Football investment

BY PETER ZOLEVEKE II

THE national government through its Sol2023 National Hosting Authority (NHA) Secretariat investment in football is biggest for compared for any national sport.

This was according to Sol2023 NHA Chairman Dr Jimmie Rodgers when delivering his remarks during the handover of the Sir Allan Boso complex over the weekend.

“The government investment in soccer is the single largest investment in any sport in this country,” Dr Rodgers revealed.

With hopes for futsal and beach soccer to be included in the Pacific Games 2023 responsible sporting bodies had already forwarded the bids while the Pacific Games Council (PGC) is awaiting the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) submission.

“Futsal and beach soccer are not yet in the Pacific Games, but thanks to SIFF all requirements from here has been done and now it’s up to OFC in contact with PGC to include the sports as the variation of soccer,” Dr. Rodgers said.

“The government wants four gold medals for soccer, we are known as the Brazilian of the Pacific but we haven’t got a gold medal yet. And in 2023 we will prove our regional neighbours,” Dr Rodgers said.

Dr Rodgers revealed that for football it will include the national men’s team, national women’s team, national futsal team (Kurukuru) and the national beach soccer team (Bilikiki).

“For our women, there’s the target for you, it doesn’t mean that we will get gold but it means we put our best into it,” says Dr Rodgers.

Sol2023 NHA has also processed for the inclusion of the new disciplines, along with the National Olympic Committee of Solomon Islands (NOCSI).

PGC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Andrew Minogue recently in a statement to SunSPORTS when asked, stated that they have yet to receive OFC’s submission regarding.

“No, we have not received anything yet. We need a submission from the Oceania Federation, in this case, OFC and we are waiting for that,” Minogue stated.

Part of the Government football investment is giving the federation a 6 hectare land that NHA will be facilitating the design and construction of the 2023 Pacific Games and will be called the Football Training Centre, which will be the new home of the Solomon Islands Football Federation. This football complex will cover an area of up to 3.9 hectares and the facilities will include;

  • 2 standard sized football fields with their own changing rooms
  • A beach soccer pitch
  • A outdoor futsal court
  • A two-storey administration building
  • A two-storey Dormitory building

Construction is expected to commence mid-2021. It is hoped that fields can be delivered by end of the year according to NHA.

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