2024 OFC U-16 Men's Championship

2024 OFC U-16 Men's Championship

Tournament details
Host countries	Qualifying stage: Tonga Final tournament: Tahiti
Dates	Qualifying stage: 13–19 April 2024 Final tournament: 28 July – 10 August 2024
Teams	Final tournament: 8 Total: 11 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	2 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	New Zealand (10th title)
Runners-up	Fiji
Third place	New Caledonia
Fourth place	Tahiti
Tournament statistics
Matches played	18
Goals scored	77 (4.28 per match)
Attendance	3,500 (194 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Aaron Cartwright (7 goals)
Best player(s)	Aaron Cartwright
Best goalkeeper	Nicolas Kutran
Fair play award	Tahiti
← 2023 2025 →

The 2024 OFC U-16 Men's Championship was the 21st edition of the OFC U-16/U-17 Championship, the biennial international youth football championship organised by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) for the men's under-16/under-17 national teams of Oceania. The final tournament was played in Pirae, Tahiti, from 28 July to 10 August 2024. ^[1] Players born on or after 1 January 2007 are eligible to compete in the tournament.

The top three teams of the tournament qualified for the 2025 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Qatar as the OFC representatives. ^{[2] [3]} New Zealand successfully defended the title from 2023.

Teams

All 11 FIFA-affiliated national teams from the OFC entered the tournament.

In 2022 and 2023, male youth OFC tournaments did not have a four-team qualifying stage, and all teams competed in one tournament. ^[4] This was reversed for the 2024 tournament. ^[5]

Note: All appearance statistics include those in the qualifying stage (2016 and 2018).

Team	Appearance	Previous best performance
American Samoa	10th	Group stage (1999, 2001, 2003, 2011, 2015, 2023)
Cook Islands	11th	Quarter-finals (2023)
Fiji	19th	Runners-up (1999)
New Caledonia	13th	Runners-up (2003, 2013, 2017, 2023)
New Zealand	18th	Champions (1997, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2023)
Papua New Guinea	10th	Semi-finals (2017), Fourth place (1986)
Samoa	10th	Quarter-finals (2023)
Solomon Islands	10th	Runners-up (1993, 2018)
Tahiti (hosts)	15th	Runners-up (2007, 2009, 2011, 2015)
Tonga	11th	Quarter-finals (2023)
Vanuatu	16th	Runners-up (2005)

Venues

Pirae
Pirae
Stade Pater	Stade Fautaua
Capacity: 11,700	Capacity: 5,000

Draw

The draw for the group stage was held on 5 March with teams seeded into pots based upon their ranking at the 2023 OFC U-17 Championship. ^{[5] [6]}

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3
New Caledonia   New Zealand	Fiji   Samoa   Tahiti   Vanuatu	Cook Islands   Solomon Islands [a]

Qualifying stage

The draw for the group stage was held 5 March 2024. ^[5]

Tiebreakers

Tie-breaking criteria for group play [7]
The ranking of teams in the group stage was determined as follows: Total points; Goal difference in all group matches; Goals scored in all group matches; Head-to-head result between tied teams; Points in matches among the tied teams; Goal difference in matches among the tied teams; Goals scored in matches among the tied teams; Fair play points in all group matches (only one deduction per player, per match): One yellow card: −1 point; Two yellow cards (indirect red card): −3 points; Direct red card: −4 points; Yellow card and direct red card: −5 points; Drawing of lots.

Qualifying group

Main article: 2024 OFC U-16 Men's Championship qualification

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Solomon Islands	3	3	0	0	29	0	+29	9	Final tournament
2	Tonga (H)	3	2	0	1	10	9	+1	6
3	Papua New Guinea	3	1	0	2	3	22	−19	3
4	American Samoa	3	0	0	3	1	12	−11	0

Source: OFC ^[8]
(H) Hosts

Group stage

All times are local, TAHT (UTC-10).

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	New Zealand	3	3	0	0	23	1	+22	9	Knockout stage
2	Fiji	3	2	0	1	6	10	−4	6
3	Cook Islands	3	1	0	2	4	10	−6	3	5th place match
4	Vanuatu	3	0	0	3	3	15	−12	0	7th place match

Source: OFC

28 July 2024 (2024-07-28)

12:00

New Zealand	9–0	Vanuatu
Lienard 20' Cartwright 29', 66' Brooke-Smith 42' Fitzharris 45+1', 76' Martin 58' Britton 78' Smith 86'	Report

Stade Fautaua, Pirae

Attendance: 100 ^[9]

Referee: Shama Maemae (Solomon Islands)

28 July 2024 (2024-07-28)

15:00

Fiji	2–1	Cook Islands
Shankar 58', 90+6'	Report	Rasmussen 12'

