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2018 OFC Women's Nations Cup

Coupe d'Océanie féminine de football 2018
Tournament details
Host country	New Caledonia
Dates	18 November – 1 December
Teams	8 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	4 (in 4 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	New Zealand (6th title)
Runners-up	Fiji
Third place	Papua New Guinea
Fourth place	New Caledonia
Tournament statistics
Matches played	16
Goals scored	108 (6.75 per match)
Attendance	5,247 (328 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Sarah Gregorius Meagen Gunemba (8 goals each)
Best player(s)	Betsy Hassett
Best goalkeeper	Adi Tuwai
Fair play award	New Zealand
← 2014 2022 →

The 2018 OFC Women's Nations Cup was the 11th edition of the OFC Women's Nations Cup (also known as the OFC Women's Championship), the quadrennial international football championship organised by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) for the women's national teams of the Oceanian region. The tournament was held in New Caledonia between 18 November – 1 December 2018.

The tournament served as the Oceanian qualifiers to the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, with the champions qualifying for the World Cup in France. The champions also qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics women's football tournament in Japan.

New Zealand were the defending champions. They won the tournament for their fourth consecutive and sixth overall OFC Women's Nations Cup title.

Format

The format was as follows:

• Qualifying stage: The four lowest-ranked teams based on previous regional performances of all women's national teams (American Samoa, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji) entered the qualifying stage, which was held from 24 to 30 August 2018 in Fiji (originally scheduled to be held in American Samoa). The winner qualified for the final tournament, joining the other seven teams which automatically qualified.
• Final tournament: A total of eight teams played in the final tournament, which was held between 18 November to 1 December 2018 in New Caledonia. For the group stage, they are divided into two groups of four teams. The top two teams of each group advance to the knockout stage (semi-finals and final) to decide the winner of the OFC Women's Nations Cup that qualify for the FIFA Women's World Cup as well as the Olympic football tournament.

The draw for the tournament was held on 21 March 2018 at the OFC Headquarters in Auckland, New Zealand. In both the qualifying stage and final tournament, the hosts (Fiji and New Caledonia) were assigned to position A1 in the draw, while the remaining teams were drawn into the other positions without any seeding.

Tiebreakers

The ranking of teams is determined as follows:

1. Points obtained in all qualifying matches;
2. Goal difference in all qualifying matches;
3. Number of goals scored in all qualifying matches;
4. Points obtained in the matches played between the teams in question;
5. Goal difference in the matches played between the teams in question;
6. Number of goals scored in the matches played between the teams in question;
7. Fair play points in all qualifying matches (only one deduction can be applied to a player in a single match):
   • Yellow card: –1 points;
   • Indirect red card (second yellow card): –3 points;
   • Direct red card: –4 points;
   • Yellow card and direct red card: –5 points;
8. Coin toss or drawing of lots.

Qualification

For the first time, the OFC Women's Nations Cup is a compulsory tournament, so all 11 OFC member national teams have entered the tournament.

Team	Method of qualification	Appearance	Previous best performance	FIFA ranking at start of event
Cook Islands	Automatic	4th	Third place (2010, 2014)	Not ranked
New Caledonia		2nd	Third place (1983)	Not ranked
New Zealand		11th	Champions (1983, 1991, 2007, 2010, 2014)	20
Papua New Guinea		9th	Runners-up (2007, 2010, 2014)	Not ranked
Samoa		3rd	Fourth place (2003)	Not ranked
Tahiti		2nd	Group stage (2010)	Not ranked
Tonga		4th	Third place (2007)	Not ranked
Fiji	Qualification winners	4th	Fourth place (1983, 1998)	81

Note: New Caledonia and Tahiti are not members of the International Olympic Committee and thus not eligible to qualify for the Olympic Football Tournament.

Venues

The host nation of the final tournament was New Caledonia. The matches were played at four venues.

