OFC Beach Soccer Nations Cup

The OFC Beach Soccer Nations Cup is the main championship for beach soccer in Oceania,[1] contested between the senior men's national teams of the members of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC). It is the sport's version of the better known OFC Nations Cup in association football.

OFC Beach Soccer Nations Cup
Founded2006 (2006)
RegionOceania (OFC)
Number of teams5
Current champions Tahiti (2nd title)
Most successful team(s) Solomon Islands
(4 titles)
WebsiteOFC
2019 OFC Beach Soccer Nations Cup

The winners of the championship are crowned continental champions; the tournament also acts as the qualification route for Oceanian nations to the upcoming edition of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup[2] and is therefore also known as the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup OFC qualifier.[3] Coinciding with the annual staging of the World Cup, the competition took place yearly until 2009; the World Cup then became biennial, and as its supplementary qualification event, the championship followed suit.[2]

The championship was established in 2006 after FIFA made it a requirement for all confederations to begin holding qualification tournaments to determine the best national team(s) in their region and hence those who would proceed to represent their continent in the upcoming World Cup (previously, nations were simply invited to play).[4] FIFA currently allocate Oceania one berth at the World Cup[5] and hence only the winners qualify to the World Cup finals.[2]

Oceania's governing body for football, the OFC, organise the championship.[6] Cooperation has also come from Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW), particularly in the initial tournaments.[7] The competition was held under the title of the OFC Beach Soccer Championship until 2019 when the name was changed to OFC Beach Soccer Nations Cup, bringing it in line with the naming of other OFC senior national tournaments.[2]

The Solomon Islands are the most successful nation with four titles.[8] Tahiti are the current champions. These two nations are the only teams to qualify to the World Cup thus far.[2]

Results

For all tournaments, the winners qualified for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.

Year Location Final Third place match
Champions Score Runners-up Third Place Score Fourth Place
OFC Beach Soccer Championship
2006
details
Tema'e, Tahiti
Solomon Islands
6–2
Vanuatu

Tahiti
12–4
Cook Islands
2007
details
Auckland, New Zealand
Solomon Islands
5–3
Vanuatu

New Zealand
5–3
Tahiti
2008 Not held[a]
2009
details
Tema'e, Tahiti
Solomon Islands
1–0
Vanuatu

Tahiti
6–3
Fiji
2011
details
Papeete, Tahiti
Tahiti
4–3
Solomon Islands

Fiji
2013
details
Nouméa, New Caledonia[b]
Solomon Islands
[round-robin]
New Caledonia

Vanuatu
2015 Not held[c]
2017 Not held[d]
OFC Beach Soccer Nations Cup
2019
details
Papeete, Tahiti
Tahiti
4–3
Solomon Islands

New Caledonia
8–7 (a.e.t.)
Vanuatu
2021
details
Papeete, Tahiti[9]

Notes:

a. ^ The OFC was unable to organise the 2008 edition in time, due to a late calendar change bringing the 2008 World Cup forward from November to July. Hence, on the back of their two previous titles, the Solomon Islands were hand-picked by the OFC to be the confederation's representative at the World Cup.[6]
b. ^ The 2013 edition was originally set to take place in Papeete, Tahiti. However, despite being defending champions, Tahiti were unable to compete due to a pre-arranged tour of Europe to play against higher level opposition in preparation as host nation of the upcoming World Cup. Hence the competition was relocated to New Caledonia.[10]
c. ^ The 2015 edition was originally set to take place in Papeete, Tahiti.[11] Due to undisclosed circumstances, the tournament was cancelled. Tahiti were hand-picked by the OFC to be the confederation's representative at the World Cup.[12]
d. ^ The 2017 edition was originally set to take place in February.[11] Due to undisclosed circumstances, the tournament was cancelled. Tahiti were hand-picked by the OFC to be the confederation's representative at the World Cup.[13]
Round-robin ^ Indicates this edition was played as a round-robin tournament. There was no final or third place match.

Performance

Successful nations

Team Titles Runners-up Third place
 Solomon Islands 4 (2006, 2007, 2009, 2013) 2 (2011, 2019)
 Tahiti 2 (2011*, 2019*) 2 (2006*, 2009*)
 Vanuatu 3 (2006, 2007, 2009) 1 (2013)
 New Caledonia 1 (2013*) 1 (2019)
 Fiji 1 (2011)
 New Zealand 1 (2007*)

* = Hosts

Awards

Year Top goalscorer(s) Gls Best player Best goalkeeper Fair play Ref.
2006 Teiva Izal 11 Teiva Izal Chikau Mansale  Cook Islands
2007 Teva Zaveroni 11 James Naka Chikau Mansale  New Zealand
2009 James Naka 7 James Naka Chikau Mansale  Vanuatu
2011 James Naka
Ratu Dugucagi
Robert Laua
4 James Naka Jonathan Torohia  Fiji
2013 Joe Luwi 5 Samson Takayama Fred Hale not awarded
2019 Patrick Tepa 12 Heimanu Taiarui Jonathan Torohia  Solomon Islands

All-time top goalscorers

As of 2019

The following table shows the all-time top 15 goalscorers.

