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Oceania Football Confederation
Oceania Football Confederation
	; Logo of OFC
	; OFC member associations are in yellow
Formation	15 November 1966
Type	Sports organisation
Headquarters	Auckland, New Zealand
Membership	16 member associations
President	Reynald Temarii
Website	www.oceaniafootball.com

The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) is one of the six continental confederations of international football, consisting of Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and island nations such as Tonga, Fiji and other Pacific Island countries. It promotes the game in Oceania and allows the member nations to qualify for the FIFA World Cup.

Of the six confederations, the OFC is the smallest and is predominantly made up of island nations where football is not the most popular sport. Consequently, the OFC has little influence in the wider football world, either in terms of international competition or as a source of players for high-profile club competitions. In 2006, the OFC's largest and most successful nation, Australia, transferred to the Asian Football Confederation, leaving New Zealand as the largest federation within the OFC.

[edit] History

The confederation was formed in 1966. The founding members were the Australian Soccer Federation (now Football Federation Australia), New Zealand Soccer (now New Zealand Football), and the Fiji Football Association. In 1996 the OFC was confirmed as a full confederation and given a seat on the FIFA executive. In 1998, the OFC unveiled a new logo and an official magazine, entitled The Wave. On May 24, 2004, New Caledonia became the 12th member of the OFC. On January 1, 2006, Australia left the OFC and joined the Asian Football Confederation.

[edit] Competitions

The winner of the OFC Football World Cup Qualifiers was allowed to compete in a two-legged home-and-away playoff with the team ranked fifth in the South American qualifying competition for a place in the 2006 World Cup. Since 1996, OFC members also play for the OFC Nations Cup, which is held every second year.

The OFC also organises the Oceania Club Championship, a competition that has received surprisingly high levels of media support within New Zealand in its debut season. It serves primarily to determine the Oceania representative at the FIFA Club World Cup. In 2007, the OFC replaced the current club competition with the Oceania Champions League which began in 2007. From 2007, the winner has no longer gained direct entry to the FIFA Club World Cup - but instead plays off against the host nation (currently Japan) champion for the final spot in the tournament. It is not clear whether this is permanent, or even if it could change if the Oceania entrant were to outperform entrants from other Confederations.

Of the federation's current teams, only New Zealand has ever competed on the world stage from the confederation, competing in the 1982 World Cup. Ex-founding member Australia has also competed in the World Cup finals, in 1974 and 2006. At the conclusion of Germany 2006, Australia's exit from the OFC was finalised (exiting formally on the 1 January 2006), being the last commitment of the transition before completely joining the Asian Football Confederation. The other minor exception to this has been the participation of the Solomon Islands in the 2006, 2007 and 2008 Beach Football World Cup.

In the 2004 OFC Nations Cup, which doubled as the Oceania qualifying tournament for the 2006 World Cup, the Solomon Islands unexpectedly made the finals after a 2-2 draw with Australia at the last round. This effectively denied New Zealand a place in the third group phase by one group point as Vanuatu had beaten New Zealand 4-2 in an early round upset of the second group phase. Australia won OFC Nation Cup final by beating the Solomons 5:1 in Honiara and 6:0 in Sydney to represent OFC in the FIFA Confederations Cup in Germany 2005 The two teams met again in a two-legged World Cup qualifying final in September 2005 for the right to play the AFC representative for a place in the World Cup finals; Australia won 9:1 on aggregate (7:0 at home and 2:1 away) and progressed to the Oceania - Asia playoff. Australia won this playoff on penalties after a 1:1 aggregate score after both legs of the playoff and after extra time, and qualified for the World Cup.

