2016 OFC U-20 Championship

2016 OFC U-20 Championship

Tournament details
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)
Venue(s)	2 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	New Zealand (6th title)
Runners-up	Vanuatu
Tournament statistics
Matches played	21
Goals scored	67 (3.19 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Dwayne Tiputoa Myer Bevan (5 goals each)

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.

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.^[1]

In March 2015, FIFA decided that the OFC gets two slots at every FIFA U-20 and U-17 World Cup.^[2] So two teams will qualify for the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup in South Korea.

Format

The qualification structure is as follows:^[2]

• First round: American Samoa, Cook Islands, Samoa and Tonga will play a round-robin tournament in Tonga. The winner will qualify 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) will play the tournament in Vanuatu. For the group stage, they will be divided into two groups of four teams. The top two teams of each group will advance to the knockout stage (semi-finals and final) to decide the winner of the 2016 OFC U-20 Championship and the two teams that will play at the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

Teams

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

Seeding	Teams	No. of teams
First round entrants	American Samoa  Cook Islands  Samoa  Tonga	4
Second round entrants	Fiji  New Caledonia  New Zealand  Papua New Guinea  Solomon Islands  Tahiti  Vanuatu	7

Squads

Venues

Port Vila	Luganville
Port Vila Municipal Stadium	Luganville Soccer City Stadium
17°43′51″S 168°18′56″E / 17.7308985°S 168.315498°E	15°30′29″S 167°11′28″E / 15.5081004°S 167.1912408°E
Capacity:10,000	Capacity:7,000
Port Vila Luganville 2016 OFC U-20 Championship (Vanuatu)

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).

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Cook Islands	3	2	1	0	7	1	+6	7	Second round
2	Samoa	3	1	1	1	8	4	+4	4
3	Tonga (H)	3	0	3	0	5	5	0	3
4	American Samoa	3	0	1	2	1	11	−10	1

Source: OFC
(H) Host.

Tonga  v  Cook Islands

21 June 2016 12:00

Tonga	1–1	Cook Islands
Po'oi  51'	Report	C. Tiputoa  77'

Loto-Tonga Soka Centre, Nukuʻalofa Attendance: 250[3] Referee: Joel Hopkken (Vanuatu)

American Samoa  v  Samoa

21 June 2016 15:00

American Samoa	0–5	Samoa
	Report	Mariner  12' Malo  30' Hunt  48' Tunupopo  64', 75'

Loto-Tonga Soka Centre, Nukuʻalofa Attendance: 250[4] Referee: Nelson Sogo (Solomon Islands)

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Tonga  v  American Samoa

24 June 2016 12:00

Tonga	1–1	American Samoa
Likiliki  10'	Report	Fiso  6'

Loto-Tonga Soka Centre, Nukuʻalofa Attendance: 200[5] Referee: Salesh Chand (Fiji)

Samoa  v  Cook Islands

24 June 2016 15:00

Samoa	0–1	Cook Islands
	Report	D. Tiputoa  85'

Loto-Tonga Soka Centre, Nukuʻalofa Attendance: 200[6] Referee: Campbell-Kirk Waugh (New Zealand)

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Cook Islands  v  American Samoa

27 June 2016 12:00

Cook Islands	5–0	American Samoa
Wood  31' Samuela  38' D. Tiputoa  54', 59', 72'	Report

Loto-Tonga Soka Centre, Nukuʻalofa Attendance: 200[7] Referee: Joel Hopkken (Vanuatu)

Samoa  v  Tonga

27 June 2016 15:00

Samoa	3–3	Tonga
Tunupopo  66', 70' Malo  80'	Report	Polovili  10', 40', 73'

Loto-Tonga Soka Centre, Nukuʻalofa Attendance: 300[8] Referee: Campbell-Kirk Waugh (New Zealand)

Second round

The final tournament was scheduled for 3–17 September 2016 (originally 19–26 September 2016).^[9] Vanuatu were announced as the host in December 2015.^[10]

The draw was held on 22 June 2016.^[11] 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.

All times are local, VUT (UTC+11).