Koné	Nouméa	KonéNouméaLifouMaré	Lifou	Maré
Stade Yoshida	Stade Numa-Daly Magenta		Stade de Hnassé	Stade de la Roche
Capacity: 3,000	Capacity: 16,000		Capacity: 1,680	Capacity: 1,500

Squads

Each team can name a maximum of 23 players.

Group stage

The top two teams of each group advance to the semi-finals.

All times are local, NCT (UTC+11).

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Papua New Guinea	3	3	0	0	14	3	+11	9	Knockout stage
2	New Caledonia (H)	3	2	0	1	8	8	0	6
3	Tahiti	3	0	1	2	8	12	−4	1
4	Samoa	3	0	1	2	5	12	−7	1

Samoa	0–5	Papua New Guinea
	Report	M. Gunemba 17', 22', 53' Gabong 27' Bauelua 90+2'

Tahiti	2–4	New Caledonia
Tamarii 27' Hioe 45'	Report	Xowie 19' Pahoa 22', 25' Lalie 81'

Tahiti	5–5	Samoa
Teotahi 3', 7', 50' Taumaa 10' Hioe 45+4'	Report	Sataraka 1', 79', 89' Kimitete 4' (o.g.) Malo 21'

New Caledonia	2–6	Papua New Guinea
Maguire 48' Gatha 90+3'	Report	Kaipu 20', 31', 46', 60', 81' Padio 36'

Papua New Guinea	3–1	Tahiti
Unamba 31' Padio 74', 84' (pen.)	Report	Taumaa 6'

New Caledonia	2–0	Samoa
Ajapuhnya 50' Xowie 67'	Report

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	New Zealand	3	3	0	0	27	0	+27	9	Knockout stage
2	Fiji	3	2	0	1	15	10	+5	6
3	Tonga	3	1	0	2	1	23	−22	3
4	Cook Islands	3	0	0	3	0	10	−10	0

New Zealand	11–0	Tonga
White 8', 15' Longo 9', 13' Hassett 34', 35' Gregorius 37', 39', 52' Percival 67' Jale 88'	Report

Cook Islands	0–3	Fiji
	Report	Nasau 34' Davis 36' Tamanitoakula 57'

Tonga	0–12	Fiji
	Report	Tamanitoakula 6', 11', 24', 36' Nasau 13', 43', 51' Davis 20', 81' Diyalowai 22', 30', 90'

New Zealand	6–0	Cook Islands
Longo 13' Rolston 15', 45' Rood 68' Morton 90+1' Jale 90+2'	Report

Tonga	1–0	Cook Islands
Vaka 3'	Report

Fiji	0–10	New Zealand
	Report	Longo 8', 38' Gregorius 16', 24', 88' Moore 54' Rood 58', 79' Tora 70' (o.g.) Rolston 85'

Knockout stage

Bracket

	Semi-finals				Final
	28 November – Maré
	Papua New Guinea	1
					1 December – Nouméa
	Fiji	5
					Fiji	0
	28 November – Lifou
					New Zealand	8
	New Zealand	8
	New Caledonia	0
					Third place match
					1 December – Nouméa
					Papua New Guinea	7
					New Caledonia	1

Semi-finals

Papua New Guinea	1–5	Fiji
M. Gunemba 12'	Report	Davis 24', 65' Tamanitoakula 27' Nasau 72' Diyalowai 87'

New Zealand	8–0	New Caledonia
Hassett 1' Rolston 7', 20', 43' Bowen 26' Satchell 31' White 38', 68'	Report

Third place match

Papua New Guinea	7–1	New Caledonia
M. Gunemba 5', 36', 54', 82' Gabong 41' Unamba 52' Birum 84'	Report	Pahoa 60'

Final

Winners qualified for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup and 2020 Summer Olympics.

Fiji	0–8	New Zealand
	Report	White 2', 90+1' Gregorius 6' (pen.), 75' Hassett 38', 55' Moore 45+2' Rood 48'

Goalscorers

There were 108 goals scored in 16 matches, for an average of 6.75 goals per match.

