The Fiji Football Association (Fiji FA) has indicated its plans to replace the Fiji senior women’s football team, the Fiji Kulas head coach Angeline Chua prior to the start of the OFC Women’s World Cup qualifiers in November.
This follows Fiji’s disappointing fourth-place finish at the OFC Women’s Nations Cup that was held at the HFC Bank Stadium, where the Kulas lost three consecutive matches.
They went down 0-1 to Vanuatu in their last group match, 2-1 to Papua New Guinea in the semi-final and was stunned 0-2 to Samoa in the third-place playoff last Saturday.
During the Fiji FA Council Meeting held at its headquarters in Vatuwaqa on Sunday, Fiji FA president Rajesh Patel did not hold back on his assessment of the team’s performance.
“I must express my total disappointment with the performance so far of our Kula girls,” Patel said.
He said the Fiji FA had spent a significant amount of money to fly in six overseas-based players at the coach’s request, yet only one, Cema Nasau was regularly used and made a noticeable impact.
“Hardly anyone except Cema Nasau was used in the games and other games the other few girls were used,” Patel said.
He thanked Fiji FA vice president for the northern division Rayaz Khan and former Fiji Football captain Abdul Mannan for their internal technical analysis and admitted the team lacked structure.
“We simply had no structure at all,” he said.
Patel confirmed that the board had already made a decision to review Chua’s contract, which is due to expire in February 2026.
“We will seriously need to relook at replacing the coach and her contract expires in February 2026. But with the women’s cup qualifier in November.
“We have already made a decision in the board that we will relook at the contract and relooking at how we can replace the women’s coach before the World Cup qualifier starts in November,” he said.
