The 2019 OFC Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournament (also called the 2019 OFC U-23 Championship) was the eighth edition of the OFC Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournament, the quadrennial international age-restricted football championship organised by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) for the men's under-23 national teams of Oceania.
 | |
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country | Fiji |
| Dates | 21 September – 5 October 2019 |
| Teams | 8 (from 1 confederation) |
| Venue(s) | 2 (in 2 host cities) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  New Zealand (4th title) |
| Runners-up |  Solomon Islands |
| Third place |  Vanuatu |
| Fourth place |  Fiji |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 16 |
| Goals scored | 84 (5.25 per match) |
| Attendance | 3,240 (203 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | Myer Bevan (12 goals) |
In November 2018, it was announced that Fiji would host the competition.[1] The tournament was held from 21 September to 5 October 2019.[2]
The winner qualified as the OFC representative at the 2020 Summer Olympics men's football tournament in Japan.[3]
New Zealand won the title after defeating Solomon Islands in the final. Vanuatu finished third, and defending champions Fiji finished fourth.
Teams
Eight of the 11 FIFA-affiliated national teams from the OFC entered the tournament.
| Team | Appearance | Previous best performance |
|---|---|---|
 American Samoa | 3rd | Group stage (2004, 2012) |
| Fiji (hosts) | 8th | Champions (2015) |
| New Zealand | 9th | Champions (1999, 2008, 2012) |
 Papua New Guinea | 7th | Third place (2015) |
 Samoa | 3rd | Group stage (1999, 2004) |
| Solomon Islands | 7th | Runners-up (1999, 2008) |
 Tonga | 4th | Group stage (1999, 2004, 2012) |
| Vanuatu | 7th | Runners-up (2015) |
- Did not enter
Cook Islands
New Caledonia
Tahiti
Note: New Caledonia and Tahiti are not members of the International Olympic Committee and thus not eligible to qualify for the Olympic Football Tournament.
Venues
| Suva | Lautoka |
|---|---|
| ANZ National Stadium | Churchill Park |
| Capacity: 15,000 | Capacity: 10,000 |
 |  |
Squads
Players born on or after 1 January 1997 were eligible to compete in the tournament.
Draw
The draw of the tournament was held on 6 May 2019 at the OFC Academy in Auckland, New Zealand.[4] The eight teams were drawn into two groups of four teams. The top two ranked teams, New Zealand and Fiji, were assigned to group positions A1 and B1 respectively, and the next two ranked teams, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands, were drawn into position 2 of Group A or B, while the remaining teams were drawn into position 3 or 4 of Group A or B.[5]
Group stage
The top two teams of each group advanced to the semi-finals.
All times are local, FJT (UTC+12).
Group A
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Zealand | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 3 | +19 | 9 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | Solomon Islands | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 4 | +9 | 6 | |
| 3 | Samoa | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 11 | −5 | 3 | |
| 4 | American Samoa | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 23 | −23 | 0 |
| Solomon Islands | 6–0 | American Samoa |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
| Samoa | 1–6 | New Zealand |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
| Samoa | 0–5 | Solomon Islands |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
|
| New Zealand | 4–2 | Solomon Islands |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
|
Group B
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vanuatu | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 1 | +11 | 9 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | Fiji (H) | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 3 | +4 | 6 | |
| 3 | Papua New Guinea | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 7 | +1 | 3 | |
| 4 | Tonga | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 18 | −16 | 0 |
| Vanuatu | 3–1 | Papua New Guinea |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
|
| Fiji | 3–1 | Papua New Guinea |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
|
| Papua New Guinea | 6–1 | Tonga |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
|
Knockout stage
Bracket
| Semi-finals | Final | |||||
| 2 October – Lautoka | ||||||
| New Zealand | 6 | |||||
| 5 October – Lautoka | ||||||
| Fiji | 1 | |||||
| New Zealand | 5 | |||||
| 2 October – Lautoka | ||||||
| Solomon Islands | 0 | |||||
| Vanuatu | 0 | |||||
| Solomon Islands | 1 | |||||
| Third place match | ||||||
| 5 October – Lautoka | ||||||
| Fiji | 0 | |||||
| Vanuatu | 1 | |||||
Semi-finals
| New Zealand | 6–1 | Fiji |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
|
| Vanuatu | 0–1 | Solomon Islands |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
|
Third place match
Final
Winner qualifies for 2020 Summer Olympics.
Qualified team for the Summer Olympics
The following team from the OFC qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympic men's football tournament.
| Team | Qualified on | Previous appearances in the Summer Olympics1 |
|---|---|---|
| New Zealand | 5 October 2019[6] | 2 (2008, 2012) |
- 1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.
Goalscorers
- 12 goals
- 8 goals
- 5 goals
Augustine Waita
- 4 goals
- 3 goals
Patrick Joseph
Clayton Lewis
Gregory Togubai
Michael Tumua Leo- Adrian Mara
- Patrick Taroga
Bong Kalo
- 2 goals
- Savenaca Baledrokadroka
- Freddy Kepo
- Darold Kakasi
Hemaloto Polovili
- 1 goal
- Bruce Hughes
- Mohammed Shah
- Tito Vodowaqa
- Noah Billingsley
- Dylan de Jong
- Callan Elliot
- Billy Jones
- Ollie Whyte
- Bernard Purari
- Emmanuel Simongi
- Ronnie Bourne
- Samuelu Malo
- Osa Savelio
- Tuita Maeobia
- Claude Aru
- Jesse Kalopong
- Bethuel Ollie
- Johnathan Spokeyjack
- Jordy Tasip
- Ronaldo Wilkins
- Own goal
- Mahe Malafu (playing against Papua New Guinea)
- Scott Wara (playing against New Zealand)
References
External links
- OFC Men's Olympic Qualifier 2019
- News > OFC Men's Olympic Qualifier 2019 Archived 2019-05-07 at the Wayback Machine, OceaniaFootball.com