Dates 31 Aug 2015 – 10 Oct 2017 Teams 11 Goals scored 69 | Top scorer Raymond Gunemba Attendance 43,705 Matches played 25 | |
Similar 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification, 2018 FIFA World Cup qualificati, 2016 Copa Verde, 2016 OFC Nations Cup, 2018 FIFA World Cup qualificati | ||
The Oceanian section of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification will act as qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, to be held in Russia, for national teams which are members of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC). A total of 0.5 slots (i.e. 1 inter-confederation play-off slot) in the final tournament are available for OFC teams.
Contents
- Format
- Entrants
- Schedule
- Second round
- Knockout stage
- Third round
- Final
- Inter confederation play offs
- Goalscorers
- References
The 2016 edition of the OFC Nations Cup will once again double as the second round of the OFC qualifying competition for the 2018 FIFA World Cup (similar to the 2012 OFC Nations Cup and the OFC qualifying competition for the 2014 FIFA World Cup). This means that once again, the team that wins the qualifying competition and advances to the intercontinental play-off may be different from the team that wins the OFC Nations Cup and represents the OFC at the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup.
Format
The qualification structure is as follows:
The OFC have considered different proposals of the qualifying tournament. A previous proposal adopted by the OFC in October 2014 had the eight teams divided into two groups of four teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches in the second round, followed by the top two teams of each group advancing to the third round to play in a single group of home-and-away round-robin matches to decide the winner of the 2016 OFC Nations Cup which would both qualify to the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup and advance to the inter-confederation play-offs. However, it was later reported in April 2015 that the OFC had reversed its decision, and the 2016 OFC Nations Cup will be played as a one-off tournament similar to the 2012 OFC Nations Cup.
Entrants
All 11 FIFA-affiliated national teams from the OFC entered qualification. The four lowest ranked teams (based on FIFA World Ranking and sporting reasons) entered the first round, while the other seven teams entered the second round.
Schedule
The schedule of the competition is as follows.
The inter-confederation play-offs are scheduled to be played between 6–14 November 2017.
Second round
The draw for the second round was held as part of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Preliminary Draw on 25 July 2015, starting 18:00 MSK (UTC+3), at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Knockout stage
While the results of the OFC Nations Cup knockout stage matches have no effect on the teams qualified for the third round of World Cup qualifying, for statistical purposes these matches are considered part of World Cup qualifying, with FIFA counting goalscorers in the qualifying statistics, and cards given may contribute to suspensions in the third round of World Cup qualifying (similar to the setup for 2014 World Cup qualifying).
Third round
The draw for the third round was held on 8 July 2016, 11:00 NZST (UTC+12), at the OFC headquarters in Auckland, New Zealand.
Final
Winner advances to inter-confederation play-offs. Dates have been set for the two-legged final as being between 28 August and 5 September 2017.
Note: Order of legs to be decided.
Inter-confederation play-offs
The draw for the inter-confederation play-offs was held as part of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Preliminary Draw on 25 July 2015, starting 18:00 MSK (UTC+3), at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg. The first-placed team from OFC was drawn against the fifth-placed team from CONMEBOL, with the OFC team hosting the first leg.
Goalscorers
As of 15 November 2016Note: Players in bold are still active in the competition.