Oceania Football Confederation

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

Oceania Football Confederation
AbbreviationOFC
Formation1966 (1966)
TypeSports organisation
HeadquartersAuckland, New Zealand
Region served
Oceania
(Australian continent)
Membership
14 member associations (11 full)
Official language
English
President
Lambert Maltock
Parent organization
FIFA
Websitewww.oceaniafootball.com

OFC is predominantly made up of island nations where association 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. OFC is the only confederation to have not had at least one international title, the best result being Australia making the final of the 1997 Confederations Cup.

In 2006, the OFC's largest and most successful nation, Australia, left to join the Asian Football Confederation, leaving New Zealand as the largest federation within the OFC.

David Chung has been the President of OFC until April 2018. Rajesh Patel is the Senior Vice President, Lee Harmon is the Vice-President while Tai Nicholas is the General Secretary.[1]

History

The confederation formed in 1966 with the following as founding members[2]:

  • the Australian Soccer Federation (from 2005: Football Federation Australia)
  • New Zealand Soccer (subsequently New Zealand Football)
  • the Fiji Football Association
  • the Papua New Guinea Football Association

Australia resigned as an OFC member in 1972 to pursue membership with the AFC, but they rejoined in 1978.[3][4] Chinese Taipei was an OFC member from 1975 to 1989. In 1996 FIFA confirmed the OFC as a full confederation and granted it a seat on the FIFA executive.[5] In 1998 the OFC unveiled a new logo and an official magazine, entitled The Wave. On 24 May 2004, New Caledonia became the 12th member of the OFC. On 1 January 2006, Australia left the OFC again and joined the Asian Football Confederation. In 2008 an associate member, the Northern Mariana Islands Football Association, also left the OFC and in 2009 joined the AFC as a quasi-member. In late 2009 the Palau Football Association also applied for the same status with the AFC.[6]

Presidents

Member nations

Current members

OFC is made up of 11 full member associations and 3 associate members. Those three are associate members of the OFC, but are not FIFA members.[7]

Code Association National teams Founded Membership FIFA
affiliation
OFC
affiliation
IOC
member
ASA  American Samoa (M, W) 1984 Full 1998 1998 Yes [Note 1]
COK  Cook Islands (M, W) 1971 Full 1994 1994 Yes [Note 2]
FIJ  Fiji (M, W) 1938 Full 1964 1966 Yes
KIR  Kiribati (M, W) 1980 Associate N/A 2007 Yes
NCL  New Caledonia (M, W) 1928 Full 2004 2004 No [Note 3]
NZL  New Zealand (M, W) 1891 Full 1948 1966 Yes
NIU  Niue (M, W) 1960 Associate N/A 2006 No [Note 2]
PNG  Papua New Guinea (M, W) 1962 Full 1966 1966 Yes
SAM  Samoa (M, W) 1968 Full 1986 1986 Yes
SOL  Solomon Islands (M, W) 1979 Full 1988 1988 Yes
TAH  Tahiti (M, W) 1989 Full 1990 1990 No [Note 3]
TGA  Tonga (M, W) 1965 Full 1994 1994 Yes
TUV  Tuvalu (M, W) 1979 Associate N/A 2006 Yes
VAN  Vanuatu (M, W) 1934 Full 1988 1988 Yes

Notes

  1. Unincorporated territory of the United States
  2. Free associated state with New Zealand
  3. Collectivity of France

Former members

  • Australia (1966–1972, 1978–2006)[8]
  • Chinese Taipei (1976–1978, 1982–1989)
  • Northern Mariana Islands (1998–2009)

Israel entered OFC World Cup qualification in 1986 and 1990 due to political reasons, though it never became a formal OFC member.

Non-members

Sovereign states and dependencies with territory in Oceania but are members of other federations.

  • Australia (AFC)
  • Guam (AFC)
  • Northern Mariana Islands (AFC)
  • Hawaii (CONCACAF under USA)
  • Easter Island (CONMEBOL under Chile)
  • West Papua (AFC under Indonesia)

Several sovereign states or dependencies in Oceania have national teams with no affiliation. All play infrequently and may have been inactive for several years. There are also some which do not have a national team.

