Oceania Football Confederation

"It is a practical solution and easy to use no matter where you may be in the world." Peter Rees, Media Officer, Oceania Football Confederation. www.oceaniafootball.com

Brief History:

The Oceania Football Confederation was formed in 1966, being officially recognised as the sixth continental confederation affiliated to FIFA, the world governing body of football. The OFC is the youngest of FIFA's confederations, and has recently inducted its 12th full member, New Caledonia, to its growing list of federations.

Before SportingPulse.....

Before joining SportingPulse, OFC did not have a website and relied solely on press releases for distribution of information. This meant that information was relatively limited and reached a minimal audience. Tournament competition information was processed manually, meaning that information was duplicated multiple times before reaching the public, and historical information was not as readily available to the organization and the public.

Improved communication:

Peter Rees comments on the benefits experienced by members, "Our members have been pleased with the readily available information and likewise have benefited from the wider coverage that has exposed their associations' activities outside of Oceania."

Peter goes on to say "Some members are now taking the next step to embrace the competition technology and run their own websites." This is an important step for OFC, as it ultimately is resulting in the region taking the giant leap from manual processing and minimal exposure to state of the art technology, global exposure and an updated regional database to assist in future development of the game in the region.

Enhancing the brand:

Peter comments on the subsequent effect of the increasing exposure and information efficiency "The system has resulted in increased awareness of the OFC brand and its activities through the website and provided statistical information for our tournaments as well as opening up more opportunities to promote the game worldwide."

The OFC website is currently receiving around 30% of its visitors from over 30 countries outside the region, predominantly the United States, Brazil, Italy, Japan, UK and the Netherlands. With the increasing development of the sport in the region, countries like the Solomon Islands are now receiving over 8,000 page requests per month.

Increased efficiency in managing tournaments and competitions:

OFC are now managing tournaments through a specialised software application (Sportzware Central), meaning that information like draws, premiership standings, goals scorers, substitutions, yellow and red cards etc are all kept in a local database, and available on the internet in virtual real time. Peter says "The benefit of all competition information being managed locally without the reliance on a fast internet connection is particularly valuable in our region, we can now setup draws and enter registrations and results, and print off reports offline, and send this information to the internet in seconds to keep the public up to date with all results as they happen."

Positive response from members and the peers:

Peter says: "It is pleasing to be receiving such positive feedback both from within the region and from all corners of the globe.