Neha Patil (Editor)

2017 OFC Champions League

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Matches played
  
12

Attendance
  
6,500 (542 per match)

Goals scored
  
57 (4.75 per match)

2017 OFC Champions League

Host countries
  
Qualifying stage:  Tonga Group stage:  New Caledonia  New Zealand  Tahiti

Dates
  
Qualifying stage: 28 January – 3 February 2017 Competition proper: 25 February – 6 May 2017

Teams
  
Competition proper: 16 Total: 18 (from 11 associations)

The 2017 OFC Champions League is the 16th edition of the Oceanian Club Championship, Oceania's premier club football tournament organized by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC), and the 11th season under the current OFC Champions League name.

Contents

The winners of the 2017 OFC Champions League will qualify as the OFC representative at the 2017 FIFA Club World Cup in the United Arab Emirates. Auckland City are the six-time defending champions.

Format change

The OFC decided to expand the tournament and change the format for the 2017 edition:

  • The competition consists of four stages: qualifying stage, group stage, semi-finals, and final.
  • For the qualifying stage, like in the previous season, four teams take part in this stage, which include one team each from the four developing associations. The stage is played in round-robin format at a single venue, with the winner and runner-up advancing to the group stage (instead of only the group winner).
  • For the group stage, 16 teams take part in this stage (increase from 12 teams), which include two teams each from the seven developed associations, plus the qualifying stage winner and runner-up. They are drawn into four groups of four teams (increase from three groups), where each group is played in round-robin format at a different venue (instead of all groups played at a single venue), with the group winners advancing to the semi-finals.
  • For the semi-finals, the four teams are drawn into two ties, which are played in home-and-away format over two legs (instead of a single match).
  • For the final, the tie is played in home-and-away format over two legs (instead of a single match).

    • Teams

    A total of 18 teams from all 11 OFC member associations enter the competition.

  • The seven developed associations (Fiji, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tahiti, Vanuatu) are awarded two berths each in the group stage.
  • The four developing associations (American Samoa, Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga) are awarded one berth each in the qualifying stage, with the winner and runner-up advancing to the group stage.
    • Notes

    Schedule

    The schedule of the competition is as follows.

    Draw

    The draw of the qualifying stage and group stage was held on 24 August 2016, 12:30 NZST (UTC+12), at the OFC Headquarters in Auckland, New Zealand.

    For the qualifying stage, the four teams were drawn into each of the four positions 1–4 to determine the fixtures.

    For the group stage, the 16 teams (14 teams which entered the group stage and two qualifiers from the qualifying stage) were drawn into four groups of four, with each group containing one team from each of the four pots 1–4, which also represented the positions in each group to determine the fixtures. Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same group. The teams were seeded based on the following:

  • The teams seeded 1–11 were based on the team results of the 2016 OFC Champions League.
  • The teams seeded 12–14 were based on the association results of the 2016 OFC Champions League.
  • The teams seeded 15–16 were the qualifying stage winner and runner-up respectively, whose identity were not known at the time of the draw.
    • Notes

    Qualifying stage

    In the qualifying stage, the four teams played each other on a round-robin basis. The winner and runner-up advanced to the group stage to join the 14 direct entrants.

    Matches took place between 28 January – 3 February 2017 in Tonga. All times were local, TOT (UTC+13).

    Group stage

    In the group stage, the four teams in each group play each other on a round-robin basis. The four group winners advance to the semi-finals.

    The hosts of each group were announced on 10 October 2016. The schedule was confirmed on 17 January 2017.

    Group A

    Matches will take place between 25 February – 3 March 2017 in New Caledonia. All times are local, NCT (UTC+11).

    Group B

    Matches will take place between 26 February – 4 March 2017 in New Caledonia. All times are local, NCT (UTC+11).

    Group C

    Matches will take place between 11–18 March 2017 in New Zealand. All times are local, NZDT (UTC+13).

    Group D

    Matches will take place between 11–17 March 2017 in Tahiti. All times are local, TAHT (UTC−10).

    Knockout stage

    In the knockout stage, the four teams play on a single-elimination basis, with each tie played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. A draw will be held to determine the semi-final pairings.

    Semi-finals

    Matches will take place between 8–15 April 2017.

    Final

    Matches will take place between 29 April – 6 May 2017.

    Top goalscorers

    Players in bold still active in competition.

    References

    2017 OFC Champions League Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA