2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (OFC)

2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (OFC)
Tournament details
Dates 31 August 2015 – 10 October 2017
Teams 11 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played 25
Goals scored 69 (2.76 per match)
Attendance 43,705 (1,748 per match)
Top scorer(s) Papua New Guinea Raymond Gunemba (5 goals)

The Oceanian section of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification will act as qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, to be held in Russia, for national teams which are members of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC). A total of 0.5 slots (i.e. 1 inter-confederation play-off slot) in the final tournament are available for OFC teams.[1]

The 2016 edition of the OFC Nations Cup will once again double as the second round of the OFC qualifying competition for the 2018 FIFA World Cup (similar to the 2012 OFC Nations Cup and the OFC qualifying competition for the 2014 FIFA World Cup).[2] This means that once again, the team that wins the qualifying competition and advances to the intercontinental play-off may be different from the team that wins the OFC Nations Cup and represents the OFC at the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup.

Format

The qualification structure is as follows:[2][3][4]

The OFC have considered different proposals of the qualifying tournament.[5] A previous proposal adopted by the OFC in October 2014 had the eight teams divided into two groups of four teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches in the second round, followed by the top two teams of each group advancing to the third round to play in a single group of home-and-away round-robin matches to decide the winner of the 2016 OFC Nations Cup which would both qualify to the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup and advance to the inter-confederation play-offs.[6] However, it was later reported in April 2015 that the OFC had reversed its decision, and the 2016 OFC Nations Cup will be played as a one-off tournament similar to the 2012 OFC Nations Cup.[7]

Entrants

All 11 FIFA-affiliated national teams from the OFC entered qualification.[8] The four lowest ranked teams (based on FIFA World Ranking and sporting reasons) entered the first round, while the other seven teams entered the second round.

Bye to second round Competing in first round

Schedule

The schedule of the competition is as follows.[5][9][2][3][10]

Round Matchday Date
First round Matchday 1 31 August 2015
Matchday 2 2 September 2015
Matchday 3 4 September 2015
Second round
(OFC Nations Cup)		 Matchday 1 28–29 May 2016
Matchday 2 31 May – 1 June 2016
Matchday 3 4–5 June 2016
Semi-finals 8 June 2016
Final 11 June 2016
Round Matchday Date
Third round Matchday 1 7–15 November 2016
Matchday 2
Matchday 3 20–28 March 2017
Matchday 4
Matchday 5 5–13 June 2017
Matchday 6
Final first leg 28 August – 5 September 2017
Final second leg

The inter-confederation play-offs are scheduled to be played between 6–14 November 2017.[11]

First round

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Samoa 3 2 0 1 6 3 +3 6 Advance to 2016 OFC Nations Cup/second round — 3–2 — —
2  American Samoa 3 2 0 1 6 4 +2 6 — — 2–0 —
3  Cook Islands 3 2 0 1 4 2 +2 6 1–0 — — —
4  Tonga (H) 3 0 0 3 1 8 −7 0 0–3 1–2 0–3 —
Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(H) Host.

Second round

Main article: 2016 OFC Nations Cup

The draw for the second round was held as part of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Preliminary Draw on 25 July 2015, starting 18:00 MSK (UTC+3), at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg, Russia.[13]

Group stage

Group A

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Papua New Guinea (H) 3 1 2 0 11 3 +8 5 Qualification to Nations Cup knockout stage
and World Cup qualifying third round		 — 1–1 2–2 8–0
2  New Caledonia 3 1 2 0 9 2 +7 5 — — — 7–0
3  Tahiti 3 1 2 0 7 3 +4 5 Qualification to World Cup qualifying third round — 1–1 — 4–0
4  Samoa 3 0 0 3 0 19 −19 0 — — — —
Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(H) Host.

