2025 OFC U-16 Men's Championship

Last updated
2025 OFC U-16 Men's Championship
Tournament details
Host countriesQualifying stage:
Tonga
Final tournament:
Solomon Islands
DatesQualifying stage:
3–9 May 2025
Final tournament:
17–30 August 2025
TeamsFinal tournament: 8
Total: 11 (from 1 confederation)
Venue2 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
ChampionsFlag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand (11th title)
Runners-upNew Caledonia flags merged (2017).svg  New Caledonia
Third placeFlag of Fiji.svg  Fiji
Fourth placeFlag of Papua New Guinea.svg  Papua New Guinea
Tournament statistics
Matches played18
Goals scored65 (3.61 per match)
Attendance11,954 (664 per match)
Top scorer Flag of New Zealand.svg Ben Perez Baldoni (6 goals)
Best player Flag of New Zealand.svg Ethan Dyer
Best goalkeeper New Caledonia flags merged (2017).svg Sylvain Ipeze
Fair play awardFlag of Samoa.svg  Samoa and Flag of French Polynesia.svg  Tahiti
2024
2026

The 2025 OFC U-16 Men's Championship was the 22nd 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 Honiara, Solomon Islands, from 17 to 30 August 2025. [1] Players born on or after 1 January 2009 are eligible to compete in the tournament.

Contents

The top three teams of the tournament qualified for the 2026 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Qatar as the OFC representatives. [2] New Zealand successfully defended the title from 2024.

Teams

All 11 FIFA-affiliated national teams from the OFC entered the tournament, but only 8 played in the final tournament [a]

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

TeamAppearancePrevious best performance
Flag of American Samoa.svg  American Samoa 11thGroup stage (1999, 2001, 2003, 2011, 2015, 2023)
Flag of the Cook Islands.svg  Cook Islands 12thQuarter-finals (2023)
Flag of Fiji.svg  Fiji 20thRunners-up (1999, 2024)
New Caledonia flags merged (2017).svg  New Caledonia 14thRunners-up (2003, 2013, 2017, 2023)
Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand 19thChampions (1997, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2023, 2024)
Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg  Papua New Guinea 11thSemi-finals (2017), Fourth place (1986)
Flag of Samoa.svg  Samoa 11thQuarter-finals (2023)
Flag of the Solomon Islands.svg  Solomon Islands (hosts)11thRunners-up (1993, 2018)
Flag of French Polynesia.svg  Tahiti 16thRunners-up (2007, 2009, 2011, 2015)
Flag of Tonga.svg  Tonga 12thQuarter-finals (2023)
Flag of Vanuatu.svg  Vanuatu 17thRunners-up (2005)

Venues

Honiara
Lawson Tama Stadium National Stadium
Capacity: 20,000Capacity: 10,000

Qualifying stage

The draw for the group stage was held 20 March 2025. [3]

Tiebreakers

Qualifying group

PosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg Flag of Tonga.svg Flag of Vanuatu.svg Flag of American Samoa.svg
1Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg  Papua New Guinea 3210122+107Qualify for Final tournament 5–2
2Flag of Tonga.svg  Tonga (H)311198+14 2–2 5–1
3Flag of Vanuatu.svg  Vanuatu 30304403 0–0
4Flag of American Samoa.svg  American Samoa 3012314111 0–7 2–2
Source: OFC
(H) Hosts

Draw

The draw for the group stage was held on 20 March with teams seeded into pots based upon their ranking at the 2024 OFC U-16 Men's Championship. [4]

Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3
Flag of Fiji.svg  Fiji
Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand
Flag of the Cook Islands.svg  Cook Islands
New Caledonia flags merged (2017).svg  New Caledonia
Flag of Samoa.svg  Samoa
Flag of French Polynesia.svg  Tahiti
Flag of the Solomon Islands.svg  Solomon Islands
Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg  Papua New Guinea [b]

Group stage

All times are local, SBT (UTC+11).

Group A

PosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1Flag of Fiji.svg  Fiji 330091+89 Knockout stage
2Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg  Papua New Guinea 311174+34
3Flag of French Polynesia.svg  Tahiti 310278135th place match
4Flag of the Cook Islands.svg  Cook Islands 30121111017th place match
Source: OFC
Cook Islands  Flag of the Cook Islands.svg1–1Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg  Papua New Guinea
  • Rua Soccerball shade.svg47'
Report
Fiji  Flag of Fiji.svg2–1Flag of French Polynesia.svg  Tahiti
Report
Lawson Tama Stadium, Honiara
Attendance: 1132
Referee: Calvin Berg (New Zealand)

Papua New Guinea  Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg6–1Flag of French Polynesia.svg  Tahiti
Report
Fiji  Flag of Fiji.svg5–0Flag of the Cook Islands.svg  Cook Islands
Report

Tahiti  Flag of French Polynesia.svg5–0Flag of the Cook Islands.svg  Cook Islands
Report
Lawson Tama Stadium, Honiara
Attendance: 83
Referee: Peter Olomaga (Samoa)
Papua New Guinea  Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg0–2Flag of Fiji.svg  Fiji
Report

