2018_OFC_Women's_Nations_Cup
2018 OFC Women's Nations Cup
International football competition
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.
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country | New Caledonia |
| Dates | 18 November – 1 December |
| Teams | 8 (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 played | 16 |
| Goals scored | 108 (6.75 per match) |
| Attendance | 5,247 (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 |
← 2014 2022 → | |
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.
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 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]
Tiebreakers
The ranking of teams is determined as follows:[7]
- Points obtained in all qualifying matches;
- Goal difference in all qualifying matches;
- Number of goals scored in all qualifying matches;
- Points obtained in the matches played between the teams in question;
- Goal difference in the matches played between the teams in question;
- Number of goals scored in the matches played between the teams in question;
- Fair play points in all qualifying matches (only one deduction can be applied to a player in a single match):
- Yellow card: –1 points;
- Indirect red card (second yellow card): –3 points;
- Direct red card: –4 points;
- Yellow card and direct red card: –5 points;
- Coin toss or drawing of lots.
For the first time, the OFC Women's Nations Cup is a compulsory tournament, so all 11 OFC member national teams have entered the tournament.[4]
| Team | Method of qualification |
Appearance | Previous best performance | FIFA ranking at start of event[8] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Cook Islands | Automatic | 4th | Third place (2010, 2014) | Not ranked |
| New Caledonia | 2nd | Third place (1983) | Not ranked | |
| New Zealand | 11th | Champions (1983, 1991, 2007, 2010, 2014) | 20 | |
| Papua New Guinea | 9th | Runners-up (2007, 2010, 2014) | Not ranked | |
 Samoa | 3rd | Fourth place (2003) | Not ranked | |
 Tahiti | 2nd | Group stage (2010) | Not ranked | |
 Tonga | 4th | Third place (2007) | Not ranked | |
| Fiji | Qualification winners | 4th | Fourth 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.
The host nation of the final tournament was New Caledonia. The matches were played at four venues.[9]
| 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 |
Each team can name a maximum of 23 players.[10]
The top two teams of each group advance to the semi-finals.
All times are local, NCT (UTC+11).[10]
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 |
| Samoa | 0–5 | Papua New Guinea |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
|
| Tahiti | 2–4 | New Caledonia |
|---|---|---|
|
Report |
|
| Tahiti | 5–5 | Samoa |
|---|---|---|
|
Report |
|
| New Caledonia | 2–6 | Papua New Guinea |
|---|---|---|
|
Report |
| New Caledonia | 2–0 | Samoa |
|---|---|---|
|
Report |
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 |
| Cook Islands | 0–3 | Fiji |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
|
| Tonga | 0–12 | Fiji |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
|
Bracket
| Semi-finals | Final | |||||
| 28 November – Maré | ||||||
| Papua New Guinea | 1 | |||||
| 1 December – Nouméa | ||||||
| Fiji | 5 | |||||
| Fiji | 0 | |||||
| 28 November – Lifou | ||||||
| New Zealand | 8 | |||||
| New Zealand | 8 | |||||
| New Caledonia | 0 | |||||
| Third place match | ||||||
| 1 December – Nouméa | ||||||
| Papua New Guinea | 7 | |||||
| New Caledonia | 1 | |||||
Semi-finals
| Papua New Guinea | 1–5 | Fiji |
|---|---|---|
|
Report |
|
Third place match
| Papua New Guinea | 7–1 | New Caledonia |
|---|---|---|
|
Report |
|
Final
Winners qualified for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup and 2020 Summer Olympics.
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
Jackie Pahoa
Ramona Padio
Sina Sataraka
Carole Teotahi
2 goals
- Kamene Xowie
Grace Jale- Meikayla Moore
- Yvonne Gabong
- Selina Unamba
- Ninauea Hioe
- Hanihei Taumaa
1 goal
- Ami-Nata Ajapuhnya
- Sydney Gatha
- Aurélie Lalie
- Kim Maguire
- Katie Bowen
- Sarah Morton
- Ria Percival
- Paige Satchell
- Rayleen Bauelua
- Sandra Birum
- Hana Malo
- Tahia Tamarii
Laveni Vaka
1 own goal
Mereoni Tora (against New Zealand)- Hana Kimitete (against Samoa)
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.[11]
| Award | Recipient |
|---|---|
| Golden Ball | Betsy Hassett |
| Golden Boot | Sarah Gregorius Meagen Gunemba |
| Golden Glove | Adi Tuwai |
| Fair Play Award | New Zealand |
Qualified teams for FIFA Women's World Cup
The following team from OFC qualified for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup.
| Team | Qualified on | Previous appearances in FIFA Women's World Cup1 |
|---|---|---|
| New Zealand | 1 December 2018[12] | 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 qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympic women's football tournament.
| Team | Qualified on | Previous appearances in Summer Olympics1 |
|---|---|---|
| New Zealand | 1 December 2018[12] | 3 (2008, 2012, 2016) |
- 1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.
- "Circular #1565 – FIFA women's tournaments 2018–2019" (PDF). FIFA.com. 11 November 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 November 2016.
- "OFC Women's Nations Cup confirmed". Oceania Football Confederation. 12 March 2018.
- "OC for FIFA Competitions approves procedures for the Final Draw of the 2018 FIFA World Cup". FIFA.com. 14 September 2017. Archived from the original on 14 September 2017.
- "OFC Competition calendar set for 2018". Oceania Football Confederation. 31 October 2017.
- "Draw reveals journey to regional title". Oceania Football Confederation. 22 March 2018.
- "OFC WOMEN'S NATIONS CUP 2018 OFFCICIAL DRAW". YouTube. 21 March 2018.
- @OFCfootball (24 August 2018). "Article 31: Determination of the winner" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 25 August 2018. Retrieved 25 August 2018 – via Twitter.
- "Women's Ranking – 28 September 2018 (OFC)". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 19 October 2018.
- "Women's game goes provincial with confirmed schedule". Oceania Football Confederation. 10 August 2018.
- "Tournament Programme ENG/FRE". Oceania Football Confederation. 16 November 2018.
- "New Zealand complete line-up for France 2019". Oceania Football Confederation. 1 December 2018.
- "New Zealand triumph completes France 2019 field". FIFA.com. 1 December 2018.
- OFC Women's Nations Cup, oceaniafootball.com
- News > 2018 OFC Women's Nations Cup Archived 12 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine, oceaniafootball.com