2018 OFC U-19 Championship

The 2018 OFC U-19 Championship was the 22nd edition of the OFC U-19/U-20 Championship, the biennial international youth football championship organised by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) for the men's under-19/under-20 national teams of Oceania. The qualifying stage was held in the Cook Islands between 26 May – 1 June 2018, and the final tournament was held in Tahiti between 5–18 August 2018.^[1]

2018 OFC U-19 Championship

Championnat d'Océanie de football des moins de 19 ans 2018
Tournament details
Host countries	Qualifying stage: Cook Islands Final tournament: Tahiti
Dates	Qualifying stage: 26 May – 1 June 2018 Final tournament: 5–18 August 2018
Teams	Final tournament: 8 Total: 11 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	3 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	New Zealand (7th title)
Runners-up	Tahiti
Third place	New Caledonia
Fourth place	Solomon Islands
Tournament statistics
Matches played	22
Goals scored	82 (3.73 per match)
Attendance	12,000 (545 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Max Mata (5 goals)
Best player(s)	Joe Bell
Best goalkeeper	Moana Pito
← 2016 2021 →

Before the tournament in 2016, the age limit was reduced by a year to 19 years of age. However, the last tournament remained the name U-20 Championship. For this tournament, the name has changed to U-19 Championship. So, players who wanted to participate in the tournament needed to be born on or after 1 January 1999. At an OFC Executive Committee meeting held at its Auckland headquarters in November 2013 the competition format was modified. The competition was brought forward a year and the age limit was lowered to 19 years of age. The changes were made in order to allow the winner of the competition plenty of time for preparation and player development for upcoming World Cups at Under 20 level.^[2]

In March 2015, FIFA decided that the OFC gets two slots at every FIFA U-20 and U-17 World Cup.^[3] So, the top two teams of the tournament qualified for the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Poland as the OFC representatives. New Zealand, the defending champions, won the title for the seventh time, and qualified together with runners-up Tahiti.

Format

The tournament structure was as follows:^[3]

• Qualifying stage: The four teams from the "developing associations" (American Samoa, Cook Islands, Samoa and Tonga) played in the qualifying stage. The winner of the round-robin tournament qualify for the final tournament.
• Final tournament: A total of eight teams (Fiji, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tahiti, Vanuatu, and the qualifying stage winner) played in the final tournament. For the group stage, they were 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 U-19 Championship and the two teams that qualify for the FIFA U-20 World Cup.

The draw for the tournament was held on 2 February 2018 at the OFC Headquarters in Auckland, New Zealand.^[4] In both the qualifying stage and the final tournament, the hosts (Cook Islands and Tahiti) were assigned to position A1 in the draw, while the remaining teams were drawn into the other positions without any seeding.^[5]

Teams

All 11 FIFA-affiliated national teams from the OFC entered the tournament.

Note: All appearance statistics include those in the qualifying stage (since 2016).

Team	Stage	Appearance	Previous best performance
Fiji	Final tournament (Group stage)	21st	Champions (2014)
New Caledonia		12th	Runners-up (2008)
New Zealand		21st	Champions (1980, 1992, 2007, 2011, 2013, 2016)
Papua New Guinea		14th	Fourth place (1978, 1982)
Solomon Islands		9th	Runners-up (2005, 2011)
Tahiti (hosts)		11th	Champions (1974, 2008)
Vanuatu		15th	Runners-up (2014, 2016)
American Samoa	Qualifying stage	5th	Group stage (1998, 2011, 2014)
Cook Islands (hosts)		3rd	Group stage (2001, 2016)
Samoa		9th	Group stage (1988, 1994, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2007)
Tonga		6th	Group stage (1998, 2001, 2002, 2005)

Venues

The hosts of the qualifying stage and final tournament were announced by OFC on 31 October 2017.^[1]

• The qualifying stage was played at the CIFA Academy Field in Rarotonga, Cook Islands.
• The final tournament was played at the Stade Pater and Stade Fautaua in Pirae, Tahiti.

After two Group B matches were played at Stade Fautaua on 6 August, it was announced on 8 August that the remaining Group B matches would be moved to Stade Pater due to the floodlights being deemed less than optimal.^[6] However, it was announced on 10 August 2018 that after heavy rain caused the pitch of Stade Pater to deteriorate, the last two Group A and Group B matches on 11 and 12 August would be moved to Stade Fautaua with earlier kick-off times (12:00 and 15:00 instead of 15:00 and 18:00).^[7]

Cook Islands	Tahiti
Rarotonga	Pirae
CIFA Academy Field	Stade Pater Te Hono Nui	Stade Fautaua
Capacity: 1,000	Capacity: 11,700	Capacity: 5,000
Rarotonga	Pirae

Squads

Main article: 2018 OFC U-19 Championship squads

Players born on or after 1 January 1999 are eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team can name a maximum of 20 players.

Qualifying stage

The winner advance to the final tournament (group stage).