Rank Player Team Goals
1James Naka Solomon Islands30
2Teva Zaveroni Tahiti18
3Raimana Li Fung Kuee Tahiti15
Seule Soromon Vanuatu
5Henry Koto Solomon Islands14
Patrick Tepa Tahiti
Teva Izal Tahiti
8Loic Boulet Vanuatu11
9Fenedy Masauvakalo Vanuatu10
10Ken Masauvakalo Vanuatu9
Tearii Labaste Tahiti
12Antoine Roine New Caledonia8
Don Mansale Vanuatu
Heimanu Taiarui Tahiti
Seimata Chilia Vanuatu

Sources:
2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2019

All-time table

As of 2019

Pos Team App Pld W W+ WP L GF GA GD Pts
1  Solomon Islands 6221700511263+4951
2  Tahiti 5201200813179+5236
3  Vanuatu 519920811790+2731
4  New Caledonia 2721043246–148
5  New Zealand 1410032126–53
6  Fiji 2600062347–240
7  Cook Islands 140004649–430
8  Tonga 140004655–490

Key: Appearances App / Won in normal time W = 3 points / Won in extra-time W+ = 2 points / Won on penalty shoot-out WP = 1 point / Lost L = 0 points

Appearances & performance timeline

The following is a performance timeline of the teams who have appeared in the OFC Beach Soccer Championship and how many appearances they each have made.

Legend
Timeline
Year
Team
2006

(4)
2007

(4)
2009

(4)
2011

(3)
2013

(3)
2019

(5)
Apps
6
 Cook Islands 4th × × × × × 1
 Fiji × × 4th 3rd × × 2
 New Caledonia × × × × 2nd 3rd 2
 New Zealand × 3rd × × × × 1
 Solomon Islands 1st 1st 1st 2nd 1st 2nd 6
 Tahiti 3rd 4th 3rd 1st •• 1st 5
 Tonga × × × × × 5th 1
 Vanuatu 2nd 2nd 2nd •• 3rd 4th 5

Performance of qualifiers at the World Cup

The following is a performance timeline of the OFC teams who have appeared in the Beach Soccer World Cup since being sanctioned by FIFA in 2005.

Legend
Team \ Years
2005[†]

2006

2007

2008[†]

2009

2011

2013

2015[†]

2017[†]

2019

2021
Total
 AustraliaR1Member of AFC1
 Solomon IslandsR1R1R1R1R15
 TahitiR14th2nd2ndR15
Total no. of unique qualifiers3
Notes
  1. ^
    In 2005, 2008, 2015 and 2017, no OFC qualifiers for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup were held and teams were selected to represent OFC (2005: Australia; 2008: Solomon Islands; 2015 and 2017: Tahiti).

References

  1. "BEACH SOCCER > TOURNAMENTS". Oceania Football Confederation. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  2. "History of the OFC Beach Soccer Nations Cup". Oceania Football Confederation. 27 May 2020. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  3. "Solomons edge closer to Tahiti". Beach Soccer Worldwide. 31 August 2013. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  4. "FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2006 qualifiers to start in Brazil on 5 March". FIFA. 3 March 2006. Archived from the original on 13 May 2006. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  5. "World Cup gets bigger". FIFA. 25 August 2005. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  6. oceaniafootball (31 July 2009). "OFC Beach Soccer Championship 2009" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 August 2011. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
  7. oceaniafootball (2006). "OFC Beach Soccer Championship 2006" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 January 2014. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  8. "Mexico claim the 2019 Concacaf Beach Soccer Championship". CONCACAF. 9 October 2020. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
  9. "OFC tournaments update". Oceania Football Confederation. 28 July 2020.
  10. "Sport: Oceania Beach Soccer qualifier moved to New Caledonia". RNZ International. 6 August 2013.
  11. "OFC Executive Committee decisions". oceaniafootball.com. 2014-04-23. Archived from the original on 2016-09-13. Retrieved 2016-04-17.
  12. "Teams". FIFA.com. 2015.
  13. "Competition calendar outlined". Oceania Football Confederation. December 10, 2015. Archived from the original on September 24, 2016.
  • OFC, official website
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.