Samoan football club Kiwi FC have joined the region's top tier after winning the Oceania Champions League Preliminary tournament in Pago Pago.
The Samoan club team beat defending champions Tupapa Maraerenga 3-0 in Sunday's final round robin match to earn direct qualification into the Oceania Champions League main draw.
Head coach Martin Tamasese told Vinnie Wylie he's extremely proud of his player's achievement and is looking forward to coming up against the other top clubs in April next year.
MARTIN TAMASESE: Winning this tournament, it's a great success for us. And not only for the name of Kiwi Football Club, but the name of our country Samoa. So I know we'll be in a pool of good teams from New Zealand, but I know my boys will be out and practicing for that tournament.
VINNIE WYLIE: For the local players in Samoa, no team from the Cooks or Samoa or American Samoa had really been a part of this Champions League tournament for the last few years, so to get your players playing at that high level is obviously going to be very good for football back home.
MT: Yeah, that's right. Most of our players are national players for Samoa, so they play the games like that before s we'll still have that experience with my overseas player. It will be a good team for us in Fiji.
VW: Your team recruited very well in the off-season last year, with some of those overseas-based players, the best known is probably Andy Barron, the former All White. What sort of difference did those guys make to your team?
MT: In Samoa we have our own style of play, but put together with my overseas players we can adjust to the play that we usually play in Samoa and also my players from overseas. So it's easy for us to adjust for the six days that we were doing our practice and training. But getting these overseas players is really good for our local players to understand the style that the overseas players are playing.
VW: And those overseas-based players, now that you've qualified for the Oceania Champions League main draw, which is the first time that's happened from this tournament, will all of those overseas-based guys be able to participate in that?
MT: We haven't talked with the boys yet about whether they're willing to join the team again before the tournament in Fiji. So we are planning to put together our team before the tournament in New Zealand or in Upolo to train and practice before the tournament starts.
