Over half of the players in the Samoan national women’s football team for the upcoming Olympic Qualifiers consist of overseas players, which has caused controversy in Samoa’s Football.

Some club officials feel that the process of selection has wronged the local players who have been training and wanting a spot in the national team.

“All us locals are not against the players, but we are against the process of picking the team,” said Martin Tamasese, one of the club representatives.

A day before the start of the Olympic qualifications, the argument arises about whether this is beneficial for the team or bad for local clubs in Samoa.

One of the critics is the President of the Kiwi Football Club, Martin Tamasese, who expressed concern over the selection process. While he supports the addition of overseas players, he believes that Federation Football Samoa is not doing so in a fair and just way. 

According to Tamasese, the Federation favours overseas players and coaches over local ones. He argues that this is not just about the players but also the coaches, many of whom are highly qualified but not given a fair chance to be a part of the team.

He highly doubts that the national team will do better, despite the international help.

“I know the quality and also the passion of these locals, but the federation didn't consider them. And also the coaches, the local coaches are so keen to take up the job, but the federation is doing their own thing,” said Tamasese.

But the people responsible for the team setup argue that there is no difference between Samoans living here and abroad.

“They are your people as well,” said Samoa's Technical Director Ravinesh Kumar. 

He points out that the philosophy that locals are being left out is wrong. And he puts it in perspective using other famous cases in other countries.

“What about Messi playing in some other country and coming to play for Argentina?” said Kumar.

“Cristiano playing in some other country and coming to play for Portugal?

“So these are things that they don’t understand because they play with a lot of emotions. It’s not about emotion at this level of football.” 

Juan Chang Urrea, the head coach of the Samoa women's team, echoed Kumar's sentiments. He believes that this controversy is unnecessary and acts as motivation for the women’s team. 

“We use it as fuel to the people that are going to come and watch - and that gives us more fuel, more energy, to represent them better so they can feel a part of it,” said Urrea.

“For me, it's all together. It's not overseas and local because I don't want that to start being a thing.” 

While there are differing opinions on the matter, it is clear that the controversy surrounding the FFS and its recruitment processes with players and coaches is not going away anytime soon. 

Tamasese is not the only one who disagrees with the recruitment process used by FFS. Another coach from a different football club has also expressed similar concerns, including concerns from last year and using overseas players for the 2023 Pacific Games. 

Eight Pacific countries will compete in the tournament and Samoa has been drawn in the same pool as Vanuatu, New Zealand and Tonga. The winner of the tournament secures a spot  in the Olympics Games in Paris in July. 

“We are expecting this tournament, the qualifier, for the FFS to prove to us locals, that that’s the right thing to do,”  said Martin Tamasese.