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Vanuatu (H)	3	3	0	0	5	1	+4	9	Knockout stage
2	New Caledonia	3	1	1	1	5	3	+2	4
3	Fiji	3	0	2	1	2	3	−1	2
4	Papua New Guinea	3	0	1	2	3	8	−5	1

Source: OFC
(H) Host.

Papua New Guinea  v  New Caledonia

3 September 2016 12:00

Papua New Guinea	1–4	New Caledonia
Awi  34'	Report	Watrone  56' Gope-Fenepej  68' (pen.) Poma  82' Houala  90+4'

Port Vila Municipal Stadium, Port Vila Referee: Kader Zitouni (Tahiti)

Vanuatu  v  Fiji

3 September 2016 15:00

Vanuatu	1–0	Fiji
Tenene  61'	Report

Port Vila Municipal Stadium, Port Vila Referee: Nick Waldron (New Zealand)

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New Caledonia  v  Fiji

6 September 2016 12:00

New Caledonia	1–1	Fiji
Gope-Fenepej  68'	Report	Jennings  25'

Port Vila Municipal Stadium, Port Vila Referee: George Time (Solomon Islands)

Vanuatu  v  Papua New Guinea

6 September 2016 15:00

Vanuatu	3–1	Papua New Guinea
Wilkins  50' (pen.) Kalo  56' Thomas  81'	Report	Yanum  77'

Port Vila Municipal Stadium, Port Vila Referee: Campbell-Kirk Waugh (New Zealand)

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Fiji  v  Papua New Guinea

10 September 2016 12:00

Fiji	1–1	Papua New Guinea
Catarogo  71'	Report	Dabinyaba  35'

Port Vila Municipal Stadium, Port Vila Referee: Nelson Sogo (Solomon Islands)

New Caledonia  v  Vanuatu

10 September 2016 15:00

New Caledonia	0–1	Vanuatu
	Report	Wilkins  90+1' (pen.)

Port Vila Municipal Stadium, Port Vila Referee: Nick Waldron (New Zealand)

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	New Zealand	3	2	1	0	7	1	+6	7	Knockout stage
2	Solomon Islands	3	1	2	0	5	2	+3	5
3	Tahiti	3	1	1	1	6	7	−1	4
4	Cook Islands	3	0	0	3	1	9	−8	0

Source: OFC

New Zealand  v  Cook Islands

3 September 2016 12:00

New Zealand	3–0	Cook Islands
Bevan  30', 76', 90'	Report

Luganville Soccer City Stadium, Luganville Referee: Salesh Chand (Fiji)

Tahiti  v  Solomon Islands

3 September 2016 15:00

Tahiti	2–2	Solomon Islands
Siejidr  13' Salem  34'	Report	Witney  50' Raramo  65'

Luganville Soccer City Stadium, Luganville Referee: Joel Hopkken (Vanuatu)

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Cook Islands  v  Solomon Islands

6 September 2016 12:00

Cook Islands	0–3	Solomon Islands
	Report	Waita  54' Witney  56', 83'

Luganville Soccer City Stadium, Luganville Referee: Robinson Banga (Vanuatu)

Tahiti  v  New Zealand

6 September 2016 15:00

Tahiti	1–4	New Zealand
Petitgas  27'	Report	Dyer  39' (pen.) Lewis  61' Imrie  65' Bevan  87'

Luganville Soccer City Stadium, Luganville Referee: Médéric Lacour (New Caledonia)

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Solomon Islands  v  New Zealand

10 September 2016 12:00

Solomon Islands	0–0	New Zealand
	Report

Luganville Soccer City Stadium, Luganville Referee: Médéric Lacour (New Caledonia)

Cook Islands  v  Tahiti

10 September 2016 15:00

Cook Islands	1–3	Tahiti
D. Tiputoa  83' (pen.)	Report	Salem  45+2', 55' Tau  87'

Luganville Soccer City Stadium, Luganville Referee: Joel Hopkken (Vanuatu)

Knockout stage

Bracket

	Semi-finals				Final
	13 September – Luganville
	New Zealand	3
					17 September – Port Vila
	New Caledonia	1
					New Zealand	5
	13 September – Port Vila
					Vanuatu	0
	Vanuatu	2
	Solomon Islands	1

