Tonga is one of the first Member Associations in line for OFC’s latest initiative, The OFC Education Centre, a project instigated by OFC President David Chung.

OFC Instructor Paul Toohey and FIFA Consultant Glenn Turner discussed the OFC Education Centre concept, objectives, and TFA’s role in the 2017 implementation in a three-day workshop last week.

TFA members were given the direction and knowledge to establish and sustain the TFA Education Centre, develop a comprehensive curriculum with specific learning programmes and activities, provide appropriate learning courses and experiences, retain all participants, and review the outcomes on an annual basis.

In achieving these things, TFA aims to be recognised by government, partners and the football community as a credible provider of football education programmes.

TFA President Lord Ve’ehala believes the goals of the Education Centre align with TFA’s vision, ‘to popularise football in Tonga’, and said that members of the association were in unanimous support of implementation in 2017.

‘’This is a remarkable initiative, and I am forever grateful to OFC President, Mr David Chung for approving Tonga to be one of the first to set up an Education Centre,” Ve’ehala said.

“This workshop was very fruitful and we all now fully understand what lies ahead of us. I have no doubt creating this Education Centre will make a huge contribution to the development of football in Tonga and the OFC region,” he added.

After witnessing the great strides in development that Tonga has already achieved through both this year’s OFC U-20 and U-17 preliminary competitions, TFA CEO Lui Áho is excited about further development and ready to start planning in time for the 2017 roll out.

“We have four months before the implementation period begins and we all have roles to play before 2017. This is not a long period, therefore we will need to work together to fulfil all that is required for a successful launch,” he said.

The enthusiasm of TFA has left Toohey and Turner feeling confident in the decision to start the Education Centre in Tonga.

‘’On behalf of Paul Toohey and I, I wish to extend our gratitude to Tonga Football Association for their full participation and contribution while attending this workshop,” Turner said.

“We are both looking forward to the implementation of the TFA Education Centre in 2017.”

For more on Tonga football go to www.tongafootball.to