  •  F.S. Micronesia
  •  Palau
  •  Wallis and Futuna
  •  Nauru
  •  Marshall Islands
  •  Tokelau
  •  Norfolk Island
  •  Pitcairn Islands

Competitions

Current title holders

Competitions Champion Title Runner-Up Next edition
Nations men
OFC Nations Cup New Zealand 5th Papua New Guinea 2024
OFC U-23 Championship  New Zealand 1st  Solomon Islands 2023
OFC U-20 Championship  New Zealand 7th  Tahiti 2020
OFC U-17 Championship  New Zealand 7th  Solomon Islands 2020
OFC Futsal Nations Cup  Solomon Islands 5th  New Zealand 2023
OFC Beach Soccer Nations Cup  Tahiti 2nd  Solomon Islands 2021
Nations women
OFC Women's Nations Cup  New Zealand 6th  Fiji 2022
OFC U-20 Women's Championship  New Zealand 6th  Fiji 2021
OFC U-17 Women's Championship  New Zealand 4th  New Caledonia 2021
Clubs
OFC Champions League Hienghène Sport 1st Magenta 2020
OFC Futsal Champions League Kooline 1st AS PTT 2020

OFC Competitions

National teams:

  • OFC Nations Cup
  • OFC U-23 Championship
  • OFC U-20 Championship
  • OFC U-17 Championship
  • OFC Women's Nations Cup
  • OFC U-20 Women's Championship
  • OFC U-17 Women's Championship
  • OFC Futsal Championship
  • OFC Beach Soccer Championship
Clubs:
  • OFC Champions League
  • OFC Futsal Champions League

Rankings

Men's & women's national teams

  • Last updates:
    • Men's national teams – 19 September 2019[9]
    • Women's national teams – 7 June 2018[10]
Top men's national teams
Rankings are calculated by FIFA.
Top women's national teams
Rankings are calculated by FIFA.
OFC FIFA Nation Points +/-OFC FIFA Nation Points+/-
1 122  New Zealand 1157 5 1 23  New Zealand 1766 4
2 141  Solomon Islands 1073 1 2 50  Papua New Guinea 1479
3 154  New Caledonia 1035 3 72  Fiji 1355 1
4 159  Tahiti 1014 1 4 87  Tonga 1249
5 163  Fiji 996 5 91  New Caledonia 1239
5 163  Vanuatu 996 6 97  Tahiti 1218 1
7 165  Papua New Guinea 991 3 7 119  Vanuatu 1161 1
8 192  American Samoa 900 2 8 110  Cook Islands 1159 1
9 194  Samoa 894 3 9 111  Solomon Islands 1153 1
10 205  Tonga 862 2 10 115  Samoa 1130 1
11 999  Cook Islands 908 809 11 128  American Samoa 1047 3
  • * – Provisionally listed due to not having played more than five matches against officially ranked teams
  • ** – Inactive for more than 18 months and therefore not ranked

Top ranked men's national teams

Beach soccer national teams

Last updates: 4 July 2019[11]

Men's national beach soccer teams
Rankings are calculated by BSWW.
OFC BSWW Nation Points
1 7  Tahiti 1890
2 35  Solomon Islands 407
3 42  Vanuatu 323
4 45  New Caledonia 260
5 56  Tonga 206
6 117  Fiji 0

Major Tournaments

FIFA World Cup

Oceania has sent representatives to the FIFA World Cup four times: Australia in 1974 and 2006, and New Zealand in 1982 and 2010. (Australia has additionally qualified three times since leaving the OFC for the AFC following the 2006 FIFA World Cup: 2010, 2014 and 2018.) Neither Australia in 1974 nor New Zealand in 1982 and 2010 progressed beyond the first round. Of the four teams, only Australia in 2006 advanced to the second round.

The OFC is the only FIFA confederation that does not have a guaranteed spot in the World Cup finals (a major reason for the Australians 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 FIFA World Cup finals.