8 goals

• Sarah Gregorius
• Meagen Gunemba

6 goals

• Luisa Tamanitoakula
• Emma Rolston
• Rosie White

5 goals

• Trina Davis
• Cema Nasau
• Betsy Hassett
• Annalie Longo
• Marie Kaipu

4 goals

• Sofi Diyalowai
• Katie Rood

3 goals

• Jackie Pahoa
• Ramona Padio
• Sina Sataraka
• Carole Teotahi

2 goals

• Kamene Xowie
• Grace Jale
• Meikayla Moore
• Yvonne Gabong
• Selina Unamba
• Ninauea Hioe
• Hanihei Taumaa

1 goal

• Ami-Nata Ajapuhnya
• Sydney Gatha
• Aurélie Lalie
• Kim Maguire
• Katie Bowen
• Sarah Morton
• Ria Percival
• Paige Satchell
• Rayleen Bauelua
• Sandra Birum
• Hana Malo
• Tahia Tamarii
• Laveni Vaka

1 own goal

• Mereoni Tora (against New Zealand)
• Hana Kimitete (against Samoa)

Awards

The Golden Ball Award was awarded to the most outstanding player of the tournament. The Golden Boot Award was awarded to the top scorer of the tournament. The Golden Glove Award was awarded to the best goalkeeper of the tournament. The Fair Play Award was awarded to the team with the best disciplinary record at the tournament.

Award	Recipient
Golden Ball	Betsy Hassett
Golden Boot	Sarah Gregorius Meagen Gunemba
Golden Glove	Adi Tuwai
Fair Play Award	New Zealand

Qualification for international tournaments

Qualified teams for FIFA Women's World Cup

The following team from OFC qualified for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup.

Team	Qualified on	Previous appearances in FIFA Women's World Cup
New Zealand	1 December 2018	4 (1991, 2007, 2011, 2015)

Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

Qualified teams for Summer Olympics

The following team from OFC qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympic women's football tournament.

Team	Qualified on	Previous appearances in Summer Olympics
New Zealand	1 December 2018	3 (2008, 2012, 2016)

Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

References

1. "Circular #1565 – FIFA women's tournaments 2018–2019" (PDF). FIFA.com. 11 November 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 November 2016.
2. ^ "OFC Women's Nations Cup confirmed". Oceania Football Confederation. 12 March 2018.
3. "OC for FIFA Competitions approves procedures for the Final Draw of the 2018 FIFA World Cup". FIFA.com. 14 September 2017. Archived from the original on 14 September 2017.
4. ^ "OFC Competition calendar set for 2018". Oceania Football Confederation. 31 October 2017.
5. "Draw reveals journey to regional title". Oceania Football Confederation. 22 March 2018.
6. "OFC Women's Nations Cup 2018 Offcicial [sic] Draw". YouTube. 21 March 2018.
7. @OFCfootball (24 August 2018). "Article 31: Determination of the winner" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 25 August 2018. Retrieved 25 August 2018 – via Twitter.
8. "Women's Ranking – 28 September 2018 (OFC)". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 19 October 2018.
9. "Women's game goes provincial with confirmed schedule". Oceania Football Confederation. 10 August 2018.
10. ^ "Tournament Programme ENG/FRE". Oceania Football Confederation. 16 November 2018.
11. "New Zealand complete line-up for France 2019". Oceania Football Confederation. 1 December 2018.
12. ^ "New Zealand triumph completes France 2019 field". FIFA.com. 1 December 2018.

External links

• OFC Women's Nations Cup, oceaniafootball.com
  • News > 2018 OFC Women's Nations Cup Archived 12 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine, oceaniafootball.com

• 2018 OFC Women's Nations Cup
• 2018 in OFC football
• OFC Women's Nations Cup tournaments
• 2018 in women's association football
• 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
• International association football competitions hosted by New Caledonia
• November 2018 sports events in Oceania
• December 2018 sports events in Oceania
• Football at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Women's qualification
• 2018 in New Caledonian sport