The OFC Nations Cup 2016 ( Engl. : OFC Nations Cup ) was the tenth playout of oceanic continental championship in football and was held from 28 May to 12 June 2016 in Papua New Guinea instead. As usual , seven teams were set for the tournament: Fiji , New Zealand , New Caledonia , Papua New Guinea , Solomon Islands , Tahiti and Vanuatu . Eighth place on the grid went to the winner of a qualifying round in which the four underperforming teams of Oceania America. Samoa , Cook Islands , Samoa and Tonga participated. The game was played in two groups of four teams. The respective group first and second reached the semi-finals. The tournament also served to qualify the Oceania zone for the 2018 World Cup in Russia . However, the representative of Oceania at the World Cup was determined independently of the results of the final round. For this purpose, the three best-placed teams in each group played the oceanic participants in the intercontinental play-offs against the fifth-placed team in the South American qualification in two groups of three in 2017 .
The qualification for the Oceania Championship took place from August 31 to September 4, 2015 at the Loto-Tonga Soka Center in Nukuʻalofa , Tonga. The four underperforming members of the OFC American Samoa, the Cook Islands, Samoa and Tonga took part in this. They played the eighth participant in the main tournament in the league system. This qualification was also the 1st round of the Oceania qualification for the 2018 World Cup .
The group matches of the OFC Nations Cup also counted as the 2nd round of the Oceania qualification for the 2018 World Cup . The four semi-finalists determined the Oceania champion in the knockout system . The first three of each group, in turn, determined the Oceanic representative for the intercontinental play-offs against the fifth-placed team in the South American qualification in the third round of the Oceania qualification in two groups of three in a further round with back and forth matches .