2023 OFC Champions League

2023 OFC Champions League

Tournament details
Host country	Group stage: Vanuatu
Dates	Qualifying: 11 February – 18 March Competition proper: 14 – 27 May [1]
Teams	Total: 18 (from 11 associations)
Final positions
Champions	Auckland City (11th title)
Runners-up	Suva
Tournament statistics
Matches played	14
Goals scored	50 (3.57 per match)
Attendance	70,650 (5,046 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Ryan De Vries (5 goals)
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The 2023 OFC Champions League was the 22nd edition of the Oceanian Club Championship, Oceania's premier club football tournament organized by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC), and the 17th season under the current OFC Champions League name.

Defending champions Auckland City FC, defeated Fijian Suva to win a record eleventh title and earned the right to play at the 2023 FIFA Club World Cup in Saudi Arabia. ^[2] As they also won the 2021 OFC Champions League and the 2022 OFC Champions League, they also earned the right to play at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup in the United States. ^[3]

Teams

A total of 18 teams from all 11 OFC member associations may enter the competition.

• The seven associations (Fiji, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tahiti, Vanuatu) are awarded a berth each in the groups stage, after playing a national playoff between the top 2 clubs in the league.
• The four associations (American Samoa, Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga) are awarded one berth each in the qualifying stage, with the winners advancing to the group stage.

Suva

Rewa

Tiga Sport

Hienghène Sport

Auckland City

Wellington Olympic

Lae City

Hekari United

Solomon Warriors

Kossa

Pirae

Dragon

Ifira Black Bird

Sia-Raga

Ilaoa and To'omata

Tupapa Maraerenga

Lupe o le Soaga (h)

Veitongo

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Location of teams of the 2023 OFC Champions League.
Teams entering the National playoffs; (H) Group stage host
Teams entering the qualifying stage; (h) Qualifying stage host

Association	Team	Qualifying method
Teams entering the National playoffs
Fiji	Rewa	2022 Fiji National Football League champions
	Suva	2022 Fiji National Football League runners-up
New Caledonia	AS Tiga Sport	2022 New Caledonia Super Ligue champions
	Hienghène Sport	2022 New Caledonia Super Ligue runners-up
New Zealand	Auckland City	2022 New Zealand National League grand final champions
	Wellington Olympic	2022 New Zealand National League grand final runners-up
Papua New Guinea	Lae City	2022 Papua New Guinea National Soccer League champions
	Hekari United	2022 Papua New Guinea National Soccer League runners-up
Solomon Islands	Solomon Warriors	2022–23 Solomon Islands S-League champions
	Kossa	2022–23 Solomon Islands S-League runners-up
Tahiti	AS Pirae	2021–22 Tahiti Ligue 1 champions
	AS Dragon	2021–22 Tahiti Ligue 1 runners-up
Vanuatu	Ifira Black Bird F.C.	2022 VFF National Super League grand final champions
	Sia-Raga F.C.	2022 VFF National Super League grand final runners-up
Teams entering the qualifying stage
American Samoa	Ilaoa and To'omata	2022 FFAS Senior League champions
Cook Islands	Tupapa Maraerenga	2022 Cook Islands Round Cup champions
Samoa	Lupe ole Soaga	2022 Samoa National League third place
Tonga	Veitongo	2022 Tonga Major League champions

Qualifying stage

Main article: 2023 OFC Champions League qualifying stage

Preliminary group

The draw for the qualifying stage was held on 1 February 2023 at the OFC Headquarters in Auckland, New Zealand. ^[4] The four teams in the qualifying stage played each other on a round-robin basis at a centralised venue. The winners will advance to the group stage to join the 7 direct entrants. ^[4] The qualifying stage is hosted in Apia by Football Federation Samoa. ^[5]

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		LUP	TUP	VEI	ITO
1	Lupe ole Soaga (H)	3	3	0	0	29	1	+28	9	Group stage		—	7–1	9–0	—
2	Tupapa Maraerenga	3	2	0	1	10	7	+3	6			—	—	1–0	8–0
3	Veitongo	2	0	0	2	0	10	−10	0			—	—	—	Canc. [lower-alpha 1]
4	Ilaoa and To'omata	2	0	0	2	0	21	−21	0			0–13	—	—	—

Source: OFC
(H) Hosts
Notes:

1. The Veitongo v Ilaoa and To'omata match was cancelled due to the threat of a cyclone closing in on Samoa. ^{[6] [7]} Both teams were already eliminated prior to the cancellation.

National play-offs

On 10 February 2023, OFC announced that 7 sets of national playoffs would take place to determine which side from those nations would take part in this year's Champions League. ^[8]

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Suva	3–2	Rewa	1–1	2–1
Hienghène Sport	1–5	Tiga Sport	1–3	0–2
Wellington Olympic	4–6	Auckland City	1–1	3–5
Hekari United	4–1	Lae City	2–1	2–0
Kossa FC	2–3	Solomon Warriors	1–1	1–2
Dragon	3–9	Pirae	0–2	3–7
SiaRaga FC	0–4	Ifira Black Bird FC	0–3	0–1

Group stage

Main article: 2023 OFC Champions League group stage

The four teams in each group will play each other on a round-robin basis at a centralised venue in Vanuatu. ^[9] The winners and runners-up of each group will advance to the semi-finals of the knockout stage.

The draw of the group stage were announced by the OFC on 23 March 2023. ^{[10] [11]} The 8 teams were drawn into two groups of four. Ifira Black Bird were pre-determined to play in Port Vila and so were automatically drawn into group B.

