The 2024 OFC U-16 Men's Championship was the 21st edition of the OFC U-16/U-17 Championship, the biennial international youth football championship organised by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) for the men's under-16/under-17 national teams of Oceania. The final tournament was played in Pirae, Tahiti, from 28 July to 10 August 2024.[1] Players born on or after 1 January 2007 are eligible to compete in the tournament.
The top three teams of the tournament qualified for the 2025 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Qatar as the OFC representatives.[2][3] New Zealand successfully defended the title from 2023.
Teams
All 11 FIFA-affiliated national teams from the OFC entered the tournament.
In 2022 and 2023, male youth OFC tournaments did not have a four-team qualifying stage, and all teams competed in one tournament.[4] This was reversed for the 2024 tournament.[5]
Note: All appearance statistics include those in the qualifying stage (2016 and 2018).
Team
|
Appearance
|
Previous best performance
|
American Samoa |
10th |
Group stage (1999, 2001, 2003, 2011, 2015, 2023)
|
Cook Islands |
11th |
Quarter-finals (2023)
|
Fiji |
19th |
Runners-up (1999)
|
New Caledonia |
13th |
Runners-up (2003, 2013, 2017, 2023)
|
New Zealand |
18th |
Champions (1997, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2023)
|
Papua New Guinea |
10th |
Semi-finals (2017), Fourth place (1986)
|
Samoa |
10th |
Quarter-finals (2023)
|
Solomon Islands |
10th |
Runners-up (1993, 2018)
|
Tahiti (hosts) |
15th |
Runners-up (2007, 2009, 2011, 2015)
|
Tonga |
11th |
Quarter-finals (2023)
|
Vanuatu |
16th |
Runners-up (2005)
|
Venues
Qualifying stage
The draw for the group stage was held 5 March 2024.[5]
Tiebreakers
Tie-breaking criteria for group play[6]
|
The ranking of teams in the group stage was determined as follows:
- Total points;
- Goal difference in all group matches;
- Goals scored in all group matches;
- Head-to-head result between tied teams;
- Points in matches among the tied teams;
- Goal difference in matches among the tied teams;
- Goals scored in matches among the tied teams;
- 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;
- Drawing of lots.
|
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Qualifying group
Draw
The draw for the group stage was held on 5 March with teams seeded into pots based upon their ranking at the 2023 OFC U-17 Championship.[5][8]
Group stage
All times are local, TAHT (UTC-10).
Group A
Group B
7th place match
5th place match
Knockout stage
Bracket
Semi-finals
Winners qualified for the 2025 FIFA U-17 World Cup.
Third place match
Winner qualified for the 2025 FIFA U-17 World Cup.
Final
Broadcasting
All games will be streamed live and free on FIFA+.[8]
Awards
The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament.[26]
Award
|
Player
|
Golden Ball
|
Aaron Cartwright
|
Golden Boot
|
Aaron Cartwright
|
Golden Gloves
|
Nicolas Kutran
|
Fair Play
|
Tahiti
|
Goalscorers
Qualified teams for FIFA U-17 World Cup
The following three teams from OFC qualified for the 2025 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Qatar.
Team
|
Qualified on
|
Previous appearances in FIFA U-17 World Cup1
|
New Zealand |
7 August 2024 |
10 (1997, 1999, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2023)
|
Fiji |
0 (debut)
|
New Caledonia |
10 August 2024 |
2 (2017, 2023)
|
1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.
Notes
- ^ The identity of the qualifying winners was not known at the time of the final draw
References
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Domestic leagues | |
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Domestic cups |
- Fiji
- FACT
- Battle of the Giants
- Inter-District Championship
- New Caledonia
- New Zealand
- Solomon Islands
- Tahiti
- Vanuatu
- Independence Cup
- PVFA Cup
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Super cups | |
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OFC club competitions | |
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National team competitions | |
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