Group B

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  New Zealand 3 3 0 0 9 1 +8 9 Qualification to Nations Cup knockout stage
and World Cup qualifying third round		 — 1–0 3–1 —
2  Solomon Islands 3 1 0 2 1 2 −1 3 — — 0–1 —
3  Fiji 3 1 0 2 4 6 −2 3 Qualification to World Cup qualifying third round — — — 2–3
4  Vanuatu 3 1 0 2 3 8 −5 3 0–5 0–1 — —
Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers

Knockout stage

While the results of the OFC Nations Cup knockout stage matches have no effect on the teams qualified for the third round of World Cup qualifying, for statistical purposes these matches are considered part of World Cup qualifying, with FIFA counting goalscorers in the qualifying statistics, and cards given may contribute to suspensions in the third round of World Cup qualifying (similar to the setup for 2014 World Cup qualifying).

 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
8 June — Port Moresby
 
 
 New Zealand1
 
11 June — Port Moresby
 
 New Caledonia0
 
 New Zealand (pen.)0 (4)
 
8 June — Port Moresby
 
 Papua New Guinea0 (2)
 
 Papua New Guinea2
 
 
 Solomon Islands1
 

Third round

The draw for the third round was held on 8 July 2016, 11:00 NZST (UTC+12), at the OFC headquarters in Auckland, New Zealand.[14]

Groups

Group A

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  New Zealand 2 1 1 0 2 0 +2 4 Advance to OFC Final match — 2–0 28 Mar '17
2  New Caledonia 2 0 1 1 0 2 −2 1 0–0 — 13 Jun '17
3  Fiji 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 20 Mar '17 5 Jun '17 —
Updated to match(es) played on 15 November 2016. Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers

Group B

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Tahiti 2 1 0 1 1 1 0 3 Advance to OFC Final match — 1–0 27 Mar '17
2  Solomon Islands 2 1 0 1 1 1 0 3 1–0 — 5 Jun '17
3  Papua New Guinea 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 20 Mar '17 13 Jun '17 —
Updated to match(es) played on 13 November 2016. Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers

Final

Winner advances to inter-confederation play-offs. Dates have been set for the two-legged final as being between 28 August and 5 September 2017.[15]

Note: Order of legs to be decided.

Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Third round Group A/B winner Third round Group A/B winner 28 Aug '17 5 Sep '17

Inter-confederation play-offs

The draw for the inter-confederation play-offs was held as part of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Preliminary Draw on 25 July 2015, starting 18:00 MSK (UTC+3), at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg.[3] The first-placed team from OFC was drawn against the fifth-placed team from CONMEBOL, with the OFC team hosting the first leg.[16]

Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
OFC 1st place Play-off 2 CONMEBOL 5th place 6 Nov '17 14 Nov '17

Goalscorers

As of 15 November 2016

Note: Players in bold are still active in the competition.

5 goals
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal

References

  1. ↑ "Current allocation of FIFA World Cup™ confederation slots maintained". FIFA.com. 30 May 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 "Preliminary competition format outlined". Oceania Football Confederation. 10 July 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 "Preliminary Draw procedures outlined". fifa.com. 9 July 2015. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
  4. ↑ "Draw Procedures – Oceanian Zone" (PDF). FIFA.com.
  5. 1 2 "OFC Executive Committee decisions". OFC. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
  6. ↑ "OFC Executive Committee outcomes". Oceania Football Confederation. 20 October 2014. Archived from the original on 5 July 2015.
  7. ↑ "Football: Heat goes on NZ after switch". New Zealand Herald. 12 April 2015.
  8. ↑ "Road to Russia with new milestone". FIFA.com. 15 January 2015.
  9. ↑ "Calendar of Events 2015". Oceania Football Confederation.
  10. ↑ "2018 WCQ Stage 3 Schedule & Results". Oceania Football Confederation. Retrieved 8 July 2016.
  11. ↑ "FIFA Calendar". FIFA.com.
  12. 1 2 3 "Regulations – 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia" (PDF). FIFA.com.
  13. ↑ "World Cup path laid out for Oceania". OFC. 26 July 2015.
  14. ↑ "Stage 3 draw complete". Oceania Football Confederation.
  15. ↑ "Next steps to Russia laid out". Football NZ. 8 July 2016. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
  16. ↑ "The Preliminary Draw results in full". FIFA.com. 25 July 2015.

External links

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