All times are local, CKT (UTC−10).^[8]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Tonga	3	2	1	0	6	1	+5	7	Final tournament (Group stage)
2	Samoa	3	2	1	0	5	1	+4	7
3	Cook Islands (H)	3	1	0	2	2	5	−3	3
4	American Samoa	3	0	0	3	1	7	−6	0

Source: OFC
(H) Hosts

26 May 2018 (2018-05-26)

13:30

American Samoa	0−3	Samoa
	Report	Smith 77', 81', 90+3'

CIFA Academy Field, Rarotonga

Attendance: 100

Referee: Robinson Banga (Vanuatu)

26 May 2018 (2018-05-26)

16:30

Tonga	3−0	Cook Islands
Kau 17' Rajani 24' (pen.), 38' (pen.)	Report

CIFA Academy Field, Rarotonga

Attendance: 250

Referee: Cory Mills (New Zealand)

---

29 May 2018 (2018-05-29)

13:30

Tonga	2–0	American Samoa
Namoa 7', 50'	Report

CIFA Academy Field, Rarotonga

Attendance: 25

Referee: David Yareboinen (Papua New Guinea)

29 May 2018 (2018-05-29)

16:30

Cook Islands	0–1	Samoa
	Report	Malo 78'

CIFA Academy Field, Rarotonga

Attendance: 250

Referee: Kader Zitouni (Tahiti)

---

1 June 2018 (2018-06-01)

13:30

Samoa	1–1	Tonga
Malo 8'	Report	Falepapalangi 66'

CIFA Academy Field, Rarotonga

Attendance: 125

Referee: Cory Mills (New Zealand)

1 June 2018 (2018-06-01)

16:30

Cook Islands	2–1	American Samoa
Paio 37' Tiputoa 49' (pen.)	Report	Ledoux 51'

CIFA Academy Field, Rarotonga

Attendance: 250

Referee: Ben Aukwai (Solomon Islands)

Group stage

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

All times are local, TAHT (UTC−10).^[9]

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	New Zealand	3	3	0	0	20	1	+19	9	Knockout stage
2	Tahiti (H)	3	2	0	1	9	2	+7	6
3	Papua New Guinea	3	1	0	2	4	10	−6	3
4	Tonga	3	0	0	3	0	20	−20	0

Source: OFC
(H) Hosts

5 August 2018 (2018-08-05)

15:00

Tonga	0–4	Papua New Guinea
	Report	J. Allen 45+1' Kerobin 66' A. Allen 72', 90+4'

Stade Pater, Pirae

Attendance: 500

Referee: Joel Hopken (Vanuatu)

5 August 2018 (2018-08-05)

18:00

New Zealand	2–1	Tahiti
Mata 54' (pen.) Spragg 61'	Report	Kaspard 64'

Stade Pater, Pirae

Attendance: 2,000

Referee: George Time (Solomon Islands)

---

8 August 2018 (2018-08-08)

15:00

New Zealand	14–0	Tonga
Tipelu 15' Schnell 36', 68' Joe Bell 38', 41', 42' Whyte 46', 47', 89' Spragg 54', 57', 88' Spain 56' Curry 78'	Report

Stade Pater, Pirae

Attendance: 300

Referee: Salesh Chand (Fiji)

8 August 2018 (2018-08-08)

18:00

Tahiti	6–0	Papua New Guinea
Bremond 2', 32' Tehau 17', 86' Vivi 45+1' Kaspard 71'	Report

Stade Pater, Pirae

Attendance: 1,500

Referee: George Time (Solomon Islands)

---

11 August 2018 (2018-08-11)

12:00

Papua New Guinea	0–4	New Zealand
	Report	Mata 47' (pen.), 57' (pen.), 88' Conroy 67'

Stade Fautaua, Pirae

Attendance: 200

Referee: Joel Hopken (Vanuatu)

11 August 2018 (2018-08-11)

15:00

Tahiti	2–0	Tonga
Nordman 45+4' Morgant 51'	Report

Stade Fautaua, Pirae

Attendance: 500

Referee: Robinson Banga (Vanuatu)

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Solomon Islands	3	3	0	0	5	2	+3	9	Knockout stage
2	New Caledonia	3	1	1	1	11	5	+6	4
3	Fiji	3	1	1	1	4	3	+1	4
4	Vanuatu	3	0	0	3	2	12	−10	0

Source: OFC

6 August 2018 (2018-08-06)

15:00

New Caledonia	2–3	Solomon Islands
Drawilo 23' (pen.), 77' (pen.)	Report	Houairia 41' Taroga 56' (pen.) Bitaud 72' (o.g.)

