Football World Cup 2018 / Qualification (OFC)

the continental federation OFC

The eleven associations of the Oceanic Football Confederation (OFC ) played in the qualification for the Football World Cup 2018 for the right to start in the intercontinental decision-making meeting against the representative of another continental association. The draw resulted in a game against a representative of the South American Association (CONMEBOL).

The qualification ran over three rounds. In the first round, the four weaker teams played for a starting place at the Soccer Oceania Championship 2016 , which then served as the second round. The eight teams were divided into two groups, in which the three best teams in each group were determined in the first and second leg. Regardless of the World Cup qualification, the two best teams in each group in the knockout system were then determined to be the Oceanian champions, who also took part in the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup as the Oceanic representative . The winner of this (part) tournament was New Zealand .

In the further World Cup qualification, the three best teams in each group from the second round played two group winners in two new groups, who then competed against each other in two finals for the place in the intercontinental play-offs for the 2018 World Cup.

New Zealand prevailed against the Solomon Islands in the two finals and will play against the fifth-placed CONMEBOL qualifier in the intercontinental play-offs .

FIFA regulations

According to FIFA regulations, the preliminary round matches in the form of group and cup matches could be played in home and return matches or, in exceptional cases, in tournament form in one of the participating countries. In the group matches, three points were awarded for a win and one for a draw. The following criteria were decisive:

1. higher number of points
2. better goal difference
3. higher number of goals scored
4. higher number of points from the direct encounters between teams with the same points and goals
5. better goal difference from the direct encounters between the teams with the same points and goals
6. higher number of goals from direct encounters between teams with equal points and goals
7. higher number of away goals from direct encounters between teams with the same points and goals if only two teams are affected. (Only in the third round)

If two or more teams had done the same according to these criteria, one or more playoffs could have been scheduled.

mode

The qualification and the preliminary round of the Oceania Championship were also part of the World Cup qualification. The four weakest teams in Oceania previously played eighth place in a tournament from August 31 to September 8, 2015.

First round

The four lowest-performing members of the OFC (according to the world rankings ) played in the league system from August 31 to September 4, 2015 in the Loto-Tonga Soka Center in ʻAtele on Tonga as part of the qualification for the 2016 Oceania Cup, one participant for the second round .

Pl.	team	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Samoa	3	2	0	1	006: 300	+3	06th
2.	American Samoa	3	2	0	1	006: 400	+2	06th
3.	Cook Islands	3	2	0	1	004: 200	+2	06th
4th	Tonga	3	0	0	3	001: 800	−7	00

August 31, 2015	Tonga	-	Cook Islands	0: 3 (0: 1)
August 31, 2015	Samoa	-	American Samoa	3: 2 (3: 1)
2nd September 2015	Cook Islands	-	Samoa	1: 0 (1: 0)
2nd September 2015	Tonga	-	American Samoa	1: 2 (0: 0)
4th September 2015	Tonga	-	Samoa	0: 3 (0: 2)
4th September 2015	American Samoa	-	Cook Islands	2: 0 (2: 0)

Second round

The games of the second round took place from May 28 to June 5, 2016 at the Sir John Guise Stadium in Port Moresby as part of the preliminary round of the Oceania Cup . The top three teams in each group qualified for the next round.

Grouping

Group A	Group B
Tahiti	New Zealand
New Caledonia	Solomon Islands
Samoa	Fiji
Papua New Guinea	Vanuatu

Group A

table

Pl.	team	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Papua New Guinea	3	1	2	0	011: 300	+8	05
2.	New Caledonia	3	1	2	0	009: 200	+7	05
3.	Tahiti	3	1	2	0	007: 300	+4	05
4th	Samoa	3	0	0	3	000:190	−19	00

Games

May 29, 2016	Papua New Guinea	-	New Caledonia	1: 1 (1: 0)
May 29, 2016	Tahiti	-	Samoa	4: 0 (4: 0)
June 1, 2016	Papua New Guinea	-	Tahiti	2: 2 (1: 0)
June 1, 2016	New Caledonia	-	Samoa	7: 0 (4: 0)
5th June 2016	Samoa	-	Papua New Guinea	0: 8 (0: 2)
5th June 2016	Tahiti	-	New Caledonia	1: 1 (0: 0)

Group B

table

Pl.	team	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	New Zealand	3	3	0	0	009: 100	+8	09
2.	Solomon Islands	3	1	0	2	001: 200	−1	03
3.	Fiji	3	1	0	2	004: 600	−2	03
4th	Vanuatu	3	1	0	2	003: 800	−5	03

Games

May 28, 2016	New Zealand	-	Fiji	3: 1 (2: 1)
May 28, 2016	Vanuatu	-	Solomon Islands	0: 1 (0: 1)
May 31, 2016	Vanuatu	-	New Zealand	0: 5 (0: 5)
May 31, 2016	Solomon Islands	-	Fiji	0: 1 (0: 0)
4th June 2016	New Zealand	-	Solomon Islands	1: 0 (0: 0)
4th June 2016	Fiji	-	Vanuatu	2: 3 (0: 2)

Third round

The third round games took place from November 2016 to September 2017. This round was divided into a group phase and a final phase. The group stage took place in two groups with three teams each and with a return leg. The best-placed teams in both groups played in two finals for the starting place for the intercontinental play-offs against the fifth in the CONMEBOL qualification.

