2016 OFC Nations Cup

The 2016 OFC Nations Cup was the 10th edition of the OFC Nations Cup, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Oceania organised by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC). The tournament was played between 28 May and 11 June 2016 in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.[1] The winner (New Zealand) qualified for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia.

2016 OFC Nations Cup
Tournament details
Host countryPapua New Guinea
Dates28 May – 11 June 2016
Teams8 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)1 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions New Zealand (5th title)
Runners-up Papua New Guinea
Tournament statistics
Matches played15
Goals scored48 (3.2 per match)
Attendance41,996 (2,800 per match)
Top scorer(s) Raymond Gunemba (5 goals)
Best player(s) David Muta
Best goalkeeper Stefan Marinovic
Fair play award New Caledonia

Similar to the previous edition in 2012, the group stage of the tournament also doubled as the second round of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification tournament for the Oceania region. The top six teams of this tournament (i.e. the top three teams of each group in the group stage) advanced to the third round of World Cup qualifying, to be played between March and October 2017, with the winners of the third round proceeding to the inter-confederation play-offs in November 2017.[2][3][4] This means that once again, the team that wins the qualifying competition and advances to the intercontinental play-off may be different from the team that wins the OFC Nations Cup and represents the OFC at the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup.

The defending champions Tahiti, who had won their first title at the 2012 OFC Nations Cup,[5] were eliminated in the Group stage.

Host selection

Tahiti, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand were expected to bid to host the event.[6] On 16 October 2015, OFC President David Chung confirmed that Papua New Guinea was the only member association to present a bid to host the 2016 OFC Nations Cup.[7] The OFC confirmed Papua New Guinea as hosts on 30 October 2015.[1]

Qualification
Main article: 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – OFC First Round

All 11 FIFA-affiliated national teams from OFC entered the OFC Nations Cup.[8][9] The seven highest ranked teams (based on FIFA World Ranking and sporting reasons) among the 11 OFC entrants automatically qualified.

The 4 teams which competed in the qualification round of the 2012 tournament – American Samoa, Cook Islands, Samoa and Tonga – once again competed in a preliminary round. This was a round-robin tournament, held in one location (Tonga).[9] The winners of the tournament, Samoa, qualified to compete alongside the remaining 7 Oceania nations.

Qualified teams
Team Method of
qualification		 Date of
qualification		 Finals
appearance		 Last
appearance		 Previous best
performance		 FIFA ranking
at start of event[10]
 FijiAutomatic29 March 20148th20123rd (1998, 2008)183
 New CaledoniaAutomatic29 March 20146th20122nd (2008, 2012)191
 New ZealandAutomatic29 March 201410th2012Winners (1973, 1998, 2002, 2008)161
 Papua New GuineaAutomatic29 March 20144th2012R1 (1980, 2002, 2012)198
 Solomon IslandsAutomatic29 March 20147th20122nd (2004)192
 TahitiAutomatic29 March 20149th2012Winners (2012)196
 VanuatuAutomatic29 March 20149th20124th (1973, 2000, 2002, 2008)181
 SamoaQualifying winner4 September 20152nd2012R1 (2012)170

Format

The format of the OFC Nations Cup was as follows:

  • Group stage: The eight teams were divided into two groups of four teams. The top two teams of each group advanced to the knockout stage. Moreover, the top three teams of each group advanced to the third round of 2018 World Cup qualifying.
  • Knockout stage: The four teams played a single-elimination tournament (semi-finals and final) to decide the champions of the OFC Nations Cup.

The OFC had considered different proposals of the 2016 OFC Nations Cup.[9] A previous proposal adopted by the OFC in October 2014 had the eight teams divided into two groups of four teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches in the second round, followed by the top two teams of each group advancing to the third round to play in a single group of home-and-away round-robin matches to decide the winner of the 2016 OFC Nations Cup which would both qualify to the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup and advance to the inter-confederation play-offs.[11] However, it was later reported in April 2015 that the OFC had reversed its decision, and the 2016 OFC Nations Cup will be played as a one-off tournament similar to the 2012 OFC Nations Cup.[6]

Venues

The tournament was played at a single venue in Port Moresby.

Port Moresby
Sir John Guise Stadium
Capacity: 15,000

Squads
Main article: 2016 OFC Nations Cup squads

Officials

10 referees and 12 assistant referees were named for the tournament.[12]

Draw

The draw for the 2016 OFC Nations Cup was held as part of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Preliminary Draw on 25 July 2015, starting 18:00 MSK (UTC+3), at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg, Russia.[13][14]

The seeding was based on the FIFA World Rankings of July 2015 (shown in parentheses).[13][15] The eight teams were seeded into two pots:

  • Pot 1 contained the direct qualifiers ranked 1–4.
  • Pot 2 contained the direct qualifiers ranked 5–7 and the first round winner.

