2024 OFC Men's Nations Cup

The 2024 OFC Men's Nations Cup was the 11th edition of the OFC Men's Nations Cup, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Oceania organised by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC). The tournament was played between 15 and 30 June 2024 in Fiji and Vanuatu.^[1] The defending champions were New Zealand from the 2016 edition; the 2020 edition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[2] New Caledonia withdrew a few days before the start of the competition citing riots in the country, and the tournament played with seven teams.

2024 OFC Nations Cup

Coupe d'Océanie des nations 2024 2024 ओएफसी नेशंस कप
Tournament details
Host countries	Fiji Vanuatu
Dates	15–30 June
Teams	7 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	2 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	New Zealand (6th title)
Runners-up	Vanuatu
Third place	Tahiti
Fourth place	Fiji
Tournament statistics
Matches played	13
Goals scored	46 (3.54 per match)
Attendance	41,400 (3,185 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Roy Krishna (5 goals)
Best player(s)	Liberato Cacace
Best young player	Finn Surman
Best goalkeeper	Max Crocombe
Fair play award	New Zealand
← 2020 2016 2028 →

A total of 13 matches were played, in which 46 goals were scored, at an average of 3.54 goals per match. Attendance at all stages of the tournament reached 41,400, averaging 3,185 viewers per match. The biggest score recorded in the tournament was 9–1 when Fiji defeated Samoa on the second day of Group B.^[3][4]

New Zealand won the title for the record-extending sixth time in their history, after beating co-hosts Vanuatu in the final match with a score of 3–0,^[5] so the All Whites successfully defended their title.^[6] Tahiti secured third place after beating Fiji in the third place match, which placed them fourth. Fijian Roy Krishna finished the tournament as top scorer with five goals.^[7] New Zealander Liberato Cacace also won the best player award,^[8] while his compatriot Max Crocombe won the best goalkeeper award.^[9] New Zealand also won the fair play award.^[10]

Host selection

Although New Zealand was selected as host for the final tournament in 2020 before it was eventually cancelled, in December 2023 it was announced that the 2024 edition of the tournament would be held in Vanuatu.^[11][12]

In May 2024, following uncertainty around flight schedules, matches due to be played at the Luganville Soccer Stadium in Luganville, Vanuatu were moved to the HFC Bank Stadium in Suva, Fiji and the VFF Freshwater Stadium in Port Vila, Vanuatu.^[13]

Venues

280km
174miles

2

1

   

Location of the host cities of the 2024 OFC Men's Nations Cup.

• Vanuatu
•  1  Port Vila

• Fiji
•  2  Suva

Since it was announced in December 2023, Vanuatu is set to host the entire tournament at Luganville Soccer Stadium in Luganville and VFF Freshwater Stadium in Port Vila. Following uncertainty over flight schedules, matches scheduled to be held at Luganville Soccer Stadium in Loganville, Vanuatu have been moved to HFC Bank Stadium in Suva, Fiji.

Vanuatu	Fiji
Port Vila	Suva
VFF Freshwater Stadium	HFC Bank Stadium
Capacity: 6,500	Capacity: 4,300

Teams

Qualification

Status of countries with respect to the 2024 OFC Men's Nations Cup:

  Team qualified

  Team failed to qualify

  Team withdrew or suspended

  Not a OFC member

Main article: 2024 OFC Men's Nations Cup qualification

The 4 lowest ranked teams originally entered for qualification were played in a single group tournament, as in previous editions in 2012 and 2016. Tuvalu and Kiribati were not full members of the OFC and were therefore excluded from participation. American Samoa did not register before qualifying.

In the qualifying tournament, the three lowest-ranked teams in the last edition of the tournament in 2016 (because American Samoa did not register), competed in a Round robin format in a single round, which was held in a single venue in Tonga, where the winner qualified for the final tournament.^[11] On 5 June 2024, New Caledonia announced their withdrawal from the tournament due to the serious crisis in the country.^[14]

Qualified teams

Team	Method of qualification	Date of qualification	Finals appearance	Last appearance	Previous best performance	FIFA ranking at start of event
Vanuatu[A]	Co-hosts	1 December 2023	10th	2016	Fourth place (1973, 2000, 2002, 2008)	172
Fiji		24 January 2024	9th	2016	Third place (1998, 2008)	168
New Caledonia[B]	Automatic qualification	24 January 2024	7th	2016	Runners-up (2008, 2012)	158
New Zealand		24 January 2024	11th	2016	Champions (1973, 1998, 2002, 2008, 2016)	104
Papua New Guinea		24 January 2024	5th	2016	Runners-up (2016)	166
Solomon Islands		24 January 2024	8th	2016	Runners-up (2004)	132
Tahiti		24 January 2024	10th	2016	Champions (2012)	162
Samoa	Qualifying winner	23 March 2024	3rd	2016	Group stage (2012, 2016)	181

1. From 1973 and 1980, Vanuatu competed as New Hebrides.
2. New Caledonia withdrew from the tournament on 5 June 2024 due to the social unrest in the country.^[14]

Squads

Main article: 2024 OFC Men's Nations Cup squads

Match officials

Referees

• Veer Singh
• Calvin Berg
• Campbell-Kirk Kawana-Waugh
• David Yareboinen
• Ben Aukwai
• Shama Maemae
• Teremoana Roihau

Assistant referees

• Avinesh Narayan
• Mark Rule
• Isaac Trevis
• Malaetala Salanoa
• Natalia Lumukana
• Bernard Mutukera
• Jeffery Solodia
• Vaihina Teura
• Folio Moeaki
• Jeremy Garae

Format

The tournament followed the previous system of a preliminary qualification round followed by an eight-team (eventually seven) group stage, in which the top two places in each advanced to the semi-finals. In these, the two losers of each will compete in the play-off for third place, while the winners of these will compete in the final to determine the tournament champion.^[15]

Draw

The draw was held on 24 January 2024 at OFC Home of Football in Auckland, New Zealand. The teams were divided into two groups of four each, with the three initial pots determined based on the final ranking of the 2016 OFC Nations Cup, listed below.^[16][17]

Pot 1

Team	Rank
New Zealand	1
Papua New Guinea	2

Pot 2

Team	Rank
New Caledonia[a]	3
Solomon Islands	4
Tahiti	5
Fiji	6

Pot 3

Team	Rank
Vanuatu	7
Samoa[b]	8

1. Withdrew after official draw.
2. Qualifying winner, team not determined at time of draw.

Group stage

Result of teams participating in 2024 OFC Nations Cup

Winner   Runner-up

Third place   Fourth place

Group stage

All times are local, UTC+11 (Group A) and UTC+12 (Group B).

Tiebreakers

Tie-breaking criteria for group play^[18]

The ranking of teams in the group stage was determined as follows:

1. Total points;
2. Goal difference in all group matches;
3. Goals scored in all group matches;
4. Head-to-head result between tied teams;
   1. Points in matches among the tied teams;
   2. Goal difference in matches among the tied teams;
   3. Goals scored in matches among the tied teams;
5. Fair play points in all group matches (only one deduction per player, per match):
   • One yellow card: −1 point;
   • Two yellow cards (indirect red card): −3 points;
   • Direct red card: −4 points;
   • Yellow card and direct red card: −5 points;
6. Drawing of lots.

Group A

Main article: 2024 OFC Men's Nations Cup Group A

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	New Zealand	2	2	0	0	7	0	+7	6	Advance to knockout stage
2	Vanuatu (H)	2	1	0	1	1	4	−3	3
3	Solomon Islands	2	0	0	2	0	4	−4	0
4	New Caledonia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Withdrew

Source: OFC
(H) Hosts

15 June 2024 (2024-06-15)

12:00

New Zealand	Cancelled	New Caledonia

VFF Freshwater Stadium, Port Vila

15 June 2024 (2024-06-15)

15:00

Solomon Islands	0–1	Vanuatu
	Report	Tangis 72'

