The OFC Nations Cup is an international association football tournament held among the OFC member nations. It was held every two years from 1996 to 2004; before 1996 there were two other tournaments held at irregular intervals, under the name Oceania Nations Cup. No competition was held in 2006, but in the 2008 edition, which also acted as a qualification tournament for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup and for a play-off for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the New Zealand national football team emerged as winners.
The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) is one of the six continental confederations of international association football. The OFC has 13 members, 11 of which are full members and two which are associate members not affiliated with FIFA. It promotes the game in Oceania and allows the member nations to qualify for the FIFA World Cup.
Brett Michael Emerton is an Australian former professional footballer who played for Sydney Olympic, Sydney FC, Feyenoord Rotterdam, Blackburn Rovers and the Australia national team. Able to play as a wide midfielder or defender, Emerton was known for his "speed, ball control and creativity."
The Fiji national football team is Fiji's national men's team and is controlled by the governing body of football in Fiji, the Fiji Football Association. The team plays most of their home games at the HFC Bank Stadium in Suva.
The Cook Islands national football team is the men's football team that represents the Cook Islands in international competition since 1971. It is governed by the Cook Islands Football Association which is part of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) and FIFA.
Listed below are the dates and results for the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds for the Oceanian zone (OFC). For an overview of the qualification rounds, see the article 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification.
The 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification competition was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation — the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, OFC (Oceania), and UEFA (Europe) — was allocated a certain number of the 32 places at the tournament. 199 teams entered the tournament qualification rounds, competing for 32 spots in the final tournament. South Korea and Japan, as the co-hosts, and France, as the defending champions, qualified automatically, leaving 29 spots open for competition.
The Australia men's national soccer team represents Australia in international men's soccer. Officially nicknamed the Socceroos, the team is controlled by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia, which is affiliated with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the regional ASEAN Football Federation (AFF).
The Australia national under-20 soccer team, known colloquially as the Young Socceroos, represents Australia in international under-20 soccer. The team is controlled by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia (FA), which is currently a member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the regional ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) since leaving the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) in 2006. The team's official nickname is the Young Socceroos.
The Australia national under-23 soccer team represents Australia in international under-23 soccer and at the Olympic Games. The team is controlled by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia (FA), which is currently a member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the regional ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) since leaving the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) in 2006. The team's official nickname is the Olyroos.
On 11 April, 2001, the Australian and American Samoan national association football teams played each other in an Oceanian qualifying match for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. The match was played at the International Sports Stadium in Coffs Harbour, Australia. Australia set a world record for the largest victory in an international football match, winning the game 31–0. Australia's Archie Thompson also broke the record for most goals scored by a player in an international match by scoring 13 goals. David Zdrilic, the scorer of eight goals in the match, scored the second-highest number of goals in an international match since World War I.
The 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. The 2014 FIFA World Cup featured 32 teams, with one place reserved for the host nation, Brazil. The remaining 31 places were determined by a qualification process, in which the other 207 teams, from the six FIFA confederations, competed. Most of the successful teams were determined within these confederations, with a limited number of inter-confederation play-offs occurring at the end of the process.
The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification was the qualifying process which decided the 31 teams that would join hosts Qatar, who received an automatic spot, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
The 2002 FIFA World Cup OFC–CONMEBOL qualification play-off was a two-legged home-and-away tie between the winners of the Oceania qualifying tournament, Australia, and the fifth-placed team from the South American qualifying tournament, Uruguay. The games were played on 20 November and 25 November 2001 in Melbourne and Montevideo respectively. Australia was hoping to play in the FIFA World Cup for the first time since 1974 and Uruguay since 1990.
Association football is one of the popular sports in Oceania, and 2 members of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) have competed at the sport's biggest event – the men's FIFA World Cup.
Association football is among the most popular sports in Asia, with 13 members of the Asian Football Confederation having competed at the sport's biggest international event, the men's FIFA World Cup. The highest ranked result in the World Cup for an Asian team is 4th place in the 2002 FIFA World Cup by South Korea.
The Australia national soccer team played their first international match in 1922. They have won four Nations Cup titles, in 1980, 1996, 2000 and 2004 and one Asian Cup in 2015. However, they have never won the FIFA World Cup, with their best performance being a finish in the Round of 16 in 2006 and 2022.
For the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification, there were two inter-confederation play-offs to determine the final two qualification spots to the 2002 FIFA World Cup. They were won by Ireland and Uruguay. The matches were played between 10 and 25 November 2001. As of 2022, this remains the last time a European team earned a World Cup spot through an intercontinental play-off. From 2006 onwards, the remaining European qualifiers would be determined by continental play-offs.
On 9 April 2001, Tonga and Australia played an international soccer match at the International Sports Stadium in Coffs Harbour in the Australian state of New South Wales. The match was an Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) first round qualifying match for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Tonga, nominally the home team for this round robin qualifying match, were defeated 0–22 by Australia. This beat the previous international record of 20–0 from October 2000 when Kuwait defeated Bhutan on 12 February 2000 in qualification for the 2000 AFC Asian Cup. The margin of defeat also beat the previous record in a FIFA World Cup qualifying match, the 19–0 result between Iran and Guam in Tabriz in November 2000. The margin was surpassed two days later when Australia again prevailed, defeating a depleted American Samoa team with a 31–0 scoreline.
The Australia–Uruguay association football rivalry is a historical rivalry between the Australian and Uruguayan national teams that dates back 46 years to 1974 when Uruguay travelled to Australia for a 2-game series before Australia departed for the 1974 FIFA World Cup. Despite Australia winning both matches, they were marred with foul play by the Uruguayans, which left Australian forward Ray Baartz suffering a stroke after having his carotid artery damaged following an incident with Luis Garisto. The incident cause Baartz to miss the World Cup and retire from the game for health concerns. Between 2001 and 2005 the rivalry would come to the forefront of Australian and Uruguayan relations as both nations played each other in consecutive FIFA World Cup play-off matches. Uruguay would win the 2001 play-offs for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, whilst Australia would win the 2005 play offs for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, which has been called the best moment in Australian sporting history as Australia qualified for the World Cup finals for the first time in 32 years. To date, the two nations women's national teams are yet to play each other.
Australia 
12'
Henry Cervantes 
Zhang Jianjun 
France 
Felix Tangawarima 
Carlos Batres 
Brazil 
Hellmut Krug 
Harry Atisson 
American Samoa 
Ronan Leaustic 
Derek Rugg 
Samoa 
Uruguay 
Graziano Cesari 
Ali Bujsaim 