2016 OFC Nations Cup

Last updated

2016 OFC Nations Cup
Tournament details
Host countryPapua New Guinea
Dates28 May – 11 June
Teams8 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)1 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
ChampionsFlag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand (5th title)
Runners-upFlag of Papua New Guinea.svg  Papua New Guinea
Tournament statistics
Matches played15
Goals scored48 (3.2 per match)
Attendance41,996 (2,800 per match)
Top scorer(s) Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg Raymond Gunemba (5 goals)
Best player(s) Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg David Muta
Best goalkeeper Flag of New Zealand.svg Stefan Marinovic
Fair play awardNew Caledonia flags merged (2017).svg  New Caledonia
2012
2020
2024

The 2016 OFC Nations Cup was the tenth 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.

Contents

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 meant that once again, the team that won the qualifying competition and advanced to the intercontinental play-off could be different from the team that won the OFC Nations Cup and represented 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]

Teams

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 tournamentAmerican 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

TeamMethod of
qualification
Date of
qualification
Finals
appearance
Last
appearance
Previous best
performance
FIFA ranking
at start of event [10]
Flag of Fiji.svg  Fiji Automatic29 March 20148th 2012 3rd (1998, 2008)183
New Caledonia flags merged (2017).svg  New Caledonia Automatic29 March 20146th 2012 2nd (2008, 2012)191
Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand Automatic29 March 201410th 2012 Winners (1973, 1998, 2002, 2008)161
Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg  Papua New Guinea Automatic29 March 20144th 2012 R1 (1980, 2002, 2012)198
Flag of the Solomon Islands.svg  Solomon Islands Automatic29 March 20147th 2012 2nd (2004)192
Flag of French Polynesia.svg  Tahiti Automatic29 March 20149th 2012 Winners (2012)196
Flag of Vanuatu.svg  Vanuatu Automatic29 March 20149th 2012 4th (1973, 2000, 2002, 2008)181
Flag of Samoa.svg  Samoa Qualifying winner4 September 20152nd 2012 R1 (2012)170

Format

The format of the OFC Nations Cup was as follows:

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
Sir. John Guise Stadium.jpg

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:

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 1Pot 2
  1. Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand (136)
  2. New Caledonia flags merged (2017).svg  New Caledonia (167)
  3. Flag of French Polynesia.svg  Tahiti (188)
  4. Flag of the Solomon Islands.svg  Solomon Islands (191)
  1. Flag of Vanuatu.svg  Vanuatu (197)
  2. Flag of Fiji.svg  Fiji (199)
  3. Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg  Papua New Guinea (202)
  4. Flag of Samoa.svg  Samoa (198) (first round winner)

Group stage

2018 FIFA World Cup qualification tiebreakers
In league format, the ranking of teams in each group was based on the following criteria (regulations Articles 20.6 and 20.7): [16]
  1. Points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss)
  2. Overall goal difference
  3. Overall goals scored
  4. Points in matches between tied teams
  5. Goal difference in matches between tied teams
  6. Goals scored in matches between tied teams
  7. Away goals scored in matches between tied teams (if the tie was only between two teams in home-and-away league format)
  8. Fair play points
    • first yellow card: minus 1 point
    • indirect red card (second yellow card): minus 3 points
    • direct red card: minus 4 points
    • yellow card and direct red card: minus 5 points
  9. Drawing of lots by the FIFA Organising Committee

All times are local, UTC+10.