VFF Freshwater Stadium, Port Vila

Attendance: 5,000^[19]

Referee: Veer Singh (Fiji)

---

18 June 2024 (2024-06-18)

15:00

New Zealand	3–0	Solomon Islands
Waine 6', 11' Barbarouses 45+4'	Report

VFF Freshwater Stadium, Port Vila

Attendance: 3,000^[20]

Referee: David Yareboinen (Papua New Guinea)

18 June 2024 (2024-06-18)

15:00

Vanuatu	Cancelled	New Caledonia

VFF Freshwater Stadium, Port Vila

---

21 June 2024 (2024-06-21)

12:00

New Caledonia	Cancelled	Solomon Islands

VFF Freshwater Stadium, Port Vila

21 June 2024 (2024-06-21)

15:00

Vanuatu	0–4	New Zealand
	Report	Mata 10' Kaltak 27' (o.g.) Just 63' Old 78'

VFF Freshwater Stadium, Port Vila

Attendance: 7,200^[21]

Referee: Veer Singh (Fiji)

Group B

Main article: 2024 OFC Men's Nations Cup Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Fiji (H)	3	3	0	0	15	2	+13	9	Advance to knockout stage
2	Tahiti	3	1	1	1	3	2	+1	4
3	Papua New Guinea	3	1	1	1	4	7	−3	4
4	Samoa	3	0	0	3	2	13	−11	0

Source: OFC
(H) Hosts

16 June 2024 (2024-06-16)

13:00

Tahiti	2–0	Samoa
Degrumelle 4' T. Tehau 28'	Report

HFC Bank Stadium, Suva

Attendance: 500^[22]

Referee: Ben Aukwai (Solomon Islands)

16 June 2024 (2024-06-16)

16:00

Papua New Guinea	1–5	Fiji
Semmy 88'	Report	Begg 2' Dunn 43', 52' A. Komolong 55' (o.g.) Krishna 64'

HFC Bank Stadium, Suva

Attendance: 1,700^[23]

Referee: Calvin Berg (New Zealand)

---

19 June 2024 (2024-06-19)

16:00

Papua New Guinea	1–1	Tahiti
Paul 25'	Report	Degrumelle 15'

HFC Bank Stadium, Suva

Attendance: 500^[24]

Referee: Campbell-Kirk Kawana-Waugh (New Zealand)

19 June 2024 (2024-06-19)

19:00

Samoa	1–9	Fiji
Salisbury 47'	Report	Hughes 3', 61' Dunn 38' Krishna 45+3' (pen.), 53' (pen.) Baravilala 64' Begg 67' Dogalau 83', 89'

HFC Bank Stadium, Suva

Attendance: 1,300^[25]

Referee: Calvin Berg (New Zealand)

---

22 June 2024 (2024-06-22)

16:00

Samoa	1–2	Papua New Guinea
Trainor 67'	Report	Semmy 26' Kepo 47'

HFC Bank Stadium, Suva

Attendance: 500^[26]

Referee: Ben Aukwai (Solomon Islands)

22 June 2024 (2024-06-22)

19:00

Fiji	1–0	Tahiti
Krishna 26' (pen.)	Report

HFC Bank Stadium, Suva

Attendance: 1,500^[27]

Referee: Campbell-Kirk Kawana-Waugh (New Zealand)

Knockout stage

Main article: 2024 OFC Men's Nations Cup knockout stage

In the knockout stage, if a match was level at the end of normal playing time, extra time was played (two periods of 15 minutes each). If still tied after extra time, the match was decided by a penalty shoot-out.^[18]

Bracket

	Semi-finals				Final
	27 June – Port Vila
	New Zealand	5
					30 June – Port Vila
	Tahiti	0
					New Zealand	3
	27 June – Port Vila
					Vanuatu	0
	Fiji	1
	Vanuatu	2
					Third place play-off
					30 June – Port Vila
					Tahiti	2
					Fiji	1

