The first round of OFC matches for

2018 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification process was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations to decide 31 of the 32 teams which would play in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with Russia qualifying automatically as hosts. All 210 ...

(and

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 J ...

qualification) was played from 31 August to 4 September 2015 in

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 ...

Format

In this round, four teams, as determined by the OFC in March 2014, played a

single round-robin tournament A round-robin tournament (or all-go-away-tournament) is a competition in which each contestant meets every other participant, usually in turn.''Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (1971, G. & C. Me ...

held in a single country which was later decided to be in Tonga. All matches were held at the

Loto-Tonga Soka Centre The Loto-Tonga Soka Centre is a Association football, football facility in Nukuʻalofa, Tonga. It was funded by FIFA through the world football body's Goal Programme and was opened in 2001. It hosted matches of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification ...

in Nuku'alofa.

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 ...

, the winner, advanced to the

, held from 28 May – 12 June 2016, to join the other seven teams which received a bye into the group stage. The winner of the OFC Nations Cup,

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 ...

, represented the OFC at the

2017 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup was the 10th and final edition of the FIFA Confederations Cup, a quadrennial international men's football tournament organised by FIFA. It was held in Russia, from 17 June to 2 July 2017, as a prelude to the 20 ...

. Moreover, the OFC Nations Cup served as the second round of qualifying for the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, with the top six teams advancing to the third round of FIFA World Cup qualifying.

Participating teams

In April 2014 the OFC announced its executive's decision on the teams to compete in the tournament. The four lowest ranked teams (based on

FIFA World Ranking The FIFA Men's World Ranking is a ranking system for men's national teams in association football, led by Brazil . The teams of the men's member nations of FIFA, football's world governing body, are ranked based on their game results with the ...

and sporting reasons) among the 11 OFC entrants entered the first round: Note: Bolded team qualified for the

Venue

All matches were held at the

in Nuku'alofa

Standings

Matches

The match schedule was revealed on 30 July 2015, following a draw held at OFC Headquarters in

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 ...

. All times are local,

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, ...

. ---- ----

Goalscorers

There were 17 goals scored in 6 matches, for an average of goals per match. ;4 goals * Taylor Saghabi ;2 goals * Demetrius Beauchamp * Justin Manao * Johnny Hall *

Andrew Mobberley Andrew Forbes Mobberly (born 10 March 1992) is a Samoan footballer who plays as a forward for Greenhithe Catimba and the Samoa national football team. Mobberly was born in Auckland, New Zealand. He has previously played for Queenstown Rovers, ...

;1 goal * Ryan Aloali'i Mitchell * Ramin Ott *

Desmond Fa'aiuaso Desmond Fa'aiuaso (born 24 February 1984) is a Football striker from Samoa who currently plays for Vailima Kiwi. He currently has both the most caps and the most goals for his home country, Samoa. Career Club Fa'aiuaso had his first stint in ...

Faitalia Hamilton-Pama Faitalia Hamilton-Pama (born 17 May 1993) is a Samoan footballer who plays as a defender. He currently plays for Central United. From 2015 to 2019 he was a memmber of the Samoa national football team. International career In June 2019 he was na ...

* Sione Uhatahi

Notes

References

External links

*
Qualifiers – Oceania: Round 1
FIFA.com
Stage 1 Qualifiers
oceaniafootball.com {{DEFAULTSORT:2018 FIFA World Cup qualification - OFC First Round OFC Nations Cup qualifying

Qualifying Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

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 ...

International association football competitions hosted by Tonga