The 2020 OFC Nations Cup was originally to be the 11th edition of the

OFC Nations Cup The OFC Nations Cup is an international association football tournament held among the OFC member nations. It was held every two years from 1996 to 2004; before 1996 there were two other tournaments held at irregular intervals, under the name ...

, the quadrennial international men's football championship of

Oceania Oceania (, , ) is a geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern and Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of and a population of around 44.5 million ...

organised by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) scheduled for 6 to 20 June 2020. The tournament was originally to be hosted by

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 ...

, whose bid was chosen by the OFC on 10 January 2020. A total of eight teams would compete in the final tournament.

were the defending champions. On 21 April 2020, OFC announced that due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

and the difficulty in rescheduling to another date in the

FIFA International Match Calendar The FIFA International Match Calendar (sometimes abbreviated as the FIFA Calendar or FIFA Days) is an outline agreement between FIFA, the six continental football confederations, the European Club Association, and FIFPro, which sets out which ...

, the tournament would be cancelled.

Qualification

All 11 FIFA-affiliated national teams from OFC were eligible to enter the tournament. A qualification round was originally scheduled to be played by four teams between 21 and 27 March 2020 at the FIFA Academy Field in Rarotonga,

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

, where the winners would join the seven automatic qualifiers in the final tournament. However, the OFC announced on 9 March 2020 that all OFC tournaments were postponed until 6 May 2020 in response to the

, before the tournament was cancelled.

Venues

The tournament was expected to be held in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

, with

North Harbour Stadium North Harbour Stadium is a stadium situated in Albany, in North Shore City, New Zealand. It was opened in 1997, after nearly a decade of discussion, planning and construction. Rugby union, association football, rugby league, and baseball are ...

and

The Trusts Arena The Trusts Arena is an indoor arena located in Henderson, Auckland, New Zealand. It is a multi-purpose stadium that primarily holds sports events and music concerts. The Arena was opened by then Prime Minister of New Zealand Helen Clark on 11 ...

the likely venues.

References

External links

News > OFC Nations Cup 2020
at oceaniafootball.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Ofc Nations Cup 2020

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

Nations Cup

2019–20 in New Zealand association football Association football events cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic