Oceania Football Confederation

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Oceania Football Confederation

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

Of the six confederations, the OFC is by far the smallest and weakest, predominately made up of small and often impoverished island nations, in many of which football is not the most popular sport. Consequently, it 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. In 2006, the OFC's largest and most successful nation, Australia, transferred to the Asian Football Confederation, leaving New Zealand as the most prominent federation within the OFC.

History

The confederation was formed in 1966. The founding members were the Australian Soccer Federation (now Football Federation Australia), New Zealand Soccer (now New Zealand Football), and the Fiji Football Association. In 1996 the OFC was confirmed as a full confederation and given a seat on the FIFA executive. In 1998, the OFC unveiled a new logo and an official magazine, entitled The Wave. On May 24, 2004, New Caledonia became the 12th member of the OFC. On January 1 2006, Australia left the OFC and joined the Asian Football Confederation. The qualification process for the world cup was then modified, allowing Oceania's top rank side to compete in a two-legged play-off against the fifth ranked team from Asia.

Competitions

The winner of the OFC Football World Cup Qualifiers was allowed to compete in a two-legged home-and-away playoff with the team ranked fifth in the South American qualifying competition for a place in the 2006 World Cup. Since 1996, OFC members also play for the OFC Nations Cup, which is held every second year.

The OFC also organises the Oceania Club Championship, a competition that has received surprisingly high levels of media support within New Zealand in its debut season. It serves primarily to determine the Oceania representative at the FIFA Club World Cup. In 2007, the OFC replaced the current club competition with the Oceania Champions League which begins in 2007. From 2007, this winner will no longer gain direct entry to the FIFA Club World Cup - but instead will play off against the host nation (currently Japan) champion for the final spot in the tournament. It is not clear whether this is permanent, or even if it could change if the Oceania entrant were to outperform entrants from other Confederations.

Of the federation's current teams, only New Zealand has ever competed on the world stage from the confederation, competing in the 1982 World Cup. Ex-founding member Australia has also competed in the World Cup finals, in 1974 and 2006. At the conclusion of Germany 2006, Australia's exit from the OFC was finalised (exiting formally on the 1 January 2006), being the last commitment of the transition before completely joining the Asian Football Confederation. The other minor exception to this has been the participation of the Solomon Islands in the 2006, 2007 and 2008 Beach Football World Cup.

In the 2004 OFC Nations Cup, which doubled as the Oceania qualifying tournament for the 2006 World Cup, the Solomon Islands unexpectedly made the finals after a 2-2 draw with Australia at the last round. This effectively denied New Zealand a place in the third group phase by one group point as Vanuatu had beaten New Zealand 4-2 in an early round upset of the second group phase. Australia won OFC Nation Cup final by beating the Solomons 5:1 in Honiara and 6:0 in Sydney to represent OFC in the FIFA Confederations Cup in Germany 2005 The two teams met again in a two-legged World Cup qualifying final in September 2005 for the right to play the CONMEBOL representative for a place in the World Cup finals; Australia won 9:1 on aggregate (7:0 at home and 2:1 away) and progressed to the Oceania - South America playoff. Australia won this playoff against Uruguay on penalties after a 1:1 aggregate score after both legs of the playoff and after extra time, and qualified for the World Cup.

Other competitions

Oceania Club Championship
Oceania Champions League replaces the Oceania Club Championship in 2007, winner qualifies for play-off for FIFA Club World Cup
AFC/OFC Challenge Cup
OFC Olympic Qualifying Tournament
OFC Under 20 Qualifying Tournament
OFC Under 17 Qualifying Tournament
Polynesia Cup
Melanesia Cup
Wantok Cup
Pacific Games

Female

Futsal

OFC Futsal Qualifying Tournament

Oceanian Futsal Championship

Beach Soccer

OFC Beach Soccer Championship

World Cup Qualifiers

Oceania has sent representatives to the World Cup three times: Australia in 1974 and 2006, and New Zealand in 1982. However, Australia was not a member of the confederation in 1974, having withdrawn in order to apply to join the Asian Football Confederation. It rejoined the OFC in 1978. Neither Australia in 1974 nor New Zealand in 1982 progressed beyond the first round, while Australia in 2006 advanced to the second round. OFC is the only FIFA confederation that does not have a guaranteed spot in the World Cup finals (a major reason for Australia's 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 World Cup finals.

World Cup	Qualifier(s)	Notes
1930-1962	None	No teams from Oceania entered.
1966	None	Entered in Asia.
1970	None	Entered in Asia.
1974	Australia	Entered in Asia, qualified but lost in group stage.
1978	None	Entered in Asia.
1982	New Zealand	Entered in Asia, qualified but lost in group stage.
1986	None	Australia lost to Scotland in the Intercontinental Play-offs. This is the first World Cup where Oceania was its own continent and thus did not partake in Asian qualification.
1990	None	Israel (who played in the Oceanian zone for political reasons) lost to Colombia in the Intercontinental Play-offs.
1994	None	Australia beat Canada, then lost to Argentina in the Intercontinental Play-offs.
1998	None	Australia lost to Iran in the Intercontinental Play-offs.
2002	None	Australia lost to Uruguay in the Intercontinental Play-offs.
2006	Australia	Australia beat Uruguay in the Intercontinental Play-offs to qualify, progressed through group stage, lost in round of 16 to Italy. This is the first time any Oceanic country made it past the group stage.
2010		The gold, silver and bronze medal winners of the 2007 South Pacific Games; New Caledonia, Fiji and Vanuatu are currently contesting the OFC Nations Cup with New Zealand. OFC Nations Cup winner then faces the fifth-placed Asian nation for a place in the World Cup Finals.