2018 OFC Women's Nations Cup

The 2018 OFC Women's Nations Cup was the 11th edition of the OFC Women's Nations Cup (also known as the OFC Women's Championship), the quadrennial international football championship organised by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) for the women's national teams of the Oceanian region. The tournament was held in New Caledonia between 18 November – 1 December 2018.

2018 OFC Women's Nations Cup
Tournament details
Host countryNew Caledonia
Dates18 November – 1 December
Teams8 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)4 (in 4 host cities)
Final positions
Champions New Zealand (6th title)
Runners-up Fiji
Third place Papua New Guinea
Fourth place New Caledonia
Tournament statistics
Matches played16
Goals scored108 (6.75 per match)
Attendance5,247 (328 per match)
Top scorer(s) Sarah Gregorius
Meagen Gunemba
(8 goals each)
Best player(s) Betsy Hassett
Best goalkeeper Adi Tuwai
Fair play award New Zealand

The tournament served as the Oceanian qualifiers to the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, with the champions qualifying for the World Cup in France.[1] The champions also qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics women's football tournament in Japan.[2][3]

New Zealand were the defending champions. They won the tournament for their fourth consecutive and sixth overall OFC Women's Nations Cup title.

Format

The format was as follows:

  • Qualifying stage: The four lowest-ranked teams based on previous regional performances of all women's national teams (American Samoa, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji) entered the qualifying stage, which was be held from 24 to 30 August 2018 in Fiji (originally scheduled to be held in American Samoa).[4][2] The winner qualified for the final tournament, joining the other seven teams which automatically qualified.
  • Final tournament: A total of eight teams played in the final tournament, which was held between 18 November to 1 December 2018 in New Caledonia.[2] For the group stage, they are divided into two groups of four teams. The top two teams of each group advance to the knockout stage (semi-finals and final) to decide the winner of the OFC Women's Nations Cup that qualify for the FIFA Women's World Cup as well as the Olympic football tournament.

The draw for the tournament was held on 21 March 2018 at the OFC Headquarters in Auckland, New Zealand.[5] In both the qualifying stage and final tournament, the hosts (Fiji and New Caledonia) were assigned to position A1 in the draw, while the remaining teams were drawn into the other positions without any seeding.[6]

Qualification
Main article: 2018 OFC Women's Nations Cup qualification

For the first time, the OFC Women's Nations Cup is a compulsory tournament, so all 11 OFC member national teams will enter the tournament.[4]

Team Method of
qualification		 Appearance Previous best performance FIFA ranking
at start of event[7]
 Cook IslandsAutomatic4thThird place (2010, 2014)Not ranked
 New Caledonia2ndThird place (1983)Not ranked
 New Zealand11thChampions (1983, 1991, 2007, 2010, 2014)20
 Papua New Guinea9thRunners-up (2007, 2010, 2014)Not ranked
 Samoa3rdFourth place (2003)Not ranked
 Tahiti2ndGroup stage (2010)Not ranked
 Tonga4thThird place (2007)Not ranked
 FijiQualification winner4thFourth place (1983, 1998)81

Note: New Caledonia and Tahiti are not members of the International Olympic Committee and thus not eligible to qualify for the Olympic Football Tournament.

Venues

The host nation of the final tournament was New Caledonia. The matches were played at four venues.[8]

Koné Nouméa
Lifou Maré
Stade Yoshida Stade Numa-Daly Magenta Stade de Hnassé Stade de la Roche
Capacity: 3,000 Capacity: 16,000 Capacity: 1,680 Capacity: 1,500

Squads
Main article: 2018 OFC Women's Nations Cup squads

Each team can name a maximum of 23 players.[9]

Group stage

The top two teams of each group advance to the semi-finals.

All times are local, NCT (UTC+11).[9]

Group A
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Papua New Guinea 3 3 0 0 14 3 +11 9 Knockout stage
2  New Caledonia (H) 3 2 0 1 8 8 0 6
3  Tahiti 3 0 1 2 8 12 −4 1
4  Samoa 3 0 1 2 5 12 −7 1
Source: OFC
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(H) Host.
Samoa 0–5 Papua New Guinea
Report
Stade Yoshida, Koné
Attendance: 150
Referee: Nadia Browning (New Zealand)
Tahiti 2–4 New Caledonia
  • Tamarii  27'
  • Hioe  45'
 Report
  • Xowie  19'
  • Pahoa  22', 25'
  • Lalie  81'
Stade Yoshida, Koné
Attendance: 423
Referee: Morgan Archer (New Zealand)
Tahiti 5–5 Samoa
  • Teotahi  3', 7', 50'
  • Taumaa  10'
  • Hioe  45+4'
 Report
  • Sataraka  1', 79', 89'
  • Kimitete  4' (o.g.)
  • Malo  21'
Stade Yoshida, Koné
Attendance: 200
Referee: Tapaita Lelenga (Tonga)
New Caledonia 2–6 Papua New Guinea
  • Maguire  48'
  • Gatha  90+3'
 Report
Stade Yoshida, Koné
Attendance: 603
Referee: Morgan Archer (New Zealand)
Papua New Guinea 3–1 Tahiti
 Report
  • Taumaa  6'
Stade Yoshida, Koné
Attendance: 150
Referee: Torika Delai (Fiji)
New Caledonia 2–0 Samoa
  • Ajapuhnya  50'
  • Xowie  67'
 Report
Stade Yoshida, Koné
Attendance: 421
Referee: Ben Aukwai (Solomon Islands)

