The 2024 OFC Men's Nations Cup was the 11th edition of the

OFC Men's Nations Cup The OFC Men's Nations Cup, known as the OFC Nations Cup before the 2024 OFC Men's Nations Cup, 2024 edition, is the primary association football competition contested by the senior list of men's national association football teams, men's natio ...

, the quadrennial international men's

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

championship of

Oceania Oceania ( , ) is a region, geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its co ...

organised 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). The tournament was played between 15 and 30 June 2024 in

Fiji Fiji, 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 of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

and

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...

. The defending champions were

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

from the 2016 edition; the 2020 edition was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

withdrew a few days before the start of the competition citing riots in the country, and the tournament played with seven teams. A total of 13 matches were played, in which 46 goals were scored, at an average of 3.54 goals per match. Attendance at all stages of the tournament reached 41,400, averaging 3,185 viewers per match. The biggest score recorded in the tournament was 9–1 when

defeated

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

on the second day of

Group B Group B was a set of regulations for Grand tourer, grand touring (GT) cars used in sports car racing and rallying introduced in 1982 by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Although permitted to enter a GT class of the World S ...

won the title for the record-extending sixth time in their history, after beating co-hosts

in the final match with a score of 3–0, so the ''All Whites'' successfully defended their title.

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian language, Tahitian , ; ) is the largest island of the Windward Islands (Society Islands), Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France. It is located in the central part of t ...

secured third place after beating

in the third place match, which placed them fourth. Fijian

Roy Krishna Roy Christopher Krishna (born 30 August 1987) is a Fijian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football)#Striker, striker and Captain (association football), captains the Fiji national football team, ...

finished the tournament as top scorer with five goals. New Zealander

Liberato Cacace Liberato Gianpaolo Cacace ( ; born 27 September 2000) is a New Zealand professional footballer who plays as a left-back for club Empoli and the New Zealand national team. Club career Island Bay As a youth, Cacace played for Island Bay United ...

also won the best player award, while his compatriot Max Crocombe won the best goalkeeper award. New Zealand also won the fair play award.

Host selection

Although

was selected as host for the final tournament in 2020 before it was eventually cancelled, in December 2023 it was announced that the 2024 edition of the tournament would be held in

. In May 2024, following uncertainty around flight schedules, matches due to be played at the Luganville Soccer Stadium in

Luganville Luganville is the second largest city in Vanuatu after the capital Port Vila; it is located on the island of Espiritu Santo and has a population of 18,062 as of the 2020 census. Those on Vanuatu's northern islands who regard Luganville as their ...

, Vanuatu were moved to the

HFC Bank Stadium The HFC Bank Stadium (formerly known as ANZ Stadium) is a multi-purpose stadium in Suva, Fiji. HFC Stadium is used primarily for rugby league, rugby union and football matches, and features a track as well as a pitch suitable for worldwide comp ...

Suva Suva (, ) is the Capital city, capital and the most populous city of Fiji. It is the home of the country's largest metropolitan area and serves as its major port. The city is located on the southeast coast of the island of Viti Levu, in Rew ...

, Fiji and the

VFF Freshwater Stadium The Freshwater Stadium is an association football stadium in Port Vila, the capital of Vanuatu. The stadium has a seating capacity of 6,500. History In 2018 it was announced that FIFA would be financing a new football stadium in Vanuatu for th ...

Port Vila Port Vila ( ; ), or simply Vila (), is the capital of Vanuatu and its largest city. It is on the island of Efate, in Shefa Province. The population was 49,034 as of the 2020 census. In 2020, the population of Port Vila formed 16.3% of the ...

, Vanuatu.

Venues

Since it was announced in December 2023, Vanuatu is set to host the entire tournament at Luganville Soccer Stadium in

and

. Following uncertainty over flight schedules, matches scheduled to be held at Luganville Soccer Stadium in Loganville, Vanuatu have been moved to

, Fiji.

Teams

Qualification

The 4 lowest ranked teams originally entered for qualification were played in a single group tournament, as in previous editions in 2012 and 2016.

