OFC Nations Cup:
The OFC Nations Cup is a football competition held among the Oceania Football Confederation member nations. It was held every two years from 1996 to 2004; before 1996 there were two other tournaments held at irregular intervals, under the name Oceania Nations Cup. No competition was held in 2006, but on the 2008 edition, which also acts as a qualification tournament for the Confederations Cup and for a play-off for the 2010 World Cup, emerged as winners the New Zealand side.
Historically, a very large gulf separated Australia and New Zealand from the smaller island competitors, and little attention was paid to the tournament by the rest of the football world. In fact, after eight editions the trophy it's been won only by two teams: Australia and New Zealand.
Australia ceased to be a member of the OFC on January 1, 2006, having elected to join the Asian Football Confederation, and hence will no longer be involved in this competition.
[edit] History
[edit] Early Times (1973-1980)
This tournament began in 1973 as the "Oceania Cup". This first edition, played in New Zealand, without qualifying round, was won by the host in final against Tahiti and was characterized by the absence of the Australian team and the presence of some teams not members of FIFA, such as New Hebrides, which became Vanuatu after gaining independence in 1980. A second edition took place in 1980 in New Caledonia, at that time not a FIFA member, and was won by Australia in final against Tahiti and was characterized by a poor result for New Zealand: out in the Group Stage losing against Tahiti (3-1) and Fiji (4-0), however two years after they qualified for the 1982 FIFA World Cup. These two editions were the only without qualifying rounds. After this edition the tournament was discontinued. So Australia manteined the Oceania Champion title for 16 years without play any tournament. Between the years of absence (1981-1995) the most important Oceanian tournament was the Trans-Tasman Cup played only between Australia and New Zealand.
[edit] Return Every Two Years (1996-2004)
In 1996, when OFC reached the official status of Confederation for FIFA, the tournament reappeared as the "Oceania Nations Cup" and served as a qualifier for the Confederations Cup. The 1996 edition, without an host nation but for the first time with a qualifying round, was contested with only four teams playing semifinals and final match on two legs both: Australia and New Zealand, who played the semifinal also for the Trans-Tasman Cup, and the second semifinal match between Tahiti as Polynesia Cup holders and Solomon Islands as Melanesia Cup holders. The Cup was won for the second time by the Australian side winning easily in the final match, on two legs, against Tahiti. The topscorer of this tournament, Kris Trajanovski, scored all his seven goals in the final match. In the 1998 edition, played in Australia, took part six teams and was dominated by giants Australia and New Zealand: in the final match New Zealand beated the host Australia 1-0 with a goal of Mark Burton, jogging the number of titles. In this edition the Australian player Damian Mori scored 10 goals, a record still alive and is also the overall Oceania Nations Cup topscorer with 14 goals. The fifth edition, played in Tahiti in 2000, the tournament structure was confirmed and for another time the tournament was dominated by Australia and New Zealand who reached the final match, seeing the first one winning their third title for 2-0. Fiji, who was qualified for this edition, was forced to withdrew due to civil war and was replaced by Vanuatu. For the 2002 edition, played for the second time in New Zealand, took part eight teams divided in two groups easily won by Australia and New Zealand who arrived both for the third consecutive time in the final match. But the Australian side won the semifinal against a brave Tahiti only after extra time, this because a financial turmoil involved Soccer Australia: the non-existent financial contribution meant that the Australian players had to pay their own way to get to New Zealand, so Scott Chipperfield became the only one of Australia's large European contingent to answer the call and perform for his country in their time of need, with the result of a weak team for the tournament. So the final was won for the third time by the host beating their historycal rivals 1-0 in Auckland with a late Ryan Nelsen's score. Instead in the 2004 edition, played in Australia, six nations took part playing each other in an unique group, with the first two playing a final match on two legs. During the group stage Vanuatu surprisingly beated New Zealand 4-2, but losing all the reamaining matches, this and a draw with Australia (2-2) permitted to Solomon Islands to reach the second place and the final match against Australia. But the final was without any chance for the Solomons: beated 5-1 in their home ground Honiara and 6-0 in Sydney. This was the fourth, and last, Oceanian title for Australia: two years later they decided to join AFC.
[edit] A New Era (2006-Today)
Australia joined the Asian Football Confederation on 1st Jenuary 2006, ceasing to be a member of OFC, leaving only New Zealand as big power in the continent. The new edition of the tournament was played in 2008 without an host nation and with four teams playing each other at home and away in one group. 2007 South Pacific Games served as qualifying round for three teams and New Zealand qualified automatically. New Zealand emerged easily as winners for the fourth time ahead of New Caledonia winning seven matches on eight. Surprisingly, Fiji won the last match against New Zealand in Lautoka (Fiji) for 2-0 with two goals of Roy Krishna. The topscorer Shane Smeltz (New Zealand) scored eight goals: four against the runners up New Caledonia beated 3-1 away and 3-0 at home.
