ANASILINI RATUVA, Suva

Fiji Football chief executive Mohammed Yusuf believes the two districts Ba and Lautoka are preparing well for the 2018 OFC Champions League which will be held in Auckland, New Zealand from February 10 to March 4.

Lautoka plays Labasa in the first match of the Champion versus Champion match this Saturday.

“Lautoka is using this CVC to spearhead their O-League campaign in February. “They are in the tough pool but their preparation is going on well,” Yusuf said.

“Ba is also preparing well for the tournament.”

Lautoka is in Pool C with defending champions Auckland City, Madang (Papua New Guinea) and Venus from Tahiti.

The Men in Black is grouped in Pool A alongside Lae City Dwellers (Papua New Guinea),Nalkutan(Vanuatu) and the fourth team will be determined from the winner of the qualifying stage which will be held in Pagopago, American Samoa on January 20-26.

The four participants at the qualifying stage are Pago Youth (American Samoa), Tupapa Maraerenga(Cook Islands), Lupe O le Soaga(Samoa) and Veitongo(Tonga).

According to OFC Media  the format change for this season will see a quarter final stage been introduced meaning that the top two teams of each group (instead of only the group winners) in the group stage will advance to the knockout stage.

Edited by Osea Bola

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