-- #Oceania football docu review --
German main sports show @sportschau aired a short 10 minutes piece on football in #Tonga last Thursday. As such pieces are super rare (and it is only available in German), let me briefly review its content
1/ https://twitter.com/sportschau/status/1288866189742149633

The docu clearly highlights the positive impact #FIFA (and their money/investments) can have on a small nation such as Tonga (100k pop). #Tonga hosts one of the most obese populations and studies show that football is one of the sports best suited to tackle this health issue.
2/

FIFA apparently invests 6 million USD over 4 years in Tongan football - or 60 USD per inhabitant. That is a significant investment for any sport and a great contribution to tackle obesity and promote the beautiful game in Tonga and beyond.
3/

Subsequently, the football infrastructure in Tonga is incredible! While the author disqualifies the stadium "as being of a lower-league standard in Germany" the main island has 3 such pitches plus a FIFA standard stadium. No German city with 70k inhabitants would have that.
4/

That, however, is also one of the downer. Of the almost 169 islands, football is only developed on the main island. There is literally no football whatsoever on any of the other parts of the country. The Tongan FA, OFC and FIFA do nothing to change that.
5/

The docu shows well how dubious FAs in small nations typically are. They just are a the best-funded body on the island and thus hold lots of powers. They have 30 full-time employees for 5000 players (all ages and genders combined), who are all amateurs.
6/

There are no checks and balances where all the money goes. FIFA just wires it over and is aware that their smaller members will be loyal to them, as they naturally grateful. The documentary could not unveil where the millions end up
7/

A remark here: Building the infrastructure, traveling to international matches, educating referees and coaches and other development tasks are usually covered by additional grants. The FIFA report lists 1.5 million / 2 years just for "running costs" <- use unknown!
8/

To cater for a German audience, the corruption is highlighted by asking the FA president about his take on Qatar2022. He approves the decision. But that's irrelevant. He did not vote and surely just does not care much, as he will know Tonga is unlikely to qualify.
9/

The docu also keeps mentioning that Tonga is a "third world country" and "very poor". That might true, but says nothing about their football (as the docu implies). Colombia is "poorer" than Germany, but higher ranked. Senegal is close to Germany in the ranking, too.
10/

There are also some factual mistakes. The docu claims that Tonga's national team hasn't played since 2018. They played 4 matches in the Pacific Games Qualifiers in 2019, though (lost all vs. NZ U23, PNG, Samoa and Vanuatu).
11/

Finally - my takeaway is very different to the intended one, I guess. The docu highlights what FIFA/OFC COULD do for Tuvalu, Kiribati, Nauru, Palau, Marshall Islands, FSM or Niue, if they would just want to!
12/

All these nations aren't in OFC/FIFA, yet, and often have been rejected membership. Some where told their infrastructure isn't good enough - while the docu clearly shows that ALL infrastructure Tonga has was actually built by FIFA after they joined
13/

Others were told that their leagues should include all islands and not just the main one - something that Tonga clearly does not manage either, despite the millions and the full-time employees.
14/15

That said - FIFA and OFC, please just allow the sport you represent to be promoted by treating all nations equal. Your impact to society and the sport can be massive, if you just allow it to happen, as the docu shows.
15/15

CC @FtblOceania @OceaniaOFCe @paul_c_watson @unchrtdfootball