Group B

PosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand 3210130+137 Knockout stage
2New Caledonia flags merged (2017).svg  New Caledonia 3210102+87
3Flag of the Solomon Islands.svg  Solomon Islands (H)3102613735th place match
4Flag of Samoa.svg  Samoa 30030141407th place match
Source: OFC
(H) Hosts
New Zealand  Flag of New Zealand.svg5–0Flag of Samoa.svg  Samoa
Report
National Stadium, Honiara
Attendance: 536
Referee: Arnold Tari (Vanuatu)
New Caledonia  New Caledonia flags merged (2017).svg5–2Flag of the Solomon Islands.svg  Solomon Islands
Report
National Stadium, Honiara
Attendance: 1494
Referee: Veer Singh (Fiji)

New Zealand  Flag of New Zealand.svg0–0New Caledonia flags merged (2017).svg  New Caledonia
Report
National Stadium, Honiara
Attendance: 380
Referee: Kavitesh Behari (Fiji)
Solomon Islands  Flag of the Solomon Islands.svg4–0Flag of Samoa.svg  Samoa
Report
National Stadium, Honiara
Attendance: 1009
Referee: Tellos Kaufusi (Tonga)

Samoa  Flag of Samoa.svg0–5New Caledonia flags merged (2017).svg  New Caledonia
Report
National Stadium, Honiara
Attendance: 900
Referee: Arnold Tari (Vanuatu)
Solomon Islands  Flag of the Solomon Islands.svg0–8Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand
Report
National Stadium, Honiara
Attendance: 2368
Referee: Kavitesh Behari (Fiji)

7th place match

Cook Islands  Flag of the Cook Islands.svg0–0Flag of Samoa.svg  Samoa
Report
Penalties
3–5
Lawson Tama Stadium, Honiara
Attendance: 86
Referee: Timothy Niu (Fiji)

5th place match

Tahiti  Flag of French Polynesia.svg3–2Flag of the Solomon Islands.svg  Solomon Islands
Report

Knockout stage

Bracket

 
Semi-finals Final
 
      
 
27 August – Honiara
 
 
Flag of Fiji.svg  Fiji 1 (4)
 
30 August – Honiara
 
New Caledonia flags merged (2017).svg  New Caledonia 1 (5)
 
New Caledonia flags merged (2017).svg  New Caledonia 0
 
27 August – Honiara
 
Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand 2
 
Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand 2
 
 
Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg  Papua New Guinea 0
 
Third place match
 
 
30 August – Honiara
 
 
Flag of Fiji.svg  Fiji 1
 
 
Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg  Papua New Guinea 0

Semi-finals

Winners qualified for the 2026 FIFA U-17 World Cup.

Fiji  Flag of Fiji.svg1–1New Caledonia flags merged (2017).svg  New Caledonia
Report
Penalties
4–5
National Stadium, Honiara
Attendance: 273
Referee: Calvin Berg (New Zealand)
New Zealand  Flag of New Zealand.svg2–0Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg  Papua New Guinea
Report
National Stadium, Honiara
Attendance: 438
Referee: Veer Singh (Fiji)

Third place match

Winner qualified for the 2026 FIFA U-17 World Cup.

Fiji  Flag of Fiji.svg1–0Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg  Papua New Guinea
Report
National Stadium, Honiara
Attendance: 500
Referee: Calvin Berg (New Zealand)

Final

New Caledonia  New Caledonia flags merged (2017).svg0–2Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand
Report
National Stadium, Honiara
Attendance: 1050
Referee: Kavitesh Behari (Fiji)

Broadcasting

All games will be streamed live and free on FIFA+. [5]

Awards

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament. [6]

AwardPlayer
Golden Ball Flag of New Zealand.svg Ethan Dyer
Golden Boot Flag of New Zealand.svg Ben Perez Baldoni
Golden Gloves New Caledonia flags merged (2017).svg Sylvain Ipeze
Fair PlayFlag of Samoa.svg  Samoa and Flag of French Polynesia.svg  Tahiti

Goalscorers

There were 65 goals scored in 18 matches, for an average of 3.61 goals per match.

6 goals

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

Qualified teams for FIFA U-17 World Cup

The following three teams from OFC qualified for the 2026 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Qatar.

TeamQualified onPrevious appearances in FIFA U-17 World Cup 1
Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand 27 August 202511 (1997, 1999 , 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2023, 2025)
New Caledonia flags merged (2017).svg  New Caledonia 3 (2017, 2023, 2025)
Flag of Fiji.svg  Fiji 30 August 20251 (2025)
1Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

Notes

  1. Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Tonga and American Samoa participated only in the qualification stage for a chance to qualify to the tournament; the final winner was Papua New Guinea.
  2. 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. "OFC U-16 Men's Championship spot at stake in Tonga". Oceania Football Federation. Retrieved 2 May 2025.
  4. "Draw confirmed for OFC U-16 Men's Championship 2025". Oceanian Football Confederation. 20 March 2025. Retrieved 20 March 2025.
  5. "How to Watch OFC U-16 Men's Championship 2025". Oceanian Football Federation. Retrieved 13 August 2025.
  6. "OFC U-16 Men's Championship 2025". Oceanian Football Federation. Retrieved 2 September 2025.