2024 Result: Did not qualify
Head Coach: Leo Lopez
AS Tiga Sport join a competitive Group A at this year’s OFC Men’s Champions League, with the New Caledonian’s back in the fold having missed out on qualification in 2024.
In their most recent showing – in Vanuatu in 2023 – one win from three meant a fourth-place finish in the group, missing out on a semi-final place after a final match day defeat to Ifira Black Bird.
2025 will be only the second time Tiga Sport have appeared at an OFC Men’s Champions League. Before 2023, they unfortunately missed out in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, despite having won their domestic championship.
Despite this, there are always high expectations when it comes to New Caledonian teams at the OFC Men’s Champions League. Notably, the last team other than New Zealand’s Auckland City FC to win the title, was Hienghène Sport, who defeated AS Magenta in an all-New Caledonian final in 2019.
The national team is also performing very well – making it to the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup 26™ Oceania Qualifiers – whilst their U-19 team have qualified for this year’s FIFA U-20 World Cup in Chile.
Due to civil unrest in New Caledonia, the 2024 domestic league was unable to be completed, with the Fédération Calédonienne de Football (FCF) nominating AS Tiga Sport as their representative for this year’s OFC Men’s Champions League.
Leo Lopez was in charge for that 2023 campaign and is well aware preparations have been challenging, considering the lack of domestic football in the country.
“We have had particularly challenging preparations because we have not had official matches for almost a year now, with the total stoppage of the championship since May 2024.
“We resumed training in late January to try and best prepare ourselves for a tournament that is close to our hearts and our desire is to best represent the island of Tokanod and New Caledonian football,” the coach said.
Despite this, Tiga Sport have had some opportunities to play friendly matches in the build up to the Champions League, which Lopez is grateful for.
“We’ve played some friendly matches against other clubs in the domestic championship and also against the national team, as they prepare for the FIFA World Cup 26™ Oceania Qualifier against Tahiti.
“But we know these matches will never replace the real official matches in terms of intensity and commitment. We thank these clubs however and the Fédération Calédonienne de Football for allowing us to have these matches,” Lopez said.
As mentioned, another obstacle for Tiga Sport is the involvement of New Caledonia in the FIFA World Cup 26™ Oceania Qualifiers semi-final against Tahiti in Wellington, New Zealand on March 21.
It’s meant that the coach has been without a number of players as they handle national team obligations before returning to club action.
“It’s also complicated because we have 5 or 6 players who are also part of the national team group and that means we cannot work with all of our players in training.
“However, I thank Johann Sidaner (New Caledonia national team coach), with whom we’ve been able to establish a programme for players who have this double objective and we can prepare them as well as possible,” he explained.
Photo Credit: OFC Media via Phototek
AS Tiga Sport fixtures
Kick-off times local
v Rewa FC
Sunday, March 30 | 12:00pm
v Auckland City FC
Wednesday, April 2 | 3:00pm
v AS Pirae
Saturday, April 5 | 12:00pm