The Solomon Islands have appointed Felipe Vega-Arango as the coach of their senior men’s national team.

Vega-Arango is no stranger to the area having previously worked as the country’s Technical Director and he briefly managed the national side in 2017.

The Spaniard said he was thrilled to be involved with the Solomon Islands again and thought they had the potential to be the best team in the Pacific.

“There is wonderful talent here but we need to go to the next level,” he said during his introductory press conference, which can be viewed here.

“I’m going to work really hard to help Solomon football.”

Aside from his role with the senior men’s team, Vega-Arango will also provide technical support to the nation’s youth and women’s teams.

Meanwhile, the Solrais Women’s Premier League in the Solomon Islands is due to return this weekend after the mid-season break was extended by a week.

In New Zealand, the men’s and women’s national knockout cups took centre stage during the weekend.

Results from the men’s Chatham Cup and the women’s Football Foundation Kate Sheppard Cup can be found here.

Round 4 of the Chatham Cup and the quarter-finals of the Kate Sheppard Cup will take place across the weekend of July 10-11 and the draw for those matches took place on Tuesday.

In the men’s National League, Eastern Suburbs AFC and North Shore United played out a 0-0 draw on Tuesday in a Northern League catch-up fixture.

The result didn’t change either side’s position on the ladder, which can be found here.

Vanuatu’s Champions League began on Wednesday with two matches in Luganville.

The competition features eight teams split into two groups of four. Each side will play everyone in their pool once and the top two will advance to the semi-finals.

Group A consists of Kraisun FC, Eraniao FC, Patvuti FC, and RueRue FC, while Group B includes the Malampa Revivors, Galaxy FC, Nere FC and, Fanla FC.

Patvuti were set to open the tournament against RueRue before Eraniao were due to meet Kraisun.

Group B will begin on Thursday with Malampa scheduled to play Nere and Galaxy set to tackle Fanla.

Matches will be played every two or three days and the semi-finals are set to take place on July 1 with the grand final two days later.

Results can be found on the Vanuatu Football Federation Facebook page and Twitter account.

In Tahiti, AS Pirae defeated Tefana 3-0 in their Tahiti Cup semi-final during the weekend and they will meet AS Vénus in the final on June 26 after Vénus defeated Punaruu 3-1. Catch the highlights of the latest football action in Tahiti in this video below. Please note this is a French language video.

Hienghène Sport extended their lead at the top of the Super Ligue standings in New Caledonia as they beat Qanono Sport 3-0 on Saturday, while the second-placed Tiga Sport were upset 2-0 by AS Mont-Dore.

In the league’s other matches, Dumbéa FC topped JS Baco 3-2, AS Lössi battled to a 1-1 draw with SC Ne Drehu, Magenta hammered RC Poindimié 4-0, and AS Kunie got the better of Horizon Patho 4-1.

In Samoa, the fifth round of their men’s national league was dominated by some one-sided scorelines as the leaders continued to flex their muscles.

The table-topping Vaipuna beat Vaitele-Uta 5-2, the second-placed Lupe Ole Soaga hammered Faatoia 5-0, USP topped Moata’a 7-1, Vaivase defeated Vaiusu 5-2, Kiwi smashed Togafuafua 10-0, and Sogi edged Lion of Judah 2-1.

In the women’s competition, both Kiwi and Lupe remain undefeated through five rounds.

Last week, Lupe got the better of Sogi 14-0, while Kiwi, who are at the top of the table on goal difference, eased past LFC 6-0.

In other matches, Moata’a beat Adidas 3-2, Faleasiu drew 2-2 with Faatoia, and Vaipuna beat Saleimoa 6-2.

A camp is being held at the Loto-Tonga Soccer Centre in Tonga this week for the 40 players named in an extended national women’s squad.

Football remains on hold in Fiji due to COVID-19, while the men’s national league in Papua New Guinea is set to get underway next month.

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