Legend
  •  1st  – Champion
  •  2nd  – Runner-up
  •  3rd  – Third place
  •  4th  – Fourth place
  • QF – Quarterfinals
  • R16 – Round of 16 (since 1986: knockout round of 16)
  • GS – Group stage (in the 1950, 1974, 1978, and 1982 tournaments, which had two group stages, this refers to the first group stage)
  • 1S – First knockout stage (1934–1938 Single-elimination tournament)
  •    — Did not qualify
  •  ×  — Did not enter / withdrawn / banned / disqualified
  •     — Hosts
FIFA World Cup record
Year Qualifier Round Position GP W D* L GS GA Format
1930 No teams from Oceania entered
1934
1938
1950
1954
1958
1962
1966 No OFC team qualified Entered in Africa and Asia
1970 Entered in Asia
1974  Australia Group stage 14th 3 0 1 2 0 5 Entered in Asia
1978 No OFC team qualified Entered in Asia
1982  New Zealand Group stage 23rd 3 0 0 3 2 12 Entered in Asia
1986 No OFC team qualified Round-robin
Play-off
1990 First round
Second round
Play-off
1994 First Round
Second Round
1st play-off
2nd play-off
1998 First Round
Second Round
Third Round
Play-off
2002 First Round
Second Round
Play-off
2006  Australia Round of 16 16th 4 1 1 2 5 6 First Round
Second Round
Third Round
Play-off
2010  New Zealand Group stage 22nd 3 0 3 0 2 2 First Round
Second Round
Play-off
2014 No OFC team qualified First Round
Second Round
Third Round
Play-off
2018 First Round
Second Round
Third Round
Play-off
2022 To be determined
2026
Total 4/23 Round of 16 13 1 5 7 9 25

OFC play-off record

1970 AFC–OFC Final Round

Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Israel  2–1  Australia 1–0 1–1

1974 AFC–OFC Final Round

Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Australia  (A) 2–2  South Korea 0–0 2–2

1986 UEFA–OFC play-off

Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Scotland  2–0  Australia 2–0 0–0

1990 CONMEBOL–OFC play-off

Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Colombia  1–0  Israel 1–0 0–0

Israel played in the OFC zone for political reasons.

1994 CONCACAF–OFC play-off

Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Canada  3–3 (P)  Australia 2–1 1–2

1994 CONMEBOL–OFC play-off

Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Australia  1–2  Argentina 1–1 0–1

1998 AFC–OFC play-off

Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Iran  (A) 3–3  Australia 1–1 2–2

2002 CONMEBOL–OFC play-off

Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Australia  1–3  Uruguay 1–0 0–3

2006 CONMEBOL–OFC play-off

Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Uruguay  1–1 (P)  Australia 1–0 0–1

2010 AFC–OFC play-off

Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Bahrain  0–1  New Zealand 0–0 0–1

2014 CONCACAF–OFC play-off

Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Mexico  9–3  New Zealand 5–1 4–2

2018 CONMEBOL–OFC play-off

Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
New Zealand  0–2  Peru 0–0 0–2

FIFA Women's World Cup

Australia is no longer an OFC member since 2006, when they joined the AFC.

Team1991

(12)
1995

(12)
1999

(16)
2003

(16)
2007

(16)
2011

(16)
2015

(24)
2019

(24)
2023

(32)
Total
 AustraliaGSGSGSPart of AFC3
 New ZealandGSGSGSGSGS5
Total111111118

Summer Olympics for men

Numbers refer to the final placing of each team at the respective Games.

Team1900

(3)
1904

(3)
1908

(6)
1912

(11)
1920

(14)
1924

(22)
1928

(17)
1936

(16)
1948

(18)
1952

(25)
1956

(11)
1960

(16)
1964

(14)
1968

(16)
1972

(16)
1976

(13)
1980

(16)
1984

(16)
1988

(16)
1992

(16)
1996

(16)
2000

(16)
2004

(16)
2008

(16)
2012

(16)
2016

(16)
2020

(16)
Total
 Australia=57413157Part of AFC6
 Fiji 161
 New Zealand 1416q3
Total 000000000010000000111111111