Grouping

Group 1	Group 2
New Zealand	Papua New Guinea
New Caledonia	Solomon Islands
Fiji	Tahiti

Group 1

table

Pl.	team	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	New Zealand	4th	3	1	0	006-000	+6	10
2.	New Caledonia	4th	1	2	1	004: 500	−1	05
3.	Fiji	4th	0	1	3	003: 800	−5	01

Games

November 12, 2016	Auckland	New Zealand	-	New Caledonia	2: 0 (1: 0)
15th November 2016	Cone	New Caledonia	-	New Zealand	0-0
March 25, 2017	Lautoka	Fiji	-	New Zealand	0: 2 (0: 0)
March 28, 2017	Wellington	New Zealand	-	Fiji	2: 0 (1: 0)
June 7, 2017	Lautoka	Fiji	-	New Caledonia	2: 2 (1: 2)
June 11, 2017	Nouméa	New Caledonia	-	Fiji	2: 1 (1: 0)

Group 2

table

Pl.	team	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Solomon Islands	4th	3	0	1	006: 600	± 0	09
2.	Tahiti	4th	2	0	2	007: 400	+3	06th
3.	Papua New Guinea	4th	1	0	3	006: 900	−3	03

Games

November 7, 2016	Papeete	Tahiti	-	Solomon Islands	3: 0 (rating)
November 13, 2016	Honiara	Solomon Islands	-	Tahiti	1: 0 (0: 0)
23rd March 2017	Port Moresby	Papua New Guinea	-	Tahiti	1: 3 (1: 0)
March 28, 2017	Papeete	Tahiti	-	Papua New Guinea	1: 2 (0: 0)
June 9, 2017	Honiara	Solomon Islands	-	Papua New Guinea	3: 2 (2: 0)
June 13, 2017	Port Moresby	Papua New Guinea	-	Solomon Islands	1: 2 (1: 2)

final

The first leg took place on September 1 at North Harbor Stadium in Auckland and the second leg on September 5, 2017 at Lawson Tama Stadium in Honiara . From the first group, the New Zealand national team qualified with three wins and one draw. The Solomon Islands were able to prevail in the last game of Group 2 with 2-1 against Papua New Guinea and thus took first place. New Zealand, the winner of the OFC qualifying final, qualified for the intercontinental play-offs against the fifth of the CONMEBOL qualifiers .

In the first final game New Zealand defeated the Solomon Islands 6-1. Chris Wood scored three goals. The only goal for the Solomon Islands was the captain Henry Fa'arodo with a penalty kick. In the second leg in Honiara , the two teams separated 2-2.

	total		First leg	Return leg
New Zealand	8: 3	Solomon Islands	6: 1 (3: 0)	2: 2 (2: 1)

List of goalscorers

Below are the top scorers in Oceanic World Cup qualification. If the number of goals is the same, it is sorted in ascending order according to the number of minutes played.

space	player	Gates	Playtime
1	Chris Wood	8th	555
2	Raymond Gunemba	7th	750
3	Teaonui Tehau	5	585
4th	Taylor Saghabi	4th	270
5	Roy Krishna	4th	529
6th	Nigel Dabinyaba	4th	743
7th	Michael Foster	4th	756
8th	Ryan Thomas	3	366
9	Marco Rojas	3	562
10	16 players	2
As of September 5, 2017

Web links

• Official FIFA site for OFC qualification for the 2018 World Cup

Individual evidence

1. ↑ RULES FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 ™. (PDF; 431 kB) In: fifa.com. FIFA, March 2015, archived from the original on September 9, 2015 ; Retrieved April 25, 2015 . 
2. ^ Calendar of Events 2015. In: oceaniafootball.com. Oceania Football Confederation , accessed April 24, 2015 . 
3. ↑ Draw for the next World Cup qualification for Russia 2018. In: fifa.com. FIFA, July 8, 2016, accessed July 13, 2016 . 
4. ↑ Several member associations sanctioned for incidents during preliminary matches of the FIFA World Cup ™ and friendly matches. In: FIFA.com. FIFA , December 19, 2016, accessed January 18, 2017 . 
5. ↑ Players - Most goals. In: fifa.com. FIFA , accessed October 11, 2017 .