Group A

PosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg  Papua New Guinea (H)3120113+85Qualification to Nations Cup knockout stage
and World Cup qualifying third round
2New Caledonia flags merged (2017).svg  New Caledonia 312092+75
3Flag of French Polynesia.svg  Tahiti 312073+45Qualification to World Cup qualifying third round
4Flag of Samoa.svg  Samoa 3003019190
Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(H) Hosts
Papua New Guinea  Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg 1–1 New Caledonia flags merged (2017).svg  New Caledonia
  • Semmy Soccerball shade.svg41'
Report (FIFA)
Report (OFC)
Tahiti  Flag of French Polynesia.svg 4–0 Flag of Samoa.svg  Samoa
Report (FIFA)
Report (OFC)
Papua New Guinea  Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg 2–2 Flag of French Polynesia.svg  Tahiti
Report (FIFA)
Report (OFC)
New Caledonia  New Caledonia flags merged (2017).svg 7–0 Flag of Samoa.svg  Samoa
Report (FIFA)
Report (OFC)
Samoa  Flag of Samoa.svg 0–8 Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg  Papua New Guinea
Report (FIFA)
Report (OFC)
Tahiti  Flag of French Polynesia.svg 1–1 New Caledonia flags merged (2017).svg  New Caledonia
Report (FIFA)
Report (OFC)

Group B

PosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand 330091+89Qualification to Nations Cup knockout stage
and World Cup qualifying third round
2Flag of the Solomon Islands.svg  Solomon Islands 31021213
3Flag of Fiji.svg  Fiji 31024623Qualification to World Cup qualifying third round
4Flag of Vanuatu.svg  Vanuatu 31023853
Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
New Zealand  Flag of New Zealand.svg 3–1 Flag of Fiji.svg  Fiji
Report (FIFA)
Report (OFC)
Vanuatu  Flag of Vanuatu.svg 0–1 Flag of the Solomon Islands.svg  Solomon Islands
Report (FIFA)
Report (OFC)
Vanuatu  Flag of Vanuatu.svg 0–5 Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand
Report (FIFA)
Report (OFC)
Solomon Islands  Flag of the Solomon Islands.svg 0–1 Flag of Fiji.svg  Fiji
Report (FIFA)
Report (OFC)
Fiji  Flag of Fiji.svg 2–3 Flag of Vanuatu.svg  Vanuatu
Report (FIFA)
Report (OFC)
New Zealand  Flag of New Zealand.svg 1–0 Flag of the Solomon Islands.svg  Solomon Islands
Report (FIFA)
Report (OFC)

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-finals Final
 
      
 
8 June – Port Moresby
 
 
Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand 1
 
11 June – Port Moresby
 
New Caledonia flags merged (2017).svg  New Caledonia 0
 
Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand (p)0 (4)
 
8 June – Port Moresby
 
Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg  Papua New Guinea 0 (2)
 
Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg  Papua New Guinea 2
 
 
Flag of the Solomon Islands.svg  Solomon Islands 1
 

Semi-finals

New Zealand  Flag of New Zealand.svg 1–0 New Caledonia flags merged (2017).svg  New Caledonia
Report (FIFA)
Report (OFC)

Final

Winners

 2016 OFC Nations Cup winners 
Flag of New Zealand.svg
New Zealand

Fifth title

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] PlayerTeam
Golden Ball David Muta Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg  Papua New Guinea
Golden Boot Raymond Gunemba Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg  Papua New Guinea
Golden Gloves Stefan Marinovic Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand
Fair Play AwardNew Caledonia flags merged (2017).svg  New Caledonia

Broadcasting rights

CountryBroadcasterRef.
OFC OFC TV [33]
 Asia Pacific Fox Sports
 South Asia Star Sports
Flag of Europe.svg European Union Eurosport
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Australia SBS [34]
Flag of Fiji.svg Fiji FBC TV [35]
Flag of French Polynesia.svg French Polynesia Tahiti Nui TV [34]
New Caledonia flags merged (2017).svg New Caledonia Nouvelle-Calédonie 1re [34]
Flag of New Zealand.svg New Zealand Sky Sport [34]
Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg Papua New Guinea EM TV [34]
Flag of Samoa.svg Samoa TV1 Samoa [34]
Flag of the Solomon Islands.svg Solomon Islands Telekom Television [34]
Flag of Vanuatu.svg Vanuatu Television Blong Vanuatu [34]

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