[edit] List of competitions

Oceania Club Championship
Oceania Champions League replaces the Oceania Club Championship in 2007, winner qualifies for play-off for FIFA Club World Cup
AFC/OFC Challenge Cup
OFC Olympic Qualifying Tournament
OFC Under 20 Qualifying Tournament
OFC Under 17 Qualifying Tournament
Polynesia Cup
Melanesia Cup
Wantok Cup
Pacific Games

[edit] Female

[edit] Futsal

OFC Futsal Qualifying Tournament

Oceanian Futsal Championship

[edit] Beach Soccer

OFC Beach Soccer Championship

[edit] World Cup Qualifiers

Oceania has sent representatives to the World Cup three times: Australia in 1974 and 2006, and New Zealand in 1982. However, Australia was not a member of the confederation in 1974, having withdrawn in order to apply to join the Asian Football Confederation. It rejoined the OFC in 1978. Neither Australia in 1974 nor New Zealand in 1982 progressed beyond the first round, while Australia in 2006 advanced to the second round. OFC is the only FIFA confederation that does not have a guaranteed spot in the World Cup finals (a major reason for Australia's leaving the confederation in 2006 to join Asia). Between 1966 and 1982, OFC teams joined the Asian zone qualification tournament, while from 1986 onwards, the winners of the Oceanian zone qualification tournament have to enter the Intercontinental Play-offs against teams from other confederations in order to gain a spot in the World Cup finals.

World Cup	Qualifier(s)	Notes
1930-1962	None	No teams from Oceania entered.
1966	None	Entered in Asia.
1970	None	Entered in Asia.
1974	Australia	Entered in Asia, qualified but lost in group stage.
1978	None	Entered in Asia.
1982	New Zealand	Entered in Asia, qualified but lost in group stage.
1986	None	Australia lost to Scotland in the Intercontinental Play-offs. This is the first World Cup where Oceania was its own continent and thus did not partake in Asian qualification.
1990	None	Israel (who played in the Oceanian zone for political reasons) lost to Colombia in the Intercontinental Play-offs.
1994	None	Australia beat Canada, then lost to Argentina in the Intercontinental Play-offs.
1998	None	Australia lost to Iran in the Intercontinental Play-offs.
2002	None	Australia lost to Uruguay in the Intercontinental Play-offs.
2006	Australia	Australia beat Uruguay in the Intercontinental Play-offs to qualify, progressed through group stage, lost in round of 16 to Italy. This is the first time any OFC country made it past the group stage.
2010	Undecided	New Zealand to play Bahrain (5th place finisher of Asian Football Confederation) in Intercontinental Play-offs.

[edit] Qualifications by country

2*:
Australia
1:
New Zealand

(* - One qualification for Australia was not as a member of OFC but was as a member of AFC in 1974).

[edit] Men's World Cup Finals

Legend

R2 – Round 2 (1982: second group stage, final 12; since 1986: knockout round of 16)
R1 – Round 1

Team	1930	1934	1938	1950	1954	1958	1962	1966	1970	1974	1978	1982	1986	1990	1994	1998	2002	2006	2010	2014	Total
Australia										R1								R2			2
New Zealand												R1									1

See also: Men's U-20 World Cup Qualifiers
See also: Men's U-17 World Cup Qualifiers

[edit] Women's World Cup Finals

Team	1991	1995	1999	2003	2007	2011	Total
Australia		R1	R1	R1			4
New Zealand	R1				R1		2

See also Women's U-20 World Cup Qualifiers
See also Women's U-17 World Cup Qualifiers

[edit] Men's Confederations Cup Finals

Team	1992	1995	1997	1999	2001	2003	2005	2009	2013	Total
Australia			2nd		3rd		R1			3
New Zealand				R1		R1		R1		3

[edit] Top 10 national teams

Rankings are calculated by FIFA based on matches played over the last four years.^[1] Men's ranking last updated on 16 October 2009 and women's ranking last updated on 25 September 2009.

Men
Oceania	FIFA	Nation	Points
1	83	New Zealand	383
2	108	Fiji	291
3	141	New Caledonia	148
4	159	Vanuatu	99
5	173	Solomon Islands	60
6	183	Samoa	38
7	186	Cook Islands	34
8	191	Tonga	28
9	194	Tahiti	19
10	203	American Samoa	0

Women
Oceania	FIFA	Nation	Points
1	24	New Zealand	1747
2	54	Papua New Guinea	1414
3	56	Tonga	1392
4	67	Fiji	1335
5	78	Tahiti	1258
6	83	Vanuatu	1208
7	84	Solomon Islands	1194
8	89	Samoa	1125
9	91	American Samoa	1089
10	92	Cook Islands	1087