Central Coast

When Raphael Lea'i signed for Velež Mostar in Bosnia, he became the first player from Solomon Islands to join a European professional club, carrying the name of a Honiara academy with him. Central Coast is where that path started.

The club is younger than that headline. It grew out of CY Strikers, a side formed by migrants from Malaita that had played in the Honiara league until 2019. In 2020 the team reorganised and took the Central Coast name, aiming at a bigger stage: the Telekom S-League, the national championship. Jacob Moli, a former Solomon Islands international, has coached the side since that reorganisation.

The move up paid off. Central Coast have won the Telekom S-League three times, in 2021, 2024 and 2025. In the OFC Champions League their best run came in 2022, when they reached the semi-final before Auckland City FC beat them 2-0. This year's group stage brings the same opponent back, alongside AS Vénus and AS Tiga Sport.

Solomon Warriors, also based in Honiara, are the closest rival, with Honiara City and Malaita Kingz among the other sides that sharpen the fixture list.

Home games are played at Lawson Tama Stadium, where only one side of the ground is a built stand set into a hillside; the rest of the capacity is a grass bank. Wikipedia lists a theoretical maximum of 20,000, though the ground's recorded high point, close to 15,000, came during the 2023 Pacific Games.