2018 OFC Women's Nations Cup qualification

The 2018 OFC Women's Nations Cup qualification tournament was a football competition that took place from 24 to 30 August 2018 in Lautoka, Fiji to determine the final women's national team which joined the seven automatically qualified teams in the 2018 OFC Women's Nations Cup final tournament in New Caledonia.

2018 OFC Women's Nations Cup qualification
Tournament details
Host countryFiji
CityLautoka
Dates24–30 August 2018
Teams4
Venue(s)1 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions Fiji
Runners-up Vanuatu
Third place Solomon Islands
Fourth place American Samoa
Tournament statistics
Matches played6
Goals scored12 (2 per match)
Attendance2,100 (350 per match)
Top scorer(s) Trina Davis (4 goals)

Teams

On 31 October 2017, the OFC announced its executive's decision on the teams to compete in the tournament. For the first time, the OFC Women's Nations Cup is a compulsory tournament, so all 11 OFC member national teams entered the tournament.[1] The four lowest-ranked teams, based on previous regional performances of all women's national teams, entered the qualification tournament while the remaining teams were given a bye to the final tournament.

Automatic qualification to final tournament Teams entered in qualification

Format

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 qualification tournament, which was played in a single round-robin format in Fiji.[1][2]

The winner advanced to the 2018 OFC Women's Nations Cup, held from 18 November to 1 December 2018 in New Caledonia, joining the other seven teams which received a bye into the group stage. The Nations Cup serves as the Oceanian qualifiers to the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, with the champions qualifying for the final tournament in France,[3] as well as the 2020 Summer Olympics women's football tournament in Japan, as long as they are a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).[2][4]

Each team can name a maximum of 20 players.[5][6]

Tiebreakers

The ranking of teams is determined as follows:[7]

  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.

Draw

The draw for the qualification tournament was held on 21 March 2018 at the OFC Headquarters in Auckland, New Zealand.[8] The hosts Fiji were assigned to position 1 and were exempted from the draw, while the remaining teams were drawn into the other positions without any seeding in order to determine the match schedule.[9]

Pot A[lower-alpha 1]
Team
 American Samoa
 Solomon Islands
 Vanuatu
  1. Hosts Fiji were automatically assigned to position 1.

The draw for the match schedule resulted in the following positions:

Note: Bolded team qualified for the 2018 OFC Women's Nations Cup.

PosTeam
1 Fiji
2 American Samoa
3 Solomon Islands
4 Vanuatu

Host and venue

The qualification tournament was held at Churchill Park in Lautoka, Fiji.[10] The tournament was originally scheduled to be held in Pago Pago, American Samoa from 27 August to 4 September 2018, but in March 2018 the venue was changed to Fiji.[1][2] The qualification tournament in Fiji was originally scheduled to take place from 25–31 August 2018,[2] but was later adjusted to 24–30 August.[11]

Lautoka
Churchill Park
Capacity: 18,000

Schedule

The match schedule was revealed on 6 July 2018. The schedule of qualification is as follows:[11]

Matchday Date Matches
Matchday 1 24 August 2018 4 v 1, 2 v 3
Matchday 2 27 August 2018 1 v 3, 4 v 2
Matchday 3 30 August 2018 1 v 2, 3 v 4

Standings

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Fiji (H) 3 2 1 0 7 1 +6 7 Qualify for final tournament
2  Vanuatu 3 2 0 1 3 5 2 6
3  Solomon Islands 3 1 1 1 2 1 +1 4
4  American Samoa 3 0 0 3 0 5 5 0
Source: OFC
(H) Host.

Matches

All times are local, FJT (UTC+12).

American Samoa 0–2 Solomon Islands
Report
Attendance: 100
Referee: Beth Rattray (New Zealand)
Vanuatu 1–5 Fiji
  • Gere  75'
Report
Attendance: 300
Referee: Tapaita Lelenga (Tonga)

Vanuatu 1–0 American Samoa
  • Wakeret  44'
Report
Attendance: 100
Referee: Roger Adams (Papua New Guinea)
Fiji 0–0 Solomon Islands
Report
Attendance: 1,000
Referee: Sione Lelenga (Tonga)

Solomon Islands 0–1 Vanuatu
Report
  • Solomon  5'
Attendance: 100
Referee: Tapaita Lelenga (Tonga)
Fiji 2–0 American Samoa
Report
Attendance: 500
Referee: Beth Rattray (New Zealand)

Goalscorers

There were 12 goals scored in 6 matches, for an average of 2 goals per match.

4 goals

2 goals

1 goal

Qualified teams

The following eight teams qualified for the final tournament.

Team Qualified as Qualified on Previous appearances in OFC Women's Nations Cup[upper-alpha 1]
 Cook IslandsBest ranked31 October 20173 (2003, 2010, 2014)
 New Caledonia1 (1983)
 New Zealand10 (1983, 1986, 1989, 1991, 1994, 1998, 2003, 2007, 2010, 2014)
 Papua New Guinea8 (1989, 1991, 1994, 1998, 2003, 2007, 2010, 2014)
 Samoa2 (1998, 2003)
 Tahiti1 (2010)
 Tonga3 (2007, 2010, 2014)
 FijiQualification winner30 August 20183 (1983, 1998, 2010)
  1. Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.

References

  1. "OFC Competition calendar set for 2018". Oceania Football Confederation. 31 October 2017.
  2. "OFC Women's Nations Cup confirmed". Oceania Football Confederation. 12 March 2018.
  3. "Circular #1565 - FIFA women's tournaments 2018-2019" (PDF). FIFA.com. 11 November 2016.
  4. "OC for FIFA Competitions approves procedures for the Final Draw of the 2018 FIFA World Cup". FIFA.com. 14 September 2017.
  5. "Teams are in for women's qualifier". Oceania Football Confederation. 22 August 2018.
  6. "OFC Women's Nations Cup 2018 Qualifying Stage – Official Team List" (PDF). Oceania Football Confederation.
  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. "Draw reveals journey to regional title". Oceania Football Confederation. 22 March 2018.
  9. "OFC WOMEN'S NATIONS CUP 2018 OFFCICIAL DRAW". YouTube. 21 March 2018.
  10. "Fiji to host qualifier". fijitimes.com. Fiji Times. 27 March 2018. Archived from the original on 10 April 2018. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
  11. "Match schedule confirmed for women's qualifier". Oceania Football Confederation. 6 July 2018.
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