Semi-finals

27 June 2024 (2024-06-27)

11:00

New Zealand	5–0	Tahiti
Surman 7' Waine 45', 53' Barbarouses 45+3', 72'	Report

VFF Freshwater Stadium, Port Vila

Attendance: 2,000^[28]

Referee: Veer Singh (Fiji)

---

27 June 2024 (2024-06-27)

15:00

Fiji	1–2	Vanuatu
Cavuilagi 46'	Report	Spokeyjack 12' Thomas 56'

VFF Freshwater Stadium, Port Vila

Attendance: 5,200^[29]

Referee: Campbell-Kirk Kawana-Waugh (New Zealand)

Third place play-off

30 June 2024 (2024-06-30)

11:00

Tahiti	2–1	Fiji
T. Tehau 72', 83'	Report	Krishna 58'

VFF Freshwater Stadium, Port Vila

Attendance: 3,000^[30]

Referee: Campbell-Kirk Kawana-Waugh (New Zealand)

Final

Main article: 2024 OFC Men's Nations Cup final

30 June 2024 (2024-06-30)

15:00

New Zealand	3–0	Vanuatu
Howieson 2' Randall 83' Mata 90+1'	Report

VFF Freshwater Stadium, Port Vila

Attendance: 10,000^[31]

Referee: Ben Aukwai (Solomon Islands)

Statistics

Goalscorers

There were 46 goals scored in 13 matches, for an average of 3.54 goals per match.

5 goals

• Roy Krishna

4 goals

• Ben Waine

3 goals

• Thomas Dunn
• Kosta Barbarouses
• Teaonui Tehau

2 goals

• Nabil Begg
• Etonia Dogalau
• Setareki Hughes
• Max Mata
• Tommy Semmy
• Matéo Degrumelle

1 goal

• Filipe Baravilala
• Sitiveni Cavuilagi
• Cameron Howieson
• Elijah Just
• Ben Old
• Jesse Randall
• Finn Surman
• Ati Kepo
• Pala Paul
• Luke Salisbury
• Pharrell Trainor
• Johnathan Spokeyjack
• Kensi Tangis
• Jason Thomas

1 own goal

• Alwin Komolong (against Fiji)
• Brian Kaltak (against New Zealand)

Awards

Award[32]	Player/Team
Golden Ball	Liberato Cacace Kosta Barbarouses Kensi Tangis
Golden Boot	Roy Krishna Ben Waine Kosta Barbarouses
Best Young Player	Finn Surman
Golden Glove	Max Crocombe
Fair Play Award	New Zealand

Man of the match

Match	Round	Team 1	Result	Team 2	Man of the match	Ref.
Group stage
1	Group A	Solomon Islands	0–1	Vanuatu	Brian Kaltak	[33]
3	Group B	Tahiti	2–0	Samoa	Teaonui Tehau	[34]
2	Group B	Papua New Guinea	1–5	Fiji	Thomas Dunn	[35]
4	Group A	New Zealand	3–0	Solomon Islands	Alex Rufer	[36]
5	Group B	Papua New Guinea	1–1	Tahiti	Ati Kepo	[37]
6	Group B	Samoa	1–9	Fiji	Setareki Hughes	[38]
7	Group A	Vanuatu	0–4	New Zealand	Elijah Just	[39]
8	Group B	Samoa	1–2	Papua New Guinea	Alwin Komolong	[40]
9	Group B	Fiji	1–0	Tahiti	Pothin Poma	[41]
Knockout stage
10	Semi-finals	New Zealand	5–0	Tahiti	Liberato Cacace	[42]
11	Semi-finals	Fiji	1–2	Vanuatu	Johnathan Spokeyjack	[43]
12	Third place play-off	Tahiti	2–1	Fiji	Teaonui Tehau	[44]
13	Final	New Zealand	3–0	Vanuatu	Liberato Cacace	[45]

Marketing

Broadcasting rights

On 28 February 2024, Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) announced that all OFC competitions in the 2024–2025 season, including the 2024 OFC Men's Nations Cup, would be streamed by FIFA+.^[46]

Country	Broadcaster	Ref.
World	FIFA+	[47]