Fiji club side Lautoka will make its return to the OFC Champions League in 2018 after the Blues took out the Premier League title, with Ba FC joining them after finishing second.
Lautoka haven’t made an appearance in the region’s premier international club competition since 2011, and made sure their return would be a deserved one.
The side remains undefeated in the national league, topping the table with 34 points with one last match to play against Rewa.
Despite falling short in both the Fiji Fact and Battle of the Giants, Kamal Swamy’s side regrouped to ensure a fairytale run to the OFC Champions League maintaining an unbeaten run of 13 consecutive league games.
Lautoka President Abdul Kadar said the vision for the association in the lead up to this season was clear.
“Early this year we set up a target and our target was to concentrate on the league from the first game,” he said.
“We started well and led the points table throughout. Although we lost at the Battle of the Giants and the Fiji Fact, our impressive performances at league games motivated the players to play their hearts out.”
He said hard work, sacrifice and commitment from the players as well as the club’s executive officials and families helped the side achieve their objective.
“Credit goes out to the boys for achieving our goal,” Kadar said.
“Not only did we win the title but we maintained our unbeaten run in this competition.”