The relaunch of the Palau Soccer League, as well as national team and youth matches have been suspended due to the only soccer specific pitch in the country being under renovation.
By: Gareth Johnson
This was according to acting Chairman of the Palau Football Association (PFA) Lukeson Sifix who stated “The PFA are sad to announce that we will not be able to do any competition or league until October 2024. this is due to our only field (Track and Field Stadium) that we use for the league being under renovation”
According to a post on the Palau Athletics Facebook page, the stadium will be closed for over 200 days.
The Palau Soccer League was the highest level of club competition within Palau and ran from 2006 on/off until the outbreak of Covid 19.
Lukeson had previously stated that the league would resume in February this year with “four or five teams” before announcing the latest setback to domestic football.
The football scene in Palau
As a country heavily associated with the United States football within Palau has struggled to gain popularity, leaving the tiny Pacific island nation one of only six countries not to be a member of FIFA, or any regional football association.
Yet despite this the Palau Football Association (PFA) was founded in 2002 as a non-government organization (NGO) affiliated to the Palau Olympic Committee.
Since then overall success has been mixed, with the team playing a number of matches, as well as getting associate membership of the Oceania Football Confederation, although this has since seemingly lapsed.
Looking to Asia
Long term though the PFA see themselves within the realms of Asia, with Lukeson telling us “Our long term aim is to join the Asian Football Confederation, rather than Oceania. This is for a number of reasons, such as geographical and cultural, but also due to the fact that the AFC seems to be much more organized”.
Palau had reportedly previously tried to join the East Asia Football Federation, although they were unsuccessful.
Yet despite the numerous setbacks and seeming reluctance of governing bodies to support them the goal remained the same “one day we want to join FIFA”. We can only hope that those on power see fit to help at some point.
Written by Gareth Johnson
About the author: Gareth Johnson is the founder of travel company Young Pioneer Tours, as well being part of the Nauru Soccer Federation.
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