The 2011

OFC Beach Soccer Championship The OFC Beach Soccer Nations Cup is the main championship for beach soccer in Oceania, contested between the senior men's national teams of the members of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC). It is the sport's version of the better known OF ...

took place from 23 February to 26 February 2011, in

Papeete Papeete (Tahitian language, Tahitian: ''Papeete'', pronounced ) is the capital city of French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of the France, French Republic in the Pacific Ocean. The Communes of France, commune of Papeete is located on the isl ...

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austr ...

, It acted as a qualifier for the

2011 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup The 2011 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup was the sixth edition of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, governed by FIFA. Overall, this was the 16th edition of a world cup in beach soccer since the establishment of the ''Beach Soccer World Championships'' ...

. This was the third time the island had hosted the competition, following the 2006 and 2009 tournaments in

Moorea Moorea ( or ; Tahitian: ), also spelled Moorea, is a volcanic island in French Polynesia. It is one of the Windward Islands, a group that is part of the Society Islands, northwest of Tahiti. The name comes from the Tahitian word , meaning " ...

. Only the winners of the tournament,

, qualified to play in the

. The

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...

were the favorites, having won the last 3 other qualifying championships in 2006, 2007 and 2009, but surprisingly lost in the final to Tahiti, despite beating them in the group stage. This means for the first time since 2005, the Solomon Islands will not be representing Oceania at the world cup. All matches were held at the new ''Jardin de Paofai'' complex in

, which was opened on 15 February 2011.

Participating teams

Four teams decided to enter into the tournament to compete for the one spot in the

. These were the same nations who competed in the

2009 OFC Beach Soccer Championship The 2009 OFC Beach Soccer championship also known as the 2009 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualifiers for (OFC) was the third beach soccer championship for Oceania, held from late July, in Moorea, Tahiti, French Polynesia. The Solomon Islands won t ...

. Unfortunately, due to a cyclone recently passing through the region, the

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...

national team was stranded at their airport as they were about to leave for Tahiti to attend the tournament. As a result, they were forced to withdraw from the tournament. Participating: * * * Withdrawing: *

Group stage

The group stage was going to begin on 22 February but due to the cyclone which forced Vanuatu to withdraw, it commenced on 23 February with no rest day and consisted of each nation playing each other once in a single round-robin format. All kickoff times are listed as Tahitian local time, ( UTC-10).
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Tournament final

Winners

Awards

Team qualifying

Top scorers

;4 goals * James Naka * Jo Dugucagi * Robert Laua ;3 goals * Franco Ne'e * Teiva Izal * Nicholas Muri ;2 goals * McPhillip Aisa * Naea Bennett * Patrick Tepa ;2 goals (cont.) * Rajnesh Ratu (Ratan) ;1 goal * Teva Zaveroni * Archie Watkins * Tainui Lehartel * Maciu Dunadamu * Sandeep Nair * Marama Amau ;Own Goal * Maciu Dunadamu (for Tahiti)

Final standings

References

External links

2011 OFC Beach Soccer Championship
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ofc Beach Soccer Championship 2011 Beach Soccer Championship Beach Soccer Championship Qualification Ofc International association football competitions hosted by French Polynesia

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

2011 in beach soccer