Demaine hopes to qualify Kulas to World Cup

Nicola Demaine was pleased to be back in the Oceania region and work with the Fiji Kula team.

She was appointed as the women’s national football head coach by Fiji Football Association on Saturday. Demaine replaced Angeline Chua.

She signed a three-year contract.

“I’m lucky to be here to work, and the players have so much potential, and I’ve followed them in the past,” Demaine said.

“I’m excited to see how we can take them forward, create a professional environment and try to qualify for the World Cup because why not.”

Demaine is in search of identifying the right players and recruiting them to camp.

“I’m really trying to understand the culture and how everything works so I can work alongside everybody well,” she said.

“The development I’ve seen here in Fiji versus other islands is tremendous so to come and be part of that now as a coach ticks all the boxes.”

The English-born coach was a former OFC (Oceania Football Confederation) women’s football development officer from 2012 to 2017.

Her first role as coach came in 2018 with the Samoan women’s national team. She also had a short stint with the Auckland Football’s National Women’s League as an assistant coach.

She was appointed as the head coach of the Papua New Guinea women’s national team in December of 2021.

Demaine was instrumental in her role as coach for the PNG women’s national team as they won the OFC Women’s Nations Cup final defeating Fiji 2 –1 in 2022.

Fiji FA president Rajesh Patel said Demaine was fitting for the job.

“We wanted to find a coach that is familiar with the region and knows Oceania well,” Patel said.

“We decided Nicola is the best person as she has been through it and the World Cup qualifiers is very important for us.”

Patel said Fiji FA will prioritise on providing the national women’s team with the right resources to ensure qualification to the women’s world cup at Brazil in 2027.

“The girls will get that best technical expertise to lead them into the playoffs for the world cup,” he said.

The OFC women’s World Cup qualifiers for Group B will be hosted at Govind Park, Ba from February 27 to March 5.