Tuvalu Tuvalu ( ) is an island country in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean, about midway between Hawaii and Australia. It lies east-northeast of the Santa Cruz Islands (which belong to the Solomon Islands), northeast of Van ...

and

Kiribati Kiribati, officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the central Pacific Ocean. Its permanent population is over 119,000 as of the 2020 census, and more than half live on Tarawa. The st ...

were not full members of the OFC and were therefore excluded from participation.

American Samoa American Samoa is an Territories of the United States, unincorporated and unorganized territory of the United States located in the Polynesia region of the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. Centered on , it is southeast of the island count ...

did not register before qualifying. In the qualifying tournament, the three lowest-ranked teams in the last edition of the tournament in

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

(because American Samoa did not register), competed in a Round robin format in a single round, which was held in a single venue in

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

, where the winner qualified for the final tournament. On 5 June 2024,

announced their withdrawal from the tournament due to the serious crisis in the country.

Qualified teams

Squads

Match officials

;Referees * Veer Singh * Calvin Berg * Campbell-Kirk Kawana-Waugh * David Yareboinen * Ben Aukwai *

Shama Maemae Shama may refer to: * ''Shama'' (1946 film), an Indian film * ''Shama'' (1974 film), a Pakistani Urdu film * ''Shama'' (magazine), an Indian Urdu-language film and literary magazine published from 1939-1999 in Delhi * ''Shama'' (TV show), a 2011 ...

* Teremoana Roihau ;Assistant referees * Avinesh Narayan * Mark Rule * Isaac Trevis * Malaetala Salanoa * Natalia Lumukana * Bernard Mutukera * Jeffery Solodia * Vaihina Teura * Folio Moeaki * Jeremy Garae

Format

The tournament followed the previous system of a preliminary qualification round followed by an eight-team (eventually seven) group stage, in which the top two places in each advanced to the semi-finals. In these, the two losers of each will compete in the play-off for third place, while the winners of these will compete in the final to determine the tournament champion.

Draw

The draw was held on 24 January 2024 at OFC Home of Football in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

. The teams were divided into two groups of four each, with the three initial pots determined based on the final ranking of the

2016 OFC Nations Cup The 2016 OFC Nations Cup was the tenth edition of the OFC Nations Cup, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Oceania organised by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC). The tournament was played between 28 May and 11 Jun ...

, listed below.

Group stage

All times are local,

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: Magadan, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Palikir, Tofol, Buka, Arawa, Honiara, Port Vila, Nouméa North Asia *Ru ...

(Group A) and

UTC+12 UTC+12:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +12:00. As standard time (year-round) ''Principal cities: Anadyr, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Mata Utu, Funafuti, Majuro, Yaren, South Tarawa on Tarawa, Suva'' North Asia *Russia ...

(Group B).

Tiebreakers

Tie-breaking criteria for group play The ranking of teams in the group stage was determined as follows: #Total points; #

Goal difference Goal difference, goal differential or points difference is a form of tiebreaker used to rank sport teams which finish on equal points in a league competition. Either "goal difference" or "points difference" is used, depending on whether matches ar ...

in all group matches; #Goals scored in all group matches; #Head-to-head result between tied teams; ## Points in matches among the tied teams; ## Goal difference in matches among the tied teams; ## Goals scored in matches among the tied teams; #Fair play points in all group matches (only one deduction per player, per match): #*One yellow card: −1 point; #*Two yellow cards (indirect red card): −3 points; #*Direct red card: −4 points; #*Yellow card and direct red card: −5 points; #Drawing of lots.

Group A

---- ----

Group B

---- ----

Knockout stage

In the knockout stage, if a match was level at the end of normal playing time,

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

was played (two periods of 15 minutes each). If still tied after extra time, the match was decided by a

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

Bracket

Semi-finals

----

Third place play-off

Final

Statistics

Goalscorers

Awards

Man of the match

Marketing

Broadcasting rights

On 28 February 2024,

(OFC) announced that all OFC competitions in the 2024–2025 season, including the 2024 OFC Men's Nations Cup, would be streamed by

FIFA+ The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

References

External links

OFC official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:OFC Men's Nations Cup 2024

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Men's Nations Cup 2024 in Fijian football 2023–24 in Vanuatuan football International association football competitions hosted by Fiji International association football competitions hosted by Vanuatu June 2024 sports events in Fiji June 2024 sports events in Oceania