Oceania Nations Cup
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The OFC Nations Cup is the biennial football competition held among the Oceania Football Confederation member nations. It has been held every two years since 1996 by the OFC; before 1996 there were two other tournaments held at irregular intervals, under the name Oceania Nations Cup.
Historically, a very large gulf separated Australia from the smaller island competitors. Little attention is paid to the tournament by the rest of the football world. Australia's top players, based in Europe, are generally not even selected on the basis that they would refuse to play in what they regard as a meaningless event - allowing New Zealand to occasionally embarrass its larger neighbour. The competition however has increased in importance due to the fact it now qualifies the winner for the lucrative Confederations Cup.
Australia ceased to be a member of the OFC on January 1, 2006, having elected to join the Asian Football Confederation, and hence will no longer be involved in this competition.
History
This tournament began in 1973 as the "Oceania Cup". A second edition took place in 1980, then the tournament was discontinued.In the early editions non-FIFA members were allowed to participate such as New Hebrides, which became Vanuatu after gaining independence in 1980.
In 1996 it reappeared as the "Oceania Nations Cup" and served as a qualifier for the Confederations Cup, as the Oceania Football Confederation had recently become a separate FIFA confederation.
Format
For the first three tournaments, Australia and New Zealand were seeded into the tournament automatically, while the remaining ten nations played to qualify. The Polynesian and Melanesian Cups, each played between five nations grouped on a geographical basis, served as qualifications via a round-robin tournament, with the highest ranked two teams in each competition qualifying for the actual OFC Nations Cup, in a six-way round-robin tournament.
With the postponement and then cancellation of the Melanesian Cup, and a similar fate befalling its Polynesian equivalent, the format of the tournament changed in 2002. FIFA rankings determined the seedings of all twelve teams, and the lower six teams played a group stage for two qualifier positions into the main tournament. The Actual 2002 Cup tournament was played with two groups of four teams (again in round-robin style), which led into a 4-way knockout stage, playing for the top four positions.
In 2004, the format changed once again, returning to a format similar to that of the 1996-2000 tournaments, with five teams each playing in two qualifying groups and Australia and New Zealand seeded to the actual tournament, played as a group stage of six, with a home and away Final played between the two highest-placed teams.
Future tournaments
With Australia now having withdrawn from the OFC to join the AFC, the format of the tournament is due to change once more. The final tournament is to be replaced with a home and away tournament involving the top five Oceania teams and the winner of the qualifying round - which will be contested by the weaker Oceania teams. The final tournament will consist of two groups of three teams each, with the winner of each group playing each other home and away for the Oceania Nations Cup and also to playoff against another confederation for a spot at the 2010 World Cup. [OFC Link]Results
| Year | Host | Final | Third Place Match | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | Score | Runner-up | 3rd Place | Score | 4th Place
| ||||
| 1973 Details | New Zealand |
New Zealand | 2 - 0 |
Tahiti |
New Caledonia | 2 - 1 |  New Hebrides
| ||
| 1980 Details | New Caledonia |
Australia | 4 - 2 |
Tahiti |
New Caledonia | 2 - 1 |
Fiji
| ||
| 1996 Details | Australia/ New Zealand/ Solomon Islands/ Tahiti |
Australia | 6 - 0 5 - 0 |
Tahiti |
New Zealand | no match |
Solomon Islands
| ||
| 1998 Details | Australia |
New Zealand | 2 - 0 |
Australia |
Fiji | 4 - 2 |
Tahiti
| ||
| 2000 Details | Tahiti |
Australia | 2 - 0 |
New Zealand |
Solomon Islands | 2 - 1 |
Vanuatu
| ||
| 2002 Details | New Zealand |
New Zealand | 1 - 0 |
Australia |
Tahiti | 1 - 0 |
Vanuatu
| ||
| 2004 Details | Australia |
Australia | 5 - 1 6 - 0 |
Solomon Islands |
New Zealand | no match |
Fiji | ||
Total Wins
| 4 | Australia | 1980, 1996, 2000, 2004 |
| 3 |
New Zealand | 1973, 1998, 2002 |
|- !style="background:#BFD7FF;"|
|- style="text-align:center; font-size:90%;" | FIFA | World Cup | Confederations Cup | World Rankings | Player of the Year | Teams
|- style="text-align:left; font-size:90%;" |
- Asia: AFC – Asian Cup
- Africa: CAF – African Cup of Nations
- North America: CONCACAF – Gold Cup
- South America: CONMEBOL – Copa América
- Oceania: OFC – Nations Cup
- Europe: UEFA – European Championship
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