Brown supports Fiji FA’s league plan
FIJI Football Association’s plan to set up a professional league next year has been given the thumbs up by former England international and Manchester United defender Wes Brown.
The 40-year-old arrived in the country on Thursday and was the special guest at the Vodafone/Fiji FA Awards 2019 held at the Pullman Nadi Bay Resort and Spa last night.
In August last year, Fiji FA president Rajesh Patel met with an Australian delegation who were part of the Pacific Sports Partnership (PSP) program in regards to assistance in the development of a professional league.
Brown who played 232 games for Manchester United in the English Premier League (EPL) from 1996-2011 said a professional league would make it a lot easier in the sense of what the young kids could aspire to.
However he stated that getting into the professional teams will not be easy.
“If there is a professional league then it won’t be so easy get into the teams because there will be many trials,” Brown said.
“But I’m sure that there are many talented players who will obviously get more help to become fantastic footballers.
“There is one thing we all know is that if you get seen as a talent then there are systems in place that will help you along the way.”
Brown started his footballing career at the Manchester United academy at the age of 12 and rose through the ranks becoming one of the top defenders in the EPL.
At his stay with Manchester United, Brown played along players such as current Manchester United coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Edwin van de Sar, Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand, Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs, Nani, Paul Scholes, Darren Fletcher, John O’Shea, Owen Hargreaves, Anderson, Patrice Evra, Carlos Tevez, Louis Saha, and Nemanja Vidic.
Brown earned 23 caps for England.
He finished off his professional career at Kerala Blasters in the Indian Super League (ISL) in 2018.
He said football was a global sport.
“Fiji has a national player Roy (Krishna) who is playing in the ISL,” Brown said.
“Many kids have a dream to become a professional footballer so we have to make things as easy as possible for them.”