Group B
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  New Zealand 3 3 0 0 27 0 +27 9 Knockout stage
2  Fiji 3 2 0 1 15 10 +5 6
3  Tonga 3 1 0 2 1 23 −22 3
4  Cook Islands 3 0 0 3 0 10 −10 0
Source: OFC
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
New Zealand 11–0 Tonga
 Report
Attendance: 150
Referee: Rani Perry (Tahiti)
Cook Islands 0–3 Fiji
Report
Attendance: 150
Referee: Roger Adams (Papua New Guinea)
Tonga 0–12 Fiji
Report
Attendance: 100
Referee: Fina Angelo (Vanuatu)
New Zealand 6–0 Cook Islands
 Report
Attendance: 100
Referee: David Yareboinen (Papua New Guinea)
Tonga 1–0 Cook Islands
  • Vaka  3'
 Report
Attendance: 100
Referee: Fina Angelo (Vanuatu)
Fiji 0–10 New Zealand
Report
Attendance: 100
Referee: Rani Perry (Tahiti)

Knockout stage

Bracket

 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
28 November – Maré
 
 
 Papua New Guinea1
 
1 December – Nouméa
 
 Fiji5
 
 Fiji0
 
28 November – Lifou
 
 New Zealand8
 
 New Zealand8
 
 
 New Caledonia0
 
Third place match
 
 
1 December – Nouméa
 
 
 Papua New Guinea7
 
 
 New Caledonia1

Semi-finals
Papua New Guinea 1–5 Fiji
 Report
Stade de la Roche, Maré
Attendance: 550
Referee: Nadia Browning (New Zealand)
New Zealand 8–0 New Caledonia
 Report
Stade de Hnassé, Lifou
Attendance: 1,200
Referee: Rani Perry (Tahiti)

Third place match
Papua New Guinea 7–1 New Caledonia
 Report
  • Pahoa  60'
Attendance: 400
Referee: Fina Angelo (Vanuatu)

Final

Winner qualifies for 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup and 2020 Summer Olympics.

Fiji 0–8 New Zealand
Report
Attendance: 450
Referee: Tapaita Lelenga (Tonga)

Goalscorers

There were 108 goals scored in 16 matches, for an average of 6.75 goals per match.

8 goals

6 goals

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

  • Mereoni Tora (against New Zealand)
  • Hana Kimitete (against Samoa)

Awards

The Golden Ball Award was awarded to the most outstanding player of the tournament. The Golden Boot Award was awarded to the top scorer of the tournament. The Golden Glove Award was awarded to the best goalkeeper of the tournament. The Fair Play Award was awarded to the team with the best disciplinary record at the tournament.[10]

Award Recipient
Golden Ball Betsy Hassett
Golden Boot Sarah Gregorius
Meagen Gunemba
Golden Glove Adi Tuwai
Fair Play Award  New Zealand

Qualification for international tournaments

Qualified teams for FIFA Women's World Cup

The following team from OFC qualify for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup.

Team Qualified on Previous appearances in FIFA Women's World Cup1
 New Zealand1 December 2018[11]4 (1991, 2007, 2011, 2015)
1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

Qualified teams for Summer Olympics

The following team from OFC qualify for the 2020 Summer Olympic women's football tournament.

Team Qualified on Previous appearances in Summer Olympics1
 New Zealand1 December 2018[11]3 (2008, 2012, 2016)
1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

References
  1. "Circular #1565 – FIFA women's tournaments 2018–2019" (PDF). FIFA.com. 11 November 2016.
  2. "OFC Women's Nations Cup confirmed". Oceania Football Confederation. 12 March 2018.
  3. "OC for FIFA Competitions approves procedures for the Final Draw of the 2018 FIFA World Cup". FIFA.com. 14 September 2017.
  4. "OFC Competition calendar set for 2018". Oceania Football Confederation. 31 October 2017.
  5. "Draw reveals journey to regional title". Oceania Football Confederation. 22 March 2018.
  6. "OFC WOMEN'S NATIONS CUP 2018 OFFCICIAL DRAW". YouTube. 21 March 2018.
  7. "Women's Ranking – 28 September 2018 (OFC)". FIFA.com.
  8. "Women's game goes provincial with confirmed schedule". Oceania Football Confederation. 10 August 2018.
  9. "Tournament Programme ENG/FRE". Oceania Football Confederation. 16 November 2018.
  10. "New Zealand complete line-up for France 2019". Oceania Football Confederation. 1 December 2018.
  11. "New Zealand triumph completes France 2019 field". FIFA.com. 1 December 2018.
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