2025 Kicks Off With OFC Men's Champions League - Qualifying, In Cook Islands

Hosts Tupapa Maraerenga FC are joined by American Samoa's Royal Puma FC and Vaipuna SC from Samoa, with so much on the line in OFC's first competition of 2025.

For Tupapa, it represents a rare opportunity to play on home soil, with the last time the Cook Islands hosted an OFC competition being almost ten years ago in 2016.

Coach Tuka Tisam - who led Cook Islands in their FIFA World Cup 26™ Oceania Qualifiers campaign - is hoping that the chance to play at home can be a motivating factor for his squad.

"Yeah, it's going to be a lot of pressure on us [playing at home], so we're going to have to make sure we perform.

"I think the boys will take on that pressure and hopefully they'll perform well in front of a home crowd," Tisam said.

They will have to wait however, as match day one sees Royal Puma and Vaipuna meet, with the chance to steal a march in this shortened qualifying format.

Royal Puma coach Paul Ualesi is confident his side has prepared well and are ready for the challenge that awaits when they face the team that many have down as pre-tournament favourites.

"I believe in my team, I think they are going to show some real talent and show what they're capable of in this tournament.

"It's a incredible honour to represent American Samoa - i'm filled with pride. We're the underdogs here, so expectations are low but there's high potential for a surprise as well," he said.

On the opposite bench come Saturday will be Faapopo Iamafana, leading Vaipua SC. The Samoans are seen as the strongest side of the three but nothing is being taken for granted and preparations are well in hand ahead of their huge opening match against Royal Puma on Friday afternoon.

"Preparations have been good. The team are well prepared both physically and mentally for the tournament," Iamafana said.

"We've had the players together all throughout last season in Samoa, so in terms of preparation it really began back at the beginning of last year," the coach explained.

With only three teams in the running, there's little margin for error and no time to get up to speed. Whoever manages to hit the ground running, may very well be the side that finds themselves on the plane to Honiara come March.

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