Stade Fautaua, Pirae

Attendance: 200

Referee: Norbert Hauata (Tahiti)

6 August 2018 (2018-08-06)

18:00

Vanuatu	1–3	Fiji
Tasip 80' (pen.)	Report	Dau 45+2' Vodowaqa 54' Sami 90+2'

Stade Fautaua, Pirae

Attendance: 300

Referee: Campbell-Kirk Waugh (New Zealand)

---

9 August 2018 (2018-08-09)

15:00

Solomon Islands	1–0	Fiji
Maeobia 89'	Report

Stade Pater, Pirae

Attendance: 200

Referee: David Yareboinen (Papua New Guinea)

9 August 2018 (2018-08-09)

18:00

New Caledonia	8–1	Vanuatu
Gope-Fenepej 13', 53' Bako 23' Rawor 49' (o.g.) Richard 60', 63' Wawia 68' Longue 88'	Report	Peli 84'

Stade Pater, Pirae

Attendance: 300

Referee: Kader Zitouni (Tahiti)

---

12 August 2018 (2018-08-12)

12:00

Solomon Islands	1–0	Vanuatu
Taroga 15'	Report

Stade Fautaua, Pirae

Attendance: 150

Referee: Kader Zitouni (Tahiti)

12 August 2018 (2018-08-12)

15:00

Fiji	1–1	New Caledonia
Dau 45+2'	Report	Drawilo 63'

Stade Fautaua, Pirae

Attendance: 250

Referee: Nick Waldron (New Zealand)

Knockout stage

Bracket

	Semi-finals				Final
	15 August – Pirae
	New Zealand	2
					18 August – Pirae
	New Caledonia	1
					New Zealand	1
	15 August – Pirae
					Tahiti	0
	Solomon Islands	1
	Tahiti	3
					Third place
					17 August – Pirae
					New Caledonia	4
					Solomon Islands	1

Semi-finals

Winners qualify for 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

15 August 2018 (2018-08-15)

15:00

New Zealand	2–1	New Caledonia
Mata 55' Ebbinge 76'	Report	Mata 41' (o.g.)

Stade Pater, Pirae

Attendance: 1,000

Referee: Kader Zitouni (Tahiti)

---

15 August 2018 (2018-08-15)

18:30

Solomon Islands	1–3	Tahiti
Mekawir 80'	Report	Tehau 45+3' Nordman 74' Kaspard 78'

Stade Pater, Pirae

Attendance: 2,000

Referee: Campbell-Kirk Waugh (New Zealand)

Third place match

17 August 2018 (2018-08-17)^{[note 1]}

18:00

New Caledonia	4–1	Solomon Islands
Wenisso 30' Katrawa 71' Longue 75' Bako 89'	Report	Wawane 81'

Stade Pater, Pirae

Attendance: 100

Referee: Nick Waldron (New Zealand)

Final

18 August 2018 (2018-08-18)

18:00

New Zealand	1–0	Tahiti
Zwetsloot 50'	Report

Stade Pater, Pirae

Attendance: 1,500

Referee: David Yareboinen (Papua New Guinea)

Winners

2018 OFC U-19 Championship
New Zealand Seventh title

Goalscorers

In the qualifying stage there were 14 goals scored in 6 matches, for an average of 2.33 goals per match. In the final tournament there were 68 goals scored in 16 matches, for an average of 4.25 goals per match. In total, there were 82 goals scored in 22 matches, for an average of 3.73 goals per match.

5 goals

• Max Mata

4 goals

• Charles Spragg

3 goals

• Cyril Drawilo
• Joe Bell
• Oliver Whyte
• Henry Smith (in qualifying)
• Eddy Kaspard
• Roonui Tehau

2 goals

• Ratu Dau
• Paul Gope-Fenepej
• Pierre Bako
• Vita Longue
• Titouan Richard
• Dane Schnell
• Abraham Allen
• Samuelu Malo (in qualifying)
• Patrick Taroga
• Terai Bremond
• Rainui Nordman
• Atunaisa Namoa (in qualifying)
• Mohammad Rajani (in qualifying)

1 goal

• Roy Ledoux (in qualifying)
• Teokotai Paio (in qualifying)
• Conroy Tiputoa (in qualifying)
• Kishan Sami
• Tito Vodowaqa
• Jean-Jacques Katrawa
• Pierre Wawia
• Raoul Wenisso
• Boyd Curry
• Matthew Conroy
• Willem Ebbinge
• Jordan Spain
• Robert Tipelu
• Trevor Zwetsloot
• Jonathan Allen
• Barthy Kerobin
• Lino Houairia
• Tuita Maeobia
• Ali Mekawir
• Absolom Wawane
• Kavai'ei Morgant
• Yann Vivi
• Tuia Falepapalangi (in qualifying)
• Tevita Kau (in qualifying)
• Anthony Peli
• Jordy Tasip

1 own goal

• Lucas Bitaud (playing against Solomon Islands)
• Max Mata (playing against New Caledonia)
• Nelsin Rawor (playing against New Caledonia)

Awards

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

Award	Recipient
Golden Ball	Joe Bell[11]
Golden Glove	Moana Pito[11]
Golden Boot	Max Mata[11]
Fair Play Award

Qualified teams for FIFA U-20 World Cup

The following two teams from OFC qualified for the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

Team	Qualified on	Previous appearances in FIFA U-20 World Cup1
New Zealand	15 August 2018[12]	5 (2007, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017)
Tahiti	15 August 2018[12]	1 (2009)

¹ Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

Notes

1. The third place match was originally scheduled to be played on 18 August, 15:00, but was rescheduled to 17 August, 18:00, in order to accommodate travel arrangements.^[10]