The 2020 OFC Nations Cup was originally to be the 11th edition of the OFC Nations Cup, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Oceania organised by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) scheduled for 6 to 20 June 2020.[1]
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country | New Zealand |
| Dates | Cancelled (originally 6–20 June) |
| Teams | 8 (from 1 confederation) |
| Venue(s) | 2 (expected) (in 1 host city) |
← 2016 2024 → | |
The tournament was originally to be hosted by New Zealand, whose bid was chosen by the OFC on 10 January 2020.[2] A total of eight teams would compete in the final tournament.[3] New Zealand were the defending champions.
On 21 April 2020, OFC announced that due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the difficulty in rescheduling to another date in the FIFA International Match Calendar, the tournament would be cancelled.[4]
Qualification
editAll 11 FIFA-affiliated national teams from OFC were eligible to enter the tournament.
A qualification round was originally scheduled to be played by four teams between 21 and 27 March 2020 at the CIFA Academy Field in Rarotonga, Cook Islands, where the winners would join the seven automatic qualifiers in the final tournament.[3] However, the OFC announced on 9 March 2020 that all OFC tournaments were postponed until 6 May 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic,[5] before the tournament was cancelled.
| Team | Finals appearance (planned) |
Previous best performance |
|---|---|---|
 Fiji
|
9th | Third Place (1998 & 2008) |
 New Caledonia
|
7th | Runner-up (2008 & 2012) |
 New Zealand (Hosts & Holders)
|
11th | Winner (1973, 1998, 2002, 2008 & 2016) |
 Papua New Guinea
|
5th | Runner-up (2016) |
 Solomon Islands
|
8th | Runner-up (2004) |
 Tahiti
|
10th | Winner (2012) |
 Vanuatu
|
10th | Fourth Place (1973, 2000, 2002 & 2008) |
| Team | Finals appearance (planned if qualified) |
Previous best performance |
|---|---|---|
 American Samoa
|
1st | None |
 Cook Islands (Qualifying Hosts)
|
3rd | Sixth Place (1998 & 2000) |
 Samoa
|
3rd | Eighth Place (2012 & 2016) |
 Tonga
|
1st | None |
Venues
editThe tournament was expected to be held in Auckland, with North Harbour Stadium and The Trusts Arena the likely venues.
| Auckland | |
|---|---|
| North Harbour Stadium | The Trusts Arena |
| Capacity: 25,000 | Capacity: 4,901 |
|
|
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References
edit- ^ "FIFA International Match Calendar" (PDF). FIFA. October 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 June 2020. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
- ^ "New Zealand Football successful with bid to host the 2020 OFC Nations Cup". Stuff. 10 January 2020.
- ^ a b "OFC Nations Cup 2020 host confirmed". Oceania Football Confederation. 15 January 2020.
- ^ "OFC Nations Cup 2020 cancelled". Oceania Football Confederation. 21 April 2020.
- ^ "OFC tournaments, workshops, training and courses postponed until 6 May". OFC. 9 March 2020.
External links
edit- News > OFC Nations Cup 2020 Archived 15 January 2020 at the Wayback Machine at oceaniafootball.com