Each group contained two teams from Pot 1 and two teams from Pot 2. As the draw was held before the first round was played, the identity of the first round winner was not known at the time of the draw. The fixtures of each group were decided based on the draw position of each team (teams in Pot 1 drawn to position 1 or 2, teams in Pot 2 drawn to position 3 or 4).

Note: Bolded teams qualified for the World Cup qualifying third round.

Pot 1 Pot 2
  1.  New Zealand (136)
  2.  New Caledonia (167)
  3.  Tahiti (188)
  4.  Solomon Islands (191)
  1.  Vanuatu (197)
  2.  Fiji (199)
  3.  Papua New Guinea (202)
  4.  Samoa (198) (first round winner)

Group stage

All times are local, UTC+10.

Group A
Main article: 2016 OFC Nations Cup Group A
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Papua New Guinea (H) 3 1 2 0 11 3 +8 5 Qualification to Nations Cup knockout stage
and World Cup qualifying third round
2  New Caledonia 3 1 2 0 9 2 +7 5
3  Tahiti 3 1 2 0 7 3 +4 5 Qualification to World Cup qualifying third round
4  Samoa 3 0 0 3 0 19 −19 0
Source: FIFA
(H) Host.
Tahiti 4–0 Samoa
 Report (FIFA)
Report (OFC)
Attendance: 4,720[18]
Referee: Ravitesh Behari (Fiji)
Papua New Guinea 2–2 Tahiti
 Report (FIFA)
Report (OFC)
Attendance: 1,643[19]
Referee: Nick Waldron (New Zealand)
New Caledonia 7–0 Samoa
 Report (FIFA)
Report (OFC)
Attendance: 2,015[20]
Referee: Robinson Banga (Vanuatu)
Samoa 0–8 Papua New Guinea
Report (FIFA)
Report (OFC)
Attendance: 2,678[21]
Referee: Joel Hopkken (Vanuatu)
Tahiti 1–1 New Caledonia
 Report (FIFA)
Report (OFC)
Attendance: 3,158[22]
Referee: Nick Waldron (New Zealand)

Group B
Main article: 2016 OFC Nations Cup Group B
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  New Zealand 3 3 0 0 9 1 +8 9 Qualification to Nations Cup knockout stage
and World Cup qualifying third round
2  Solomon Islands 3 1 0 2 1 2 −1 3
3  Fiji 3 1 0 2 4 6 −2 3 Qualification to World Cup qualifying third round
4  Vanuatu 3 1 0 2 3 8 −5 3
Source: FIFA
New Zealand 3–1 Fiji
 Report (FIFA)
Report (OFC)
Attendance: 378[23]
Vanuatu 0–1 Solomon Islands
Report (FIFA)
Report (OFC)
Attendance: 1,611[24]
Referee: Médéric Lacour (New Caledonia)
Vanuatu 0–5 New Zealand
Report (FIFA)
Report (OFC)
Attendance: 520[25]
Referee: Amos Anio (Papua New Guinea)
Fiji 2–3 Vanuatu
 Report (FIFA)
Report (OFC)
Attendance: 851[27]

Knockout stage
Main article: 2016 OFC Nations Cup knockout stage

If tied after regulation, extra time and, if necessary, penalty shoot-out would be used to decide the winner. All times are local, UTC+10.

Bracket
 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
8 June – Port Moresby
 
 
 New Zealand1
 
11 June – Port Moresby
 
 New Caledonia0
 
 New Zealand (p)0 (4)
 
8 June – Port Moresby
 
 Papua New Guinea0 (2)
 
 Papua New Guinea2
 
 
 Solomon Islands1
 

Semi-finals
New Zealand 1–0 New Caledonia
 Report (FIFA)
Report (OFC)
Attendance: 1,379[29]
Papua New Guinea 2–1 Solomon Islands
 Report (FIFA)
Report (OFC)
Attendance: 3,548[30]

Final
Main article: 2016 OFC Nations Cup Final
New Zealand 0–0 (a.e.t.) Papua New Guinea
Report (FIFA)
Report (OFC)
Penalties
 4–2
Attendance: 13,000[31]

Goalscorers

There were 48 goals scored in 15 matches, for an average of 3.2 goals per match.

