Oceania President Chung resigns for personal reasons

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - David Chung has resigned as president of the Oceania Football Confederation, citing personal issues, the organisation said on Friday.

Oceania President Chung resigns for personal reasons

(Reuters)





Chung, who was made a senior FIFA vice president last September, had been in charge of the confederation since 2011.

"David Chung, has resigned from his position effective immediately," the OFC said in a statement.

"Chung, who has been at the helm of OFC since 2011, took the decision after much deliberation citing personal reasons."

The OFC Executive Committee is scheduled to meet on April 8.

The OFC was not immediately available for further comment.

Malaysia-born Chung was initially temporarily appointed to the OFC presidency in 2010 following the one-year suspension to Tahiti's Reynald Temarri for breaching FIFA's ethics and confidentiality rules.

Chung was elected unopposed to the OFC role for a four-year term in January 2011 and then re-elected in 2015.

The 55-year-old, who is also in charge of the Papua New Guinea FA, has been embroiled in a struggle at home for the last 18 months with a breakaway body of rival soccer administrators.

Chung's opponents have alleged that he had illegally excluded voters for their candidate John Kapi Natto in the PNGFA elections in 2016. Chung has denied the allegations.

Last year, the rival administrators set up their own soccer federation, the Football Federation PNG (FFPNG), and a club competition, the National Premier League (NPL).

Neither is recognised by the OFC or FIFA.

"Players wishing to participate in this league should be aware they are playing for a club and a league not recognised by the PNGFA, OFC and FIFA," former OFC secretary general Tai Nicholas said in a statement at the time.

"No club that participates in this league can qualify for any PNGFA, OFC or FIFA competition and players who are not registered with the PNGFA cannot be transferred to another club overseas or be covered under the protection of the FIFA and OFC regulations."

The 12-team NPL, which attracted the country's most successful club Hekari United, began last season and Kapi Natto told Australia's ABC earlier this year they had plans to expand.

Only six teams completed the officially sanctioned National Soccer League last season and the playoffs were cancelled.





















(Reporting by Greg Stutchbury in Gold Coast, Australia; Editing by Ken Ferris/Peter Rutherford)


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