Stade Fautaua, Pirae

Attendance: 100 ^[10]

Referee: Peter Olomaga (Samoa)

---

31 July 2024 (2024-07-31)

12:00

New Zealand	7–1	Fiji
Cartwright 27', 50' Cardozo 35' Brooke-Smith 43', 45', 81' Perez Baldoni 90+3'	Report	Rasorewa 21'

Stade Fautaua, Pirae

Attendance: 100 ^[11]

Referee: Ben Aukwai (Solomon Islands)

31 July 2024 (2024-07-31)

15:00

Cook Islands	3–1	Vanuatu
Webb 47' (pen.), 85' (pen.) Rasmussen 60'	Report	Taravaki 12'

Stade Fautaua, Pirae

Referee: Norbert Hauata (Tahiti)

---

3 August 2024 (2024-08-03)

12:00

Cook Islands	0–7	New Zealand
	Report	Smith 2', 10' Banza 14' Britton 29', 43', 90+5' Perniskie 64'

Stade Fautaua, Pirae

Attendance: 100 ^[12]

Referee: Norbert Hauata (Tahiti)

3 August 2024 (2024-08-03)

15:00

Vanuatu	2–3	Fiji
Manipen 8' Taravaki 52'	Report	Samy 34' Shankar 44' Rasorewa 80'

Stade Fautaua, Pirae

Attendance: 100 ^[13]

Referee: David Yareboinen (Papua New Guinea)

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Tahiti (H)	3	3	0	0	6	3	+3	9	Knockout stage
2	New Caledonia	3	1	0	2	7	6	+1	3
3	Samoa	3	1	0	2	4	5	−1	3	5th place match
4	Solomon Islands	3	1	0	2	6	9	−3	3	7th place match

Source: OFC
(H) Hosts

29 July 2024 (2024-07-29)

15:00

New Caledonia	0–2	Samoa
	Report	Nyikeine 17' (o.g.) Enoka 40'

Stade Pater, Pirae

Attendance: 200 ^[14]

Referee: Neeshil Varman (Fiji)

29 July 2024 (2024-07-29)

18:00

Tahiti	2–1	Solomon Islands
Colombani 48' Brown 83'	Report	Kwaimasia 3'

Stade Pater, Pirae

Attendance: 300 ^[15]

Referee: Chris Bennett (New Zealand)

---

1 August 2024 (2024-08-01)

15:00

Solomon Islands	3–1	Samoa
Makana 64' Sihiu 65' Kwaimasia 82'	Report	Hansell 37'

Stade Pater, Pirae

Attendance: 150 ^[16]

Referee: Adam Bavcar (Australia)

1 August 2024 (2024-08-01)

18:00

New Caledonia	1–2	Tahiti
Kutran 22' (pen.)	Report	Colombani 40' (pen.), 79'

Stade Pater, Pirae

Attendance: 350 ^[17]

Referee: David Yareboinen (Papua New Guinea)

---

4 August 2024 (2024-08-04)

15:00

Solomon Islands	2–6	New Caledonia
Makana 53' Sihiu 67'	Report	Ijelipa 17', 35', 62', 80' Pautre 77' Trohmae 86'

Stade Pater, Pirae

Attendance: 100 ^[18]

Referee: Shane Skinner (Australia)

4 August 2024 (2024-08-04)

18:00

Samoa	1–2	Tahiti
Edward 45+1'	Report	Tereroa 12' Arapahi 78'

Stade Pater, Pirae

Attendance: 250 ^[19]

Referee: Chris Bennett (New Zealand)

7th place match

8 August 2024 (2024-08-08)

15:00

Vanuatu	0–1	Solomon Islands
	Report	Sihiu 73' (pen.)

Stade Fautaua, Pirae

Attendance: 50 ^[20]

Referee: Neeshil Varman (Fiji)

5th place match

8 August 2024 (2024-08-08)

12:00

Cook Islands	1–2	Samoa
Webb 90+2' (pen.)	Report	Kapisi 6', 8'

Stade Fautaua, Pirae

Attendance: 100 ^[21]

Referee: Shama Maemae (Solomon Islands)

Knockout stage

Bracket

	Semi-finals				Final
	7 August – Pirae
	New Zealand	5
					10 August – Pirae
	New Caledonia	0
					New Zealand	3
	7 August – Pirae
					Fiji	1
	Tahiti	1
	Fiji	2
					Third place match
					10 August – Pirae
					New Caledonia (pen.)	1 (5)
					Tahiti	1 (4)

Semi-finals

Winners qualified for the 2025 FIFA U-17 World Cup.