Summer Olympics for women

Team1996

(8)
2000

(8)
2004

(10)
2008

(12)
2012

(12)
2016

(12)
2020

(12)
Total
 Australia75Part of AFC2
 New Zealand1089q4
Total01111116

FIFA U-20 World Cup

Team 1977

(16)
1979

(16)
1981

(16)
1983

(16)
1985

(16)
1987

(16)
1989

(16)
1991

(16)
1993

(16)
1995

(16)
1997

(24)
1999

(24)
2001

(24)
2003

(24)
2005

(24)
2007

(24)
2009

(24)
2011

(24)
2013

(24)
2015

(24)
2017

(24)
2019

(24)
2021

(24)
Total
 Australia[12] QFR1R1R14th4thQFR2R1R2R2R1Part of AFC 12
 Fiji R1 1
 New Zealand R1R1R1R2R2R2 6
 Tahiti R1R1 2
 Vanuatu R1 1
Total 11110111111111111222 22

FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup

Team 2002

(12)
2004

(12)
2006

(16)
2008

(16)
2010

(16)
2012

(16)
2014

(16)
2016

(16)
2018

(16)
2020


(16)
Total
 Australia QFQFGSPart of AFC3
 New Zealand GSGSGSGSQFGSGSq8
 Papua New Guinea GS1
Total1121111211 12

FIFA U-17 World Cup

Team 1985

(16)
1987

(16)
1989

(16)
1991

(16)
1993

(16)
1995

(16)
1997

(16)
1999

(16)
2001

(16)
2003

(16)
2005

(16)
2007

(24)
2009

(24)
2011

(24)
2013

(24)
2015

(24)
2017

(24)
2019

(24)
2021

(24)
Total
 Australia QFQFR1QFQFQF2ndQFR1R1Part of AFC 10
 New Caledonia R1 1
 New Zealand R1R1R1R2R2R1R2R1R1 9
 Solomon Islands R1 1
Total111111121111111122 21

FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup

Team 2008

(16)
2010

(16)
2012

(16)
2014

(16)
2016

(16)
2018

(16)
2020

(16)
Total
 New Zealand R1R1R1GSGS3rd6
Total1111111 7

FIFA Futsal World Cup

Team 1989

(16)
1992

(16)
1996

(16)
2000

(16)
2004

(16)
2008

(20)
2012

(24)
2016

(24)
2020

(24)
Total
 AustraliaR1R1R1R1R1Part of AFC5
 Solomon IslandsR1R1R1q4
Total1111111119

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.

Team 2005[†]

(12)
2006

(16)
2007

(16)
2008[†]

(16)
2009

(16)
2011

(16)
2013

(16)
2015[†]

(16)
2017[†]

(16)
2019

(16)
2021

(16)
Total
 AustraliaR1Member of AFC1
 Solomon IslandsR1R1R1R1R15
 TahitiR14th2nd2ndR15
Total1111111111111
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).

FIFA Confederations Cup

Team 1992

(4)
1995

(6)
1997

(8)
1999

(8)
2001


(8)
2003

(8)
2005

(8)
2009

(8)
2013

(8)
2017

(8)
Total
 Australia[note 1] × × 2nd 3rd GS GS 4
 New Zealand × × GS GS GS GS 4
 Tahiti × × GS 1
Total00111111129
Notes
  1. Australia was an OFC member until 2005, and played three times in the FIFA Confederations Cup as an OFC member (1997, 2001, 2005). They became an AFC member in 2006, and qualified in the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup as an AFC member.

See also

References

  1. "Oceania Football Confederation – OFC Home". oceaniafootball.com. Archived from the original on 9 February 2013. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  2. A Dictionary of Sports Studies. ISBN 019921381X.
  3. OFC History oceaniafootball.com
  4. "Oceania admit Taiwan and Aussies quit". Reuters, UPI. The Straits Times. 1 March 1976.
  5. FIFA.com. "FIFA Congress - FIFA.com". fifa.com. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  6. "Regarding the agenda/ decisions of the 29th EAFF Executive Committee Meeting". Archived from the original on 7 February 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  7. "Member Associations". Oceania Football. Oceania Football Confederation. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016.
  8. "Oceania Football Confederation – Content". archive.org. 6 October 2009. Archived from the original on 3 March 2009. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  9. FIFA.com. "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking - Ranking Table - Oceanian Zone - FIFA.com". fifa.com. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  10. FIFA.com. "The FIFA Women's World Ranking - Oceanian Zone - FIFA.com". fifa.com. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
  11. "Overall World Ranking OCEANIA – OFC". Beach Soccer Worldwide. Retrieved 4 July 2019.
  12. Australia represented OFC before 2006.
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