Suvarna Garge (Editor)

2016 OFC U 20 Championship

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Venue(s)
  
2 (in 2 host cities)

Runners-up
  
Vanuatu

2016 OFC U-20 Championship

Host country
  
Tonga (preliminary stage)  Vanuatu (final stage)

Dates
  
21–27 June 2016 (preliminary stage) 3–17 September 2016 (final stage)

Teams
  
8 (final stage) 11 (total) (from 1 confederation)

Champions
  
New Zealand (6th title)

The 2016 OFC U-20 Championship was 13th edition of the biennial international youth football tournament organized by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) for players aged 19 and below (despite the name remaining as U-20 Championship). This year the tournament was held in Vanuatu for the first time.

Contents

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 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 in South Korea.

Format

The qualification structure is as follows:

  • First round: American Samoa, Cook Islands, Samoa and Tonga played a round-robin tournament in Tonga. The winner qualified for the tournament.
  • Tournament (2016 OFC U-20 Championship): A total of eight teams (Fiji, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tahiti, Vanuatu, and the first round winner) played the tournament in Vanuatu. 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 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

    • Teams

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

    First round

    The preliminary tournament was hosted by Tonga between 21 and 27 June 2016. The winner qualified for the final tournament.

    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).

    Second round

    The final tournament 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).

    Semi-finals

    Winners qualified for 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

    Goalscorers

    5 goals
    4 goals
    3 goals
    2 goals
    1 goal

    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 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

    References

    2016 OFC U-20 Championship Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA