2019 OFC Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournament

The 2019 OFC Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournament (also called the 2019 OFC U-23 Championship) was the eighth edition of the OFC Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournament, the quadrennial international age-restricted football championship organised by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) for the men's under-23 national teams of Oceania.

2019 OFC Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournament
Tournament details
Host countryFiji
Dates21 September – 5 October 2019
Teams8 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)2 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions New Zealand (4th title)
Runners-up Solomon Islands
Third place Vanuatu
Fourth place Fiji
Tournament statistics
Matches played16
Goals scored84 (5.25 per match)
Attendance3,240 (203 per match)
Top scorer(s)New Zealand Myer Bevan (12 goals)
2015
2023

In November 2018, it was announced that Fiji would host the competition.[1] The tournament was held from 21 September to 5 October 2019.[2]

The winner qualified as the OFC representative at the 2020 Summer Olympics men's football tournament in Japan.[3]

New Zealand won the title after defeating Solomon Islands in the final. Vanuatu finished third, and defending champions Fiji finished fourth.

Teams

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Eight of the 11 FIFA-affiliated national teams from the OFC entered the tournament.

Team Appearance Previous best performance
  American Samoa 3rd Group stage (2004, 2012)
  Fiji (hosts) 8th Champions (2015)
  New Zealand 9th Champions (1999, 2008, 2012)
  Papua New Guinea 7th Third place (2015)
  Samoa 3rd Group stage (1999, 2004)
  Solomon Islands 7th Runners-up (1999, 2008)
  Tonga 4th Group stage (1999, 2004, 2012)
  Vanuatu 7th Runners-up (2015)
Did not enter

Note: New Caledonia and Tahiti are not members of the International Olympic Committee and thus not eligible to qualify for the Olympic Football Tournament.

Venues

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Suva Lautoka
ANZ National Stadium Churchill Park
Capacity: 15,000 Capacity: 10,000
   

Squads

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Players born on or after 1 January 1997 were eligible to compete in the tournament.

Draw

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The draw of the tournament was held on 6 May 2019 at the OFC Academy in Auckland, New Zealand.[4] The eight teams were drawn into two groups of four teams. The top two ranked teams, New Zealand and Fiji, were assigned to group positions A1 and B1 respectively, and the next two ranked teams, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands, were drawn into position 2 of Group A or B, while the remaining teams were drawn into position 3 or 4 of Group A or B.[5]

Group stage

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The top two teams of each group advanced to the semi-finals.

All times are local, FJT (UTC+12).

Group A

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1   New Zealand 3 3 0 0 22 3 +19 9 Knockout stage
2   Solomon Islands 3 2 0 1 13 4 +9 6
3   Samoa 3 1 0 2 6 11 −5 3
4   American Samoa 3 0 0 3 0 23 −23 0
Source: OFC
Solomon Islands  6–0  American Samoa
  • Waita   3', 55'
  • Kakasi   10'
  • Taroga   33'
  • Mara   41', 47'
Report
Samoa  1–6  New Zealand
Report

Samoa  0–5  Solomon Islands
Report
Attendance: 150
Referee: Joel Hopken (Vanuatu)
New Zealand  12–0  American Samoa
Report

American Samoa  0–5  Samoa
Report
New Zealand  4–2  Solomon Islands
Report

Group B

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1   Vanuatu 3 3 0 0 12 1 +11 9 Knockout stage
2   Fiji (H) 3 2 0 1 7 3 +4 6
3   Papua New Guinea 3 1 0 2 8 7 +1 3
4   Tonga 3 0 0 3 2 18 −16 0
Source: OFC
(H) Hosts
Vanuatu  3–1  Papua New Guinea
Report
Tonga  1–4  Fiji
Report

Tonga  0–8  Vanuatu
Report
Fiji  3–1  Papua New Guinea
Report

Papua New Guinea  6–1  Tonga
Report
Fiji  0–1  Vanuatu
Report

Knockout stage

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Bracket

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Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
2 October – Lautoka
 
 
  New Zealand6
 
5 October – Lautoka
 
  Fiji1
 
  New Zealand5
 
2 October – Lautoka
 
  Solomon Islands0
 
  Vanuatu0
 
 
  Solomon Islands1
 
Third place match
 
 
5 October – Lautoka
 
 
  Fiji0
 
 
  Vanuatu1

Semi-finals

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New Zealand  6–1  Fiji
Report

Vanuatu  0–1  Solomon Islands
Report

Third place match

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Fiji  0–1  Vanuatu
Report

Final

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Winner qualifies for 2020 Summer Olympics.

New Zealand  5–0  Solomon Islands
Report
Attendance: 200

Qualified team for the Summer Olympics

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The following team from the OFC qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympic men's football tournament.

Team Qualified on Previous appearances in the Summer Olympics1
  New Zealand 5 October 2019[6] 2 (2008, 2012)
1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

Goalscorers

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12 goals
8 goals
5 goals
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
Own goal
  •   Mahe Malafu (playing against Papua New Guinea)
  •   Scott Wara (playing against New Zealand)

References

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  1. ^ "Hosts appointed for 2019 competitions". Oceania Football Confederation. 6 November 2018.
  2. ^ "OFC Men's Olympic Qualifier 2019". Oceania Football Confederation.
  3. ^ "OC for FIFA Competitions approves procedures for the Final Draw of the 2018 FIFA World Cup". FIFA.com. 14 September 2017. Archived from the original on September 14, 2017.
  4. ^ "Olympic Qualifier Draw complete". Oceania Football Confederation. 7 May 2019.
  5. ^ "OFC MEN'S OLYMPIC QUALIFIER OFFICIAL DRAW". YouTube. 6 May 2019.
  6. ^ "New Zealand win through to Tokyo 2020". FIFA.com. 5 October 2019. Archived from the original on October 5, 2019.
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