The Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) continues to strengthen its partnership with Football Australia Limited (FA) through the Australian Government and Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs – PacificAus sports.
Solomon Islands national futsal team, Kurukuru will play the Australian national futsal team, Futsalroos in the PacificAus Sports International Futsal Series 2023 in Sydney, Australia in a three-match series.
This was following a Match Agreement between FA and SIFF in recognizing the Australian Government’s funding support following the Pacific Step-Up Tour in 2019 visit by the Junior Matildas, the Pacific Women’s Four Nations Tournament in 2022 attended by the national senior women’s team, and now this year with Kurukuru.
In a pre-departure press conference Kurukuru head coach Damon Shaw acknowledges the Australian government for making this possible.
“It’s the PacificAus initiative, and it’s hosted by Football Australia where SIFF is a partner supported by the Australian government. Without that, we could not go to these friendlies, we weren’t planning to travel in July because we were planning August and September as the key months in terms of preparations for the OFC Futsal World Cup qualifiers,” Shaw said.
“Fortunately, the Australian Government helps with the funding and we are excited about this – maybe we can also host Australia in the future.
Through the partnership, FA stated a potential football event can also be proposed in the lead-up to the Sol2023 Pacific Games in November.
PacificAus Sports International Futsal Series 2023 match schedule:
Australia vs Solomon Islands – Saturday 1 July at 4:30 pm (SI Time)
Solomon Islands vs Australia – Monday 3 July at 7:30 pm (SI Time)
Australia vs Solomon Islands – Wednesday 5 July at 7:30 pm (SI Time)
