The esteemed Gianni Infantino – President of FIFA,
Members of the FIFA delegation,
Honourable Ministers of the Coalition Government,
Fiji FA President Mr Rajesh Patel,
Fiji FA Executives,
District Association Executives,
Invited guests and friends
On behalf of Prime Minister Honourable Sitiveni Rabuka, the People’s Coalition Government expresses its warmest welcome to Mr Infantino on the occasion of his brief but historic visit to our beloved nation.
It is indeed gratifying that Mr Infantino has decided to visit our shores and, be appraised and see for himself how Fiji FA has been utilising the grants FIFA provides its affiliates annually to develop and grow the only truly global sport.
Given the fact that football has spread to every frontier on the Globe, Mr Infantino, like his predecessors is by far the most powerful sporting Administrator in the world. This has undoubtedly elevated his status as a Global Ambassador of Peace and Goodwill.
The fact that Mr Infantino is spearheading plans for FIFA to host its World Championships outside of traditional soccer powerhouses – for example the Women’s World Cup in New Zealand and Australia – augurs extremely well not only for the sport and its global reach, but also regional economies.
We also note that under Mr Infantino’s leadership, FIFA is expanding the Men’s World Cup, the most watched and followed global event, from 32 to 48 teams in 2026, to be hosted by 16 cities in North America, namely the United States, Canada and Mexico.
No doubt, this will act as a catalyst for regional nations especially Fiji to make reality the dream of taking part in the biggest sporting event, not in 3 years’ time, but in the near future should this format be adopted as the way forward beyond 2026.
Mr Infantino is succeeding in making sure FIFA is soaring to new heights because of transparency, accountability and good governance. This is the foundation of genuine development, growth and success. And he has successfully improved the image of FIFA that was tarnished by the previous leadership, mainly by staying on the job for far too long.
The principles of accountability, transparency and good governance must not be compromised by short-term gain. Because this will result in long term-pain.
As a government of the people, for the people and by the people, the Prime Minister and his team have set about re-setting the moral compass of our nation’s governance after 16 years of a rule that we know was aimed at promoting self-interest and not national interest.
By the same logic, we expect other organisations to shirk their way of cosmetic governance to ensure the future we bequeath to our people is full of hope and opportunity.
And Fiji FA is no exception. We all are wondering why our men’s football ranking has plummeted to an all-time low despite an abundance of talent and football in our country.
We were ranked in the 90’s before the turn of the century. We used to defeat every nation in our region. We chalked up two wins over Australia in 1977 and 1988. We either beat or were on par with New Zealand.
And that was in an era when football wasn’t even semiprofessional. We are now professional according to our standings of player fees and transfers. But we aren’t improving despite what we are told are three football academies, primarily funded by FIFA.
Is it lack of development? Are we unable to nurture, harness and develop talents into footballers who make it their career and mission?
Why is there no emphasis on the part of the districts to have local league amongst clubs? It used to be a highlight every weekend and attended by a few thousand spectators.
Or is it to do with governance where heads of corporate organisations or friends, of mostly similar political allegiance, make the rules?
What I said isn’t about recrimination. It is the reality where football descended to in the last 16 years. But it will change. And change for the better. Our conscience must be clear when dealing with governance issues.
We know FIFA has, is and will continue to invest in the development of football. And the Coalition Government stand ready to cooperate in this regard.
Today, the honourable Minister for Education will sign a Memorandum of Understanding on Football for Schools – an initiative of FIFA. We suggest it be expanded after gauging the success of this program. But it needs willpower and determination to implement it.
It depends on development coaches of various age groups that will hopefully be recruited. It depends on Fiji FA’s resolve to secure and harness talent of players who will be future stars – for example from the recent participation in the U-20 world cup. And it depends on parents or guardians of talents identified by the development coaches.
They can be housed at the respective Academies. And be taught the approved curriculum of Education Ministry by teachers. This will be a win-win situation for both the students and Fiji FA.
Firstly, the students’ education will not be compromised. They can pursue a career path of their choice if they are unable to prove themselves to be prolific football talents.
Secondly, they will have the best opportunity to train as a group, learn from the best football coaches and upgrade their skills without any distraction. Simply, get both educated and be trained to be good footballers with two career paths to choose from.
Of course this will depend on the success of the Football for Schools program to be implemented in partnership with FIFA and the watchful eyes of our development coaches to identify talents.
Talents that have the potential to make a name for themselves and do their nation proud on the football grounds both here and abroad.
The men’s World Cup in Qatar towards the end of last year and the women’s world cup underway a few hours flight time away in New Zealand and Australia have shown us what hard work and sacrifice can achieve.
Last December, Morocco became the first African nation to reach the World Cup semi-finals, beating powerhouses like Spain and Portugal on their way to achieving an historic 4th place finish.
Earlier this week, the South African and Jamaican women’s teams knocked out Italy and Brazil respectively. South Korea ended Germany’s hopes. And like their male counterparts, Morocco has qualified for the knockout stages.
Fiji has the potential to do the same. It can climb up the ladder after having gained valuable experience through participation in two U-20 World Cups in the last 8 years.
The Coalition Government is pleased to note that FIFA is supporting plans for the development of a multi-million dollar state of the art facility to be completed in 3 phases. This will include the development of a high performance centre, which in our view can be used by our talents graduating out of the football academies.
It will also involve the development of an artificial pitch and a 15,000 state of the art 15,000 seat stadium at Lomolomo between Lautoka and Nadi.
For its part, the Coalition Government stands ready to support such developments because we strongly believe that sports plays a key role in a nation’s progress. And football and rugby are two sports that are in pole position to give our nation glory and fame.
I thank Mr Infantino once again for taking keen interest in the development and progress of football in our nation. FIFA’s support and financial commitment towards development and implementation of projects is indeed laudable.
What we need to do both as football administrators and as a nation is not to keep shifting the goalposts but to set our sights firmly on taking football to greater heights.
Only then will we be able to achieve equality and unity through football and contribute positively towards making Fiji a land of hope and opportunity.
Thank you. Vinaka Vakalevu. Dhanyavaad.