Group A

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		AUC	SUV	SOL	LUP
1	Auckland City	3	3	0	0	9	2	+7	9	Knockout stage		—	—	3–1	—
2	Suva	3	2	0	1	6	3	+3	6			1–3	—	—	3–0 [lower-alpha 1]
3	Solomon Warriors	3	1	0	2	4	5	−1	3			—	0–2	—	3–0 [lower-alpha 2]
4	Lupe ole Soaga	3	0	0	3	0	9	−9	0			0–3 [lower-alpha 3]	—	—	—

Source: OFC
Notes:

1. The Lupe ole Soaga v Suva match was cancelled due to injuries in the Lupe ole Soaga squad. Lupe ole Soaga SC will have all its matches cancelled and considered null and void. OFC will award victory and the resultant three points to the opposing team as well as the score of 3–0. ^[12]
2. The Lupe ole Soaga v Solomon Warriors match was cancelled due to injuries in the Lupe ole Soaga squad. Lupe ole Soaga SC will have all its matches cancelled and considered null and void. OFC will award victory and the resultant three points to the opposing team as well as the score of 3–0. ^[12]
3. The Lupe ole Soaga v Auckland City match was cancelled due to injuries in the Lupe ole Soaga squad. Lupe ole Soaga SC will have all its matches cancelled and considered null and void. OFC will award victory and the resultant three points to the opposing team as well as the score of 3–0. ^[12]

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		PIR	IFI	HEK	TIG
1	Pirae	3	2	1	0	7	3	+4	7	Knockout stage		—	—	—	3–0
2	Ifira Black Bird (H)	3	1	1	1	3	4	−1	4			2–2	—	0–2	—
3	Hekari United	3	1	0	2	3	3	0	3			1–2	—	—	—
4	Tiga Sport	3	1	0	2	1	4	−3	3			—	0–1	1–0	—

Source: OFC
(H) Hosts

Knockout stage

Main article: 2023 OFC Champions League knockout stage

The four teams in the knockout stage played on a single-elimination basis, with each tie played as a single match at VFF Freshwater Stadium .

Bracket

The bracket was determined as follows:

	Semi-finals				Final
	24 May 2023
	Auckland City (p)	2 (5)
					27 May 2023
	Ifira Black Bird	2 (4)
					Auckland City (a.e.t.)	4
	24 May 2023
					Suva	2
	Pirae	2
	Suva (a.e.t.)	4

Semi-finals

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Auckland City	2–2 (5–4 p)	Ifira Black Bird
Pirae	2–4 (a.e.t.)	Suva

Final

Main article: 2023 OFC Champions League final

In the final, the two semi-final winners played against each other. The final was played on 27 May 2023.

27 May 2023 (2023-05-27)

14:00  UTC+11

Auckland City	4–2 (a.e.t.)	Suva
Kilkolly 34' (pen.) De Vries 45+3', 120+4' Howieson 109'	Report	Saniel 66' Tahioa 83'

VFF Freshwater Stadium, Port Vila

Attendance: 5,420

Referee: David Yareboinen (Papua New Guinea)

Statistics

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Team	Goals
1	Michael Tumua Leo	Lupe ole Soaga	7
2	Ryan De Vries	Auckland City	5
	Azariah Soromon	Suva
4	Tamatoa Tetauira	Pirae	4
5	Liam Gillion	Auckland City	3
	Angus Kilkolly
	Emiliano Tade
	Marlon Tahioa	Suva
	Alex Saniel
	Ariiura Labaste	Pirae
	Godine Tenene	Ifira Black Bird
12	Kenny Iawak		2
	Joseph Joe	Hekari United
	Joe Naime
	Rusiate Matarerega	Suva
	Yohann Tihoni	Pirae
	Roonui Tinirauarii	Dragon
	Hamish Watson	Wellington Olimpic
	Shene Wélépane	Tiga Sport
	Yagi Yasasa	Hekari United

Awards

Award	Winner [13]
Golden Ball	Cameron Howieson
Golden Boot	Ryan de Vries

References

1. "VFF 2023 National Champions League locked to start 1 February". Vanuatu Football Federation. 30 January 2023. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
2. "Auckland City FC are OFC Champions for 11th time". RNZ.co.nz. 27 May 2023.
3. "FIFA Council confirms key details for FIFA Club World Cup 2025". FIFA. 17 December 2023. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
4. "OFC Champions League Qualifying Stage dates announced". Oceania Football Confederation. 1 February 2023.
5. Gutu Faasau (18 February 2023). "OFC qualifiers kick off in Samoa". Samoa Observer. Retrieved 18 February 2023.
6. "LUPE OLE SOAGA BIG VICTORS IN OFC CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2023 QUALIFYING". Oceania Football Confederation. 24 February 2023. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
7. "STATEMENT FROM OFC". Oceania Football Confederation Facebook. 24 February 2023. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
8. "OFC Champions League explained". Oceania Football Confederation. 10 February 2023. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
9. "OFC Competitions 2023 Calendar confirmed 1/01/2023" (PDF). Oceania Football Confederation. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
10. "OFC CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2023 DRAW COMPLETED". Oceania Football Confederation. 23 March 2023. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
11. "DRAW DATE CONFIRMED FOR OFC CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2023". Oceania Football Confederation. 20 March 2023. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
12. "OFC STATEMENT ON LUPE OLE SOAGA SC". Oceania Football Confederation. 21 May 2023. Retrieved 21 May 2023.
13. "AUCKLAND CITY FC CLAIM RECORD-EXTENDING 11TH OFC CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TITLE IN EXTRA-TIME NAIL-BITER". Oceania Football Confederation. 27 May 2023.