’t put their heads down however and five minutes from the break equalised through China Huuti. With just 20 minutes remaining both sides were jostling to earn the advantage over their opponent. The break finally came for Tefana as their captain Tom Sin Vien came to the rescue once again with just two minutes remaining to secure a 2-1 victory and the title.
Co-organiser Angela Taiarui says the competition was a huge success with all of the participants thoroughly enjoying the experience of playing competitive football.
She says the plan is for the tournament to become an annual event, with each edition hopefully attracting more teams and players than the last, with a view to expanding to Youth and Grassroots level in the future.

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