[edit] Format
The first two editions was played without any qualifying round. For the successive three tournaments, Australia and New Zealand were seeded into the tournament automatically, while the remaining ten nations played to qualify. The Polynesian and Melanesian Cups, each played between five nations grouped on a geographical basis, served as qualifications via a round-robin tournament, with the highest ranked two teams in each competition qualifying for the actual OFC Nations Cup, in a six-way round-robin tournament.
With the postponement and then cancellation of the Melanesian Cup, and a similar fate befalling its Polynesian equivalent, the format of the tournament changed in 2002. FIFA rankings determined the seedings of all twelve teams, and the lower six teams played a group stage for two qualifier positions into the main tournament. The 2002 Cup tournament proper was played with two groups of four teams (again in round-robin style), which led into a 4-way knockout stage, playing for the top four positions.
In 2004, the format changed once again, returning to a format similar to that of the 1996-2000 tournaments, with five teams each playing in two qualifying groups and Australia and New Zealand seeded to the actual tournament, played as a group stage of six, with a home and away Final played between the two highest-placed teams. This tournament doubled also as qualifying round for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
For the 2008 tournament, the format altered again. The 2007 South Pacific Games football tournament served as a qualification tournament, with the gold, silver and bronze winning nations progressing to the main, round-robin format, tournament, for which New Zealand qualified automatically. New Zealand emerged as winners of the 2008 OFC Nations Cup, ahead of New Caledonia, and thus qualified for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup and a playoff with the fifth placed team from the AFC for a place in the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
[edit] Results
[edit] Summaries
[edit] Successful national teams
| Team |
Champions |
Runners-up |
Third-place |
Fourth-place |
 Australia |
4 (1980, 1996, 2000, 2004) |
2 (1998, 2002) |
- |
- |
 New Zealand |
4 (1973, 1998, 2002, 2008) |
1 (2000) |
2 (1996, 2004) |
- |
 Tahiti |
- |
3 (1973, 1980, 1996) |
1 (2002) |
1 (1998) |
 New Caledonia |
- |
1 (2008) |
2 (1973, 1980) |
- |
 Solomon Islands |
- |
1 (2004) |
1 (2000) |
1 (1996) |
 Fiji |
- |
- |
2 (1998, 2008) |
2 (1980, 2004) |
 Vanuatu |
- |
- |
- |
4 (1973^, 2000, 2002, 2008) |
^ This 1973 fourth place was achieved by Vanuatu under its former name New Hebrides.
[edit] Total hosts
[edit] Performances by host nations
[edit] OFC Nations Cup winning managers
[edit] Records and statistics
[edit] Participating nations
Participating nations by number of final tournament appearances:
- 8 times
- 7 times
- 6 times
- 5 times
- 4 times
- 2 times
[edit] Overall top goalscorers
| Goals |
Scorers |
| 14 |
Damian Mori |
| 11 |
Kris Trajanovski |
| 10 |
Vaughan Coveny |
| 8 |
Shane Smeltz |
| 7 |
Chris Killen, Commins Menapi |
| 6 |
Tim Cahill, Joel Porter, Paul Trimboli |
| 5 |
Scott Chipperfield, Bobby Despotovski, Eddie Krncevic, Ian Hunter, Craig Foster, Clayton Zane,
Michel Hmaé, Mark Burton, Jeff Campbell, Ryan Nelsen, Jean-Loup Rousseau |
[edit] Top scorers
[edit] General Statistics
[edit] Teams Which Have Failed to Qualify
| Year |
Teams Eliminated In The Qualifying Round |
Number Of Teams To The Final Round |
Total |
| 1973 |
No Qualifying Round |
5 |
5 |
| 1980 |
No Qualifying Round |
8 |
8 |
| 1996 |
Fiji,  Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia,  Tonga,  Samoa,  American Samoa |
4 |
11 |
| 1998 |
Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia, Tonga, Samoa, American Samoa |
6 |
12 |
| 2000 |
Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia, Tonga, Samoa, American Samoa, Fiji^ |
6 |
12 |
| 2002 |
Tonga, Samoa, American Samoa |
8 |
11 |
| 2004 |
Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia, Tonga, Samoa, American Samoa,  Cook Islands |
6 |
12 |
| 2008 |
Tahiti, Tonga, Samoa, American Samoa, Cook Islands, Solomon Islands,  Tuvalu^^ |
4 |
11 |
^ Qualified but then withdrew.
^^ OFC Associate member.
[edit] Participation details
- Legend
- 1st – Champions
- 2nd – Runners-up
- 3rd – Third place
- 4th – Fourth place
- 5th – Fifth Place
- 6th – Sixth Place
- SF – Semifinals
- 1R – First Round
- Q – Qualified
- DNQ – Did not qualify
- DSQ - Disqualified
- QW – Qualified but then withdrew
- Notes
- 1: Includes results as New Hebrides.
- 2: Includes results as Western Samoa.
- 3: Associate member of OFC.
[edit] External links
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