2024 OFC Men's Nations Cup qualification

The 2024 OFC Men's Nations Cup qualifying round served as qualification for the 2024 OFC Men's Nations Cup. This tournament marked the first time since 2002 that qualification for the OFC Nations Cup was not held in conjunction with the FIFA World Cup qualification rounds for OFC. Tonga was confirmed as qualification hosts on 1 December 2023.^[1] The tournament took place from 20 to 26 March 2024.

2024 OFC Men's Nations Cup qualification

Tournament details
Host country	Tonga
Dates	20–26 March
Teams	3 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	1 (in 1 host city)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	3
Goals scored	7 (2.33 per match)
Attendance	1,300 (433 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Nathan Viliamu (2 goals)
← 2016 2028 →

Qualified teams

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

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearances in tournament[A]
Vanuatu[B]	Co-hosts	1 December 2023	9 (1973, 1980, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016)
Fiji		24 January 2024	8 (1973, 1980, 1998, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016)
New Caledonia[C]	Automatic qualification	24 January 2024	6 (1973, 1980, 2002, 2008, 2012, 2016)
New Zealand		24 January 2024	10 (1973, 1980, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016)
Papua New Guinea		24 January 2024	4 (1980, 2002, 2012, 2016)
Solomon Islands		24 January 2024	7 (1980, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2012, 2016)
Tahiti		24 January 2024	9 (1973, 1980, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2012, 2016)
Samoa	Qualifying winner	23 March 2024	2 (2012, 2016)

1. Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.
2. From 1973 and 1980, Vanuatu competed as New Hebrides.
3. New Caledonia withdrew from the tournament on 5 June 2024 due to the social unrest in the country.^[2]

Format

Three teams played a single round-robin tournament held in Tonga. All matches were held at the Teufaiva Sport Stadium in Nuku'alofa. The winner qualified for the 2024 OFC Men's Nations Cup, to join the other seven teams which received byes into the group stage.

Entrants

Three teams entered qualification. This edition marked the first time since the 1996 edition that American Samoa did not enter the tournament.^[3] Numbers in brackets refer to each team's ranking in the December 2023 FIFA World Rankings.^[4]

OFC members that did not qualify automatically

Entered qualification	Did not enter qualification	Ineligible as associate member
Cook Islands (185)  Samoa (186)  Tonga (196)	American Samoa (188)	Tuvalu (N/A)  Kiribati (N/A)

Schedule

The schedule of the competition was as follows.

Matchday	Date
Matchday 1	20 March 2024
Matchday 2	23 March 2024
Matchday 3	26 March 2024

Venue

Qualifiyng tournament venues being played in Tonga in one host citie in Nuku'alofa.

Tonga
Nuku'alofa
Teufaiva Sport Stadium
Capacity: 10,000
Nuku'alofa

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Samoa	2	2	0	0	5	1	+4	6	Qualify for final tournament		—	1–0	—
2	Cook Islands	2	1	0	1	1	1	0	3			—	—	1–0
3	Tonga (H)	2	0	0	2	1	5	−4	0			1–4	—	—

Source: OFC^[5]
(H) Hosts

Matches

Tonga	1–4	Samoa
Kite 90+5'	Report	Tumua 11' (pen.) Viliamu 45+1', 60' Stowers 89'

20 March 2024 (2024-03-20)

14:00 UTC+13

Teufaiva Sport Stadium, Nukuʻalofa

Attendance: 500^[6]

Referee: Luke Gardner (New Zealand)

---

Samoa	1–0	Cook Islands
Taualai 88'	Report

23 March 2024 (2024-03-23)

11:00 UTC+13

Teufaiva Sport Stadium, Nukuʻalofa

Attendance: 300^[7]

Referee: Pari Oito (Tahiti)

---

Cook Islands	1–0	Tonga
Saghabi 38'	Report

26 March 2024 (2024-03-26)

14:00 UTC+13

Teufaiva Sport Stadium, Nukuʻalofa

Attendance: 500^[8]

Referee: Laurie Fairamoa (Solomon Islands)

Goalscorers

There were 7 goals scored in 3 matches, for an average of 2.33 goals per match.

2 goals

• Nathan Viliamu

1 goal

• Taylor Saghabi
• Ethan Stowers
• Va'a Taualai
• Dilo Tumua
• Kulisitofa Kite

Source: OFC^[5]