OFC Beach Soccer Championship

The OFC Beach Soccer Nations Cup is the main international championship for beach soccer in Oceania, mirroring that of the OFC Nations Cup organised by the OFC in association football. The tournament was called the OFC Beach Soccer Championship before the name was changed in 2019, and was also known as the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualifiers for OFC. The championship was established in 2006 after FIFA made requirements for all confederations to begin holding a qualification tournament to determine the best national team(s) in the region and hence those who would go on to represent their continent in the World Cup.

OFC Beach Soccer Championship
Founded2006
RegionOceania (OFC)
Number of teams3 (2013)
Current champions Tahiti (2nd title)
Most successful team(s) Solomon Islands
(4 titles)
2019 OFC Beach Soccer Nations Cup

Oceania was awarded just one spot at the finals under FIFA's new changes to the organisation of the World Cup and hence only the winners of the championship proceed to the succeeding World Cup finals. Before 2006, there was no consistent method of qualification or number of spots at the World Cup for Oceanian nations, with countries often simply being invited to play in the finals, without competing for a regional crown beforehand.

The Solomon Islands are the most successful nation having dominated the championships, winning four of the five that have taken place. However, Tahiti have emerged as a global force in more recent years.

Now that the World Cup takes place every two years, so does the championship which started with the qualifiers for the 2011 World Cup.

Tournaments

For all tournaments, the top team qualified for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.

Year Location Final Third place match
Champion Score Runner-Up Third Place Score Fourth Place
2006
details		 Moorea, Tahiti
Solomon Islands		 6–2
Vanuatu
Tahiti		 12–4
Cook Islands
2007
details		 Auckland, New Zealand
Solomon Islands		 5–3
Vanuatu
New Zealand		 5–3
Tahiti
2008 Not held[A]
2009
details		 Moorea, Tahiti
Solomon Islands		 1–0
Vanuatu
Tahiti		 6–3
Fiji
2011
details		 Papeete, Tahiti
Tahiti		 4–3
Solomon Islands
Fiji		 -
2013
details		 Nouméa, New Caledonia[B]
Solomon Islands		 6–0
New Caledonia
Vanuatu		 -
2015 Not held[C]
2017 Not held[D]
2019
details		 Papeete, Tahiti[1]
Tahiti		 4–3
Solomon Islands
New Caledonia		 8–7
Vanuatu

Notes:

A ^ Due to a late calendar change bringing the World Cup forward from November to July, the OFC judged that it would be too difficult to reorganise the Championship in time, and hence on the back of their two previous titles, the Solomon Islands where hand-picked by the OFC as the continent's representative at the World Cup.
B ^ Tahiti, despite being defending champions, were unable to compete due to a pre-arranged tour of Europe to play against higher level opposition in preparation as host nation of the World Cup. Hence the competition was moved from Tahiti to New Caledonia.
C ^ Due to undisclosed circumstances, the tournament scheduled to take place in Papeete, Tahiti in February was cancelled with the Tahitian national team picked by the OFC to go to represent Oceania at the World Cup.
D ^ The 2017 edition was set to take place in February of 2017[2] but for the second-scheduled edition running, the championship was cancelled for undisclosed reasons, with OFC in favour of nominating Tahiti as representatives having demonstrated being the best nation in the region through their performance at the preceding World Cup.[3]

Successful nations
Team Titles Runners-up Third Place Fourth Place
 Solomon Islands 4 (2006, 2007, 2009, 2013) 2 (2011, 2019) - -
 Tahiti 2 (2011*, 2019*) - 2 (2006*, 2009*) 1 (2007)
 Vanuatu - 3 (2006, 2007, 2009) 1 (2013) 1 (2019)
 New Caledonia - 1 (2013*) 1 (2019) -
 Fiji - - 1 (2011) 1 (2009)
 New Zealand - - 1 (2007*) -
 Cook Islands - - - 1 (2006)
* = Hosts

Overall standings

As 2017

Pos Team Part Pld W WE WP L GF GA Dif Pts
1  Solomon Islands 517140039045+4542
2  Vanuatu 41472057760+1725
3  Tahiti 41570087567+821
4  New Zealand 1410032126-53
5  New Caledonia 121001712-53
6  Fiji 2600042347-240
7  Cook Islands 140004649-430

Note: Win in Common Time W = 3 Points / Win in Extra Time WE = 2 Points / Win in Penalty shoot-out WP = 1 Point / Lose L = 0 Points

Appearances

These are the nations who have qualified to appear in the OFC Beach Soccer Championship since 2006.

Legend
  • 1st – Champions
  • 2nd – Runners-up
  • 3rd – Third place
  • 4th – Fourth place
  • • – Did not quality
  • •• – Qualified but withdrew
  • q – Qualified for upcoming tournament
  •    – Hosts
2006

(4)		 2007

(4)		 2009

(4)		 2011

(3)		 2013

(3)		 2019

(5)		 Total
appearances
 Cook Islands 4th • • • • • 1
 Fiji • • 4th 3rd • • 2
 New Caledonia • • • • 2nd 3rd 2
 New Zealand • 3rd • • • • 1
 Solomon Islands 1st 1st 1st 2nd 1st 2nd 6
 Tahiti 3rd 4th 3rd 1st •• 1st 5
 Tonga • • • • • 5th 1
 Vanuatu 2nd 2nd 2nd •• 3rd 4th 5

Performance of qualifiers at the World Cup
Main article: National team appearances in the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

The following is a performance timeline of the OFC teams who have appeared in the Beach Soccer World Cup since being sanctioned by FIFA in 2005.

Legend
Team \ Years
2005[†]
2006
2007
2008[†]
2009
2011
2013
2015[†]
2017[†]
2019		 Total
 AustraliaR1Member of AFC1
 Solomon IslandsR1R1R1R1R15
 TahitiR14th2nd2ndq5
Total no. of unique qualifiers3
Notes
  1. ^
    In 2005, 2008, 2015 and 2017, no OFC qualifiers for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup were held and teams were selected to represent OFC (2005: Australia; 2008: Solomon Islands; 2015 and 2017: Tahiti).

References
  1. "OFC Competition calendar set for 2018". Oceania Football Confederation. 31 October 2017.
  2. "OFC Executive Committee decisions". oceaniafootball.com. 2014-04-23. Archived from the original on 2016-09-13. Retrieved 2016-04-17.
  3. "Competition calendar outlined". Oceania Football Confederation. December 10, 2015. Archived from the original on September 24, 2016.
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