Host country New Zealand Runners-up Australia Matches played 16 Goals scored 64 | Venue(s) 2 (in 1 host city) Dates 5 Jul 2002 – 14 Jul 2002 Teams 8 | |
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Champions New Zealand (3rd title) Champion New Zealand national football team Similar 2008 OFC Nations Cup, 2016 OFC Nations Cup, 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification, 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup, 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup | ||
The 2002 OFC Nations Cup took place in New Zealand, between July 5 and 14.
Contents
The competition was divided into two group stages, with a knockout tournament at the end. Before the tournament, 11 of the nations were seeded according to their 2001 FIFA ranking, while New Caledonia was placed last by default, as it was not a FIFA member.
The six lowest-ranked teams took part in the first stage of qualifying, in which the two highest placed teams at the end of the round-robin stage gained qualification to the second group stage, made up of the six highest-ranked teams. The remaining eight teams were then split into two groups of four, with the top two nations from each group progressing to the knockout stage.
Australia sent a severely weakened team (Scott Chipperfield was the only European-based player) and as a result failed to defend the title they won in 2000. They were beaten by New Zealand in the final, with Ryan Nelsen scoring the winning goal.
Qualification
See 2002 OFC Nations Cup qualification.
Australia and Vanuatu progressed to the knockout tournament.
New Zealand and Tahiti progressed to the knockout tournament.
Final
New Zealand became the 2002 Oceania Nations Cup Champions.