Semi-finals

Winners qualified for 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

New Zealand  v  New Caledonia

13 September 2016 11:00

New Zealand	3–1	New Caledonia
Dyer  23', 30' Cox  71'	Report	Nypie  19'

Luganville Soccer City Stadium, Luganville Referee: Kader Zitouni (Tahiti)

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Vanuatu  v  Solomon Islands

13 September 2016 14:30

Vanuatu	2–1	Solomon Islands
Tenene  36' Massing  90+4'	Report	Gise  21'

Port Vila Municipal Stadium, Port Vila Referee: Nick Waldron (New Zealand)

Final

New Zealand  v  Vanuatu

17 September 2016 14:30

New Zealand	5–0	Vanuatu
Ashworth  13' Dyer  34' Bevan  76' Imrie  88', 90'	Report Report (NZ Football)

Port Vila Municipal Stadium, Port Vila Referee: Kader Zitouni (Tahiti)

Goalscorers

5 goals

• Dwayne Tiputoa
• Myer Bevan

4 goals

• Moses Dyer
• Pago Tunupopo

3 goals

• Lucas Imrie
• Albert Witney
• Heirauarii Salem
• Hemaloto Polovili

2 goals

• Thomas Gope-Fenepej
• Samuelu Malo
• Ronaldo Wilkins
• Godine Tenene

1 goal

• Steven Fiso
• Kimiora Samuela
• Conroy Tiputoa
• Michael Wood
• France Catarogo
• Leroy Jennings
• Warren Houala
• Cyril Nypie
• Pothin Poma
• Albert Watrone
• Hunter Ashworth
• Reese Cox
• Clayton Lewis
• Alu Awi
• Peter Dabinyaba
• Gabby Yanum
• Timothy Hunt
• Frank Mariner
• Joe Gise
• Richard Raramo
• Augustine Waita
• Rayan Petitgas
• Marc Siejidr
• Sandro Tau
• Anthony Likiliki
• Talatala Po'oi
• Bong Kalo
• Jason Thomas
• Frederick Massing

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.

Award	Recipient
Golden Ball	Myer Bevan
Golden Glove	Michael Wood
Golden Boot	Myer Bevan
Fair Play Award	Solomon Islands

Qualified teams for FIFA U-20 World Cup

The following two teams from OFC qualified for the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup.^[12]

Team	Qualified on	Previous appearances in tournament^1
New Zealand	13 September 2016	4 (2007, 2011, 2013, 2015)
Vanuatu	13 September 2016	0 (Debut)

¹ Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.

References

1. "OFC Executive meeting outcomes announced". Oceania Football Confederation. 23 November 2013. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
2. "Competition calendar outlined". Oceania Football Confederation. 10 December 2013. Retrieved 10 December 2013.
3. "2016 OFC U-20 Championship Preliminary Match Summary: Tonga - Cook Islands" (PDF). Oceania Football Confederation. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-08-05.
4. "2016 OFC U-20 Championship Preliminary Match Summary: American Samoa - Samoa" (PDF). Oceania Football Confederation.
5. "2016 OFC U-20 Championship Preliminary Match Summary: Tonga - American Samoa" (PDF). Oceania Football Confederation.
6. "2016 OFC U-20 Championship Preliminary Match Summary: Samoa - Cook Islands" (PDF). Oceania Football Confederation.
7. "2016 OFC U-20 Championship Preliminary Match Summary: Cook Islands - American Samoa" (PDF). Oceania Football Confederation.
8. "2016 OFC U-20 Championship Preliminary Match Summary: Samoa - Tonga" (PDF). Oceania Football Confederation.
9. "OFC Executive Committee decisions". Oceania Football Confederation. 23 April 2014.
10. "Competition calendar outlined". Oceania Football Confederation. 10 December 2015.
11. "U-20 journey outlined". Oceania Football Confederation. 22 June 2016.
12. "History-making Vanuatu join New Zealand on world stage". FIFA.com. 13 September 2016.