7 August 2024 (2024-08-07)

15:00

New Zealand	5–0	New Caledonia
Cartwright 3', 43', 53' Cardozo 29' Smith 69' (pen.)	Report

Stade Pater, Pirae

Attendance: 300 ^[22]

Referee: Norbert Hauata (Tahiti)

7 August 2024 (2024-08-07)

18:00

Tahiti	1–2	Fiji
Kubucaucau 70' (o.g.)	Report	Rasorewa 7', 68'

Stade Pater, Pirae

Attendance: 500 ^[23]

Referee: Ben Aukwai (Solomon Islands)

Third place match

Winner qualified for the 2025 FIFA U-17 World Cup.

10 August 2024 (2024-08-10)

15:00

New Caledonia	1–1	Tahiti
Iopue 25'	Report	Tereroa 64'
Penalties
	5–4

Stade Pater, Pirae

Attendance: 500 ^[24]

Referee: Ben Aukwai (Solomon Islands)

Final

10 August 2024 (2024-08-10)

18:00

New Zealand	3–1	Fiji
Martin 3' Brooke-Smith 62' Cardozo 67'	Report	Khan 28'

Stade Pater, Pirae

Attendance: 200 ^[25]

Referee: David Yareboinen (Papua New Guinea)

Broadcasting

All games will be streamed live and free on FIFA+. ^[6]

Awards

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament. ^[26]

Award	Player
Golden Ball	Aaron Cartwright
Golden Boot	Aaron Cartwright
Golden Gloves	Nicolas Kutran
Fair Play	Tahiti

Goalscorers

1. Brooke-Smith L. New Zealand U16 4 goals

1. Cartwright A. New Zealand U16 4 goals

1. ljelipa A. New Caledonia U16 4 goals

2. Britton W. New Zealand U16 3 goals

2. Colombani T. S. Tahiti U16 3 goals

2. Shankar R. FIJI U16 3 goals

Qualified teams for FIFA U-17 World Cup

The following three teams from OFC qualified for the 2025 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Qatar.

Team	Qualified on	Previous appearances in FIFA U-17 World Cup 1
New Zealand	7 August 2024	10 (1997, 1999 , 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2023)
Fiji	7 August 2024	0 (debut)
New Caledonia	10 August 2024	2 (2017, 2023)

¹Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

Notes

1. The identity of the qualifying winners was not known at the time of the final draw

References

1. Final tournament statistics
2. "Qatar appointed as host of FIFA U-17 World Cup™ annually from 2025 to 2029". FIFA. 15 March 2024. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
3. "New Zealand's pathway to future FIFA U-17 World Cups gets easier". friendsoffootballnz.com. 1 April 2024. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
4. "OFC male youth tournaments continue to evolve". Oceania Football Confederation. 3 April 2020.
5. "DRAWS CONFIRMED FOR OFC U-16 MEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP AND QUALIFYING". Oceania Football Confederation. 5 March 2024. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
6. "Draw made for OFC U-16 Men's Championship tournament in Tahiti". friendsoffootballnz.com. 5 March 2024. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
7. "REGULATIONS OFC U-16 Men's Championship 2024" (PDF). Oceania Football. p. 22. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
8. "OFC U-16 Men's Championship 2024 - Qualifying". Oceania Football. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
9. "New Zealand vs Vanuatu". Oceania Football Confederation. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
10. "Fiji vs Cook Islands". Oceania Football Confederation. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
11. "New Zealand vs Fiji". Oceania Football Confederation. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
12. "Cook Islands vs New Zealand". Oceania Football Confederation. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
13. "Vanuatu vs Fiji". Oceania Football Confederation. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
14. "New Caledonia vs Samoa". Oceania Football Confederation. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
15. "Tahiti vs Solomon Islands". Oceania Football Confederation. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
16. "Solomon Islands vs Samoa". Oceania Football Confederation. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
17. "New Caledonia vs Tahiti". Oceania Football Confederation. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
18. "Solomon Islands vs New Caledonia". Oceania Football Confederation. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
19. "Samoa vs Tahiti". Oceania Football Confederation. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
20. "Vanuatu vs Solomon Islands". Oceania Football Confederation. Retrieved 13 August 2024.
21. "Cook Islands vs Samoa". Oceania Football Confederation. Retrieved 13 August 2024.
22. "New Zealand vs New Caledonia". Oceania Football Confederation. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
23. "Tahiti vs Fiji". Oceania Football Confederation. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
24. "New Caledonia vs Tahiti". Oceania Football Confederation. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
25. "New Zealand vs Fiji". Oceania Football Confederation. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
26. "New Zealanders among award winners at end of OFC U-17 Championship". friendsoffootballnz.com. Retrieved 29 January 2023.