2016 OFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament

The 2016 OFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament was the 4th edition of the OFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament, the quadrennial international football competition organised by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) to determine which women's national teams from Oceania qualify for the Olympic football tournament.

2016 OFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament
Tournament details
Host countries Papua New Guinea (Stage 1)
 Papua New Guinea and
 New Zealand (Stage 2)
Dates6–16 July 2015 (Stage 1)
23–26 January 2016 (Stage 2)
Teams8 (from 1 confederation)
Final positions
Champions New Zealand (3rd title)
Runners-up Papua New Guinea

The tournament consisted of two stages. The first stage was the Pacific Games women's football tournament, where the highest-ranked team who is a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) advanced to the second stage. The second stage was a two-legged play-off between the first stage qualifier and New Zealand, OFC's highest ranked team in the FIFA Women's World Rankings. The winner of the second stage qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics women's football tournament in Brazil.[1]

New Zealand qualified for their third straight Olympics after the second leg of their final play-off against Papua New Guinea was cancelled due to visa issues preventing Papua New Guinea's team from travelling to New Zealand for the match.[2]

Teams

A total of eight OFC member national teams entered the tournament.

Direct qualifier to second stage Participants in first stage
Notes
1 New Caledonia, who played in the first stage, are ineligible for the Olympics as they are not affiliated to the IOC. Had they won the first stage, the runner-up of the first stage would have advanced to the second stage.[3]

First stage
Main article: Women's Football at the 2015 Pacific Games

The 2015 Pacific Games women's football tournament, held in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea between 6–16 July 2015 as part of the 2015 Pacific Games,[3] doubled as the first stage of the qualifying tournament.[4][5] The gold medal was won by Papua New Guinea, who advanced to the second stage.

Second stage

Papua New Guinea, who advanced from the first stage, and New Zealand, who received a bye to this stage, played over two legs on a home-and-away basis. The draw for the order of legs was held on 16 November 2015 at the OFC Headquarters in Auckland, New Zealand.[6] The matches were originally to be played in October 2015,[3] but were later moved to January 2016.[7]

Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Papua New Guinea  1–7  New Zealand 1–7 Canc.
Papua New Guinea 1–7 New Zealand
Gunemba  79' Report Hearn  20', 64'
Stott  22'
Longo  27', 53'
Phillips  35'
Erceg  63'
PNGFA Academy, Lae
Referee: Ravitesh Behari (Fiji)
New Zealand Cancelled 1 Papua New Guinea

1 The match was scratched and New Zealand qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics as Papua New Guinea was unable to travel to New Zealand for the second leg due to visa issues. [8]

Winners
 2016 Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament 

New Zealand
Third title

New Zealand qualified for the Olympic football tournament for the third consecutive time.

Team Qualified on Previous appearances in tournament1
 New Zealand26 January 20162 (2008, 2012)
1 Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.

References
  1. "QUALIFICATION SYSTEM – GAMES OF THE XXXI OLYMPIAD – RIO 2016 – Football" (PDF). Rio 2016 Official Website. 23 April 2014. Archived from the original (pdf) on 6 September 2015. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  2. "New Zealand reach Rio after PNG withdrawal". FIFA.com. 25 January 2016.
  3. "OFC Olympic Qualifying schedule unveiled". OceaniaFootball.com. 1 June 2015. Archived from the original on 3 June 2015.
  4. "OFC Executive Committee decisions". Oceania Football Confederation. April 23, 2014. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016.
  5. "OFC Insider Issue 6". Oceania Football Confederation. March 11, 2015. p. 8.
  6. "Fans benefit from live draw". Oceania Football Confederation. November 16, 2015. Archived from the original on November 17, 2015.
  7. "Play-off venues confirmed". OceaniaFootball.com. 14 January 2016. Archived from the original on 31 January 2016.
  8. "New Zealand through to Rio 2016". Oceania Football Confederation. 26 January 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-01-31.
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