5 goals
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal

Awards
Award[32] Player Team
Golden Ball David Muta  Papua New Guinea
Golden Boot Raymond Gunemba  Papua New Guinea
Golden Gloves Stefan Marinovic  New Zealand
Fair Play Award —  New Caledonia

Broadcasting rights
Country Broadcaster Ref.
OFC OFC TV [33]
 Asia Pacific Fox Sports
 South Asia Star Sports
 European Union Eurosport
 Australia SBS [34]
 Fiji FBC TV [35]
 French Polynesia Tahiti Nui TV [34]
 New Caledonia Nouvelle-Calédonie 1re [34]
 New Zealand Sky Sport [34]
 Papua New Guinea EM TV [34]
 Samoa TV1 Samoa [34]
 Solomon Islands Telekom Television [34]
 Vanuatu Television Blong Vanuatu [34]

References
  1. "Prestigious honour for Papua New Guinea". Oceania Football Confederation. 29 October 2015. Archived from the original on 17 November 2015.
  2. "Current allocation of FIFA World Cup™ confederation slots maintained". FIFA.com. 30 May 2015.
  3. "Preliminary competition format outlined". Oceania Football Confederation. 10 July 2015. Archived from the original on 11 July 2015. Retrieved 11 July 2015.
  4. "Preliminary Draw procedures outlined". fifa.com. 9 July 2015. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
  5. "Tahiti wins 2012 Oceania Nations Cup". Goal.com. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
  6. "Football: Heat goes on NZ after switch". New Zealand Herald. 12 April 2015.
  7. "Stakeholders confident moving forward". Oceania Football Confederation. 16 October 2015. Archived from the original on 20 October 2015.
  8. "Road to Russia with new milestone". FIFA.com. 15 January 2015.
  9. "OFC Executive Committee decisions". OFC. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
  10. "FIFA Men's Ranking – May 2016 (OFC)". FIFA.com. 5 May 2016.
  11. "OFC Executive Committee outcomes". Oceania Football Confederation. 20 October 2014. Archived from the original on 5 July 2015.
  12. "Officials confirmed for OFC Nations Cup". Oceania Football Confederation. 15 May 2016.
  13. "Draw Procedures – Oceanian Zone" (PDF). FIFA.com.
  14. "World Cup path laid out for Oceania". OFC. 26 July 2015. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
  15. "FIFA Men's Ranking – July 2015 (OFC)". FIFA.com. 9 July 2015.
  16. "Regulations – 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia" (PDF). FIFA.com.
  17. "Match Summary, Group A: Papua New Guinea – New Caledonia" (PDF). Oceania Football Confederation. 29 May 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 June 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  18. "Match Summary, Group A: Tahiti – Samoa" (PDF). Oceania Football Confederation. 29 May 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 June 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  19. "Match Summary, Group A: Papua New Guinea – Tahiti" (PDF). Oceania Football Confederation. 1 June 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 June 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  20. "Match Summary, Group A: New Caledonia – Samoa" (PDF). Oceania Football Confederation. 1 June 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 June 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  21. "Match Summary, Group A: Samoa – Papua New Guinea" (PDF). Oceania Football Confederation. 5 June 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 June 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  22. "Match Summary, Group A: Tahiti – New Caledonia" (PDF). Oceania Football Confederation. 5 June 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 June 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  23. "Match Report, Round 2: New Zealand – Fiji". FIFA. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 28 May 2016. Archived from the original on 13 August 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  24. "Match Summary, Group B: Vanuatu – Solomon Islands" (PDF). Oceania Football Confederation. 28 May 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 June 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  25. "Match Summary, Group B: Vanuatu – New Zealand" (PDF). Oceania Football Confederation. 31 May 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 June 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  26. "Match Summary, Group B: Solomon Islands – Fiji" (PDF). Oceania Football Confederation. 31 May 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 June 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  27. "Match Report, Round 2: Fiji – Vanuatu". FIFA. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 4 June 2016. Archived from the original on 13 August 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  28. "Match Report, Round 2: New Zealand – Solomon Islands". FIFA. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 4 June 2016. Archived from the original on 13 August 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  29. "Match Summary, Semi-finals: New Zealand – New Caledonia". Oceania Football Confederation. 8 June 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 April 2019. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  30. "Match Summary, Semi-finals: Papua New Guinea – Solomon Islands" (PDF). Oceania Football Confederation. 8 June 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 June 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  31. "Match Summary, Final: New Zealand – Papua New Guinea" (PDF). Oceania Football Confederation. 11 June 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 June 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  32. "New Zealand triumphant". Oceania Football Confederation. 11 June 2016. Archived from the original on 11 June 2016.
  33. "OFC Nations Cup Live Streaming". oceaniafootball.com. Archived from the original on 8 June 2016. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
  34. "OFC Nations Cup Programme by OFC Football". oceaniafootball.com.
  35. "High hopes for OFC Nations Cup". fbc.com.fj.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.