OFC Beach Soccer Championship postponed until next year
The tournament, set to be held in September this year, has been moved.
The tournament, set to be held in September this year, has been moved until 2019.
The OFC released a statement on Tuesday saying the tournament, which has not been hosted since 2013 (!), had been moved “due to lack of participants”.
Oceania’s best Beach Soccer nation, Tahiti, were set to be the hosts of this year’s edition, which was set to take place between 15th and 22nd September.
But because only hosts Tahiti, Tonga and the Solomon Islands had expressed interest in taking part, the tournament has now been postponed so that more teams can enter.
OFC Director of Competitons Chris Kemp said in the statement:
“We received initial expressions of interest from New Caledonia and Vanuatu however not having the funding to participate influenced their eventual decision not to enter.
“However both Member Associations have confirmed that should the competition be held in 2019 they will participate, therefore in order to have the most competitive tournament possible OFC has rescheduled the event.”
The OFC tournament, which serves as the Beach Soccer World Cup qualifier for the region, will now be pushed back until June 2019. The exact dates will be decided at the next OFC Executive Committee meeting. Tahiti looks set to remain as hosts.
So far there is no word on exactly when the Beach Soccer World Cup will be held but it looks set to be held in November 2019 according to website Beach Soccer Russia, with the host to be determined in late October this year.
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