The 2016 OFC U-20 Championship was the 21st edition of the

OFC U-20 Championship The OFC U-19 Championship is a tournament held once every two years to decide the under-19 champions of Oceania and also decides who will represent Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) at the biennial FIFA U-20 World Cup. Between 1974 and 2012, ...

, the biennial international youth

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

tournament organized by the

Oceania Football Confederation The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) is one of the six continental confederations of international association football. The OFC has 13 members, 11 of which are full members and two which are associate members not affiliated with FIFA. It ...

(OFC) for players aged 19 and below (despite the name remaining as U-20 Championship). This year, the tournament was held in

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 ...

for the first time by itself (second time overall). Despite the name remaining as U-20 Championship, the age limit was reduced by a year to 19 years of age. So players who wanted to participate in the tournament needed to be born on or after 1 January 1997. At an OFC Executive Committee meeting held at its

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

headquarters in November 2013 the competition format was modified. The competition was brought forward a year and the age limit was lowered to 19 years of age. The changes were made in order to allow the winner of the competition plenty of time for preparation and player development for upcoming World Cups at Under 20 level. In March 2015, FIFA decided that the OFC gets two slots at every FIFA U-20 and U-17 World Cup. So the top two teams qualified for the

2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 21st edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its inception in 1977 as ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

Format

The qualification structure is as follows: *First round:

American Samoa American Samoa ( sm, Amerika Sāmoa, ; also ' or ') is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the island country of Samoa. Its location is centered on . It is east of the International ...

Cook Islands ) , image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , capital = Avarua , coordinates = , largest_city = Avarua , official_languages = , lan ...

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

and

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

played a

round-robin tournament A round-robin tournament (or all-go-away-tournament) is a competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero ...

. The winner qualified for the tournament. *Tournament (2016 OFC U-20 Championship): A total of eight teams (

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

New Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

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 ...

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 ...

, and the first round winner) played the tournament in

. For the group stage, they were divided into two groups of four teams. The top two teams of each group advanced to the knockout stage (semi-finals and final) to decide the winner of the 2016 OFC U-20 Championship and the two teams that qualified for the

Teams

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

Squads

Venues

First round

The preliminary tournament was hosted by

between 21 and 27 June 2016. The winner qualified for the tournament final. Four referees and four assistant referees were named for the preliminary round of the tournament. Referees * Salesh Chand * Joel Hoppken * Nelson Sogo * Campbell-Kirk Waugh Assistant referees * Ujwaal Mudliar * Phul Singh * Jeffery Solodia * Isaac Trevis All times are local, TOT (

UTC+13 UTC+13:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +13:00. Because it does not contain any land in the Northern Hemisphere, this time zone is exclusive to the Southern Hemisphere. As standard time (year-round) ''Principal cities: Apia, ...

). ---- ----

Second round

The tournament final was scheduled for 3–17 September 2016 (originally 19–26 September 2016). Vanuatu were announced as the host in December 2015. The draw was held on 22 June 2016. The eight teams were drawn into two groups of four teams. There was no seeding, except that hosts Vanuatu were assigned to position A1 in the draw. The top two teams of each group advanced to the semi-finals. All times are local, VUT (

UTC+11 UTC+11:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +11:00. This time is used in: As standard time (year-round) ''Principal cities: Nouméa, Magadan, Honiara, Port Vila, Palikir, Weno, Buka, Arawa '' North Asia *Russia – Magadan ...

Group A

---- ----

Group B

---- ----

Knockout stage

Bracket

Semi-finals

Winners qualified for

. ----

Final

Goalscorers

;5 goals * Dwayne Tiputoa *

Myer Bevan Myer Stefan Major Bevan (born 23 April 1997) is a New Zealand professional footballer who plays as a forward for Canadian club Cavalry FC and the New Zealand national football team. Club career Early career Bevan played in his native New Ze ...

;4 goals *

Moses Dyer Moses John Dyer (born 21 March 1997) is a New Zealand professional footballer who plays for USL Championship side Tulsa. Club career Wanderers SC In September 2014, Dyer signed with New Zealand Premiership side Wanderers SC. Dyer made his c ...

* Pago Tunupopo ;3 goals * Lucas Imrie * Albert Witney * Heirauarii Salem * Hemaloto Polovili ;2 goals * Thomas Gope-Fenepej * Samuelu Malo * Godine Tenene *

Ronaldo Wilkins Ronaldo Wilkins (born 30 December 1999) is a Ni-Vanuatu footballer who plays as a midfielder for Erakor Golden Star in the Port Vila Football League and the Vanuatu national football team. Club career Wilkins grew up in Tagabe, an area in Port ...

;1 goal * Steven Fiso * Kimiora Samuela *

Conroy Tiputoa Conroy is an Irish surname. Overview Conroy is an Irish surname of multiple origins. In some cases it is the form used by descendants of the Ó Maolchonaire bardic family of what is now East Galway and South Roscommon. In west County Galway, mos ...

* Michael Wood * France Catarogo * Leroy Jennings * Warren Houala * Cyril Nypie * Pothin Poma * Albert Watrone * Hunter Ashworth * Reese Cox * Clayton Lewis * Alu Awi * Peter Dabinyaba Jr. * Gabby Yanum * Timothy Hunt * Frank Mariner * Joe Gise * Richard Raramo *

Augustine Waita Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North A ...

* Rayan Petitgas * Marc Siejidr * Sandro Tau * Anthony Likiliki * Talatala Po'oi *

Bong Kalo Bong Kalo (born 18 January 1997) is a Ni-Vanuatu footballer who plays as a midfielder. Early career Kalo was born in the Port Vila suburb of Fresh Water 5. He started playing at Wan Smol Bag Futsal court. When he was 12 he joined Teouma Acade ...

* Frederick Massing * Jason Thomas

Awards

The ''Golden Ball Award'' is awarded to the most outstanding player of the tournament. The ''Golden Glove Award'' is awarded to the best goalkeeper of the tournament. The ''Golden Boot Award'' is awarded to the top scorer of the tournament. The ''Fair Play Award'' is awarded to the team with the best disciplinary record at the tournament.

Qualified teams for FIFA U-20 World Cup

The following two teams from OFC qualified for the

. :

¹ Bold indicates champion for that year. ''Italic'' indicates host for that year.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ofc U-20 Championship 2016

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

2016–17 in OFC football 2016 in Vanuatuan sport 2016 Ofc U-20 Championship September 2016 sports events in Oceania 2016 in youth association football