PNG to play in Olympic qualifiers – forfeit first match
Papua New Guinea will stay in the Olympic qualifying tournament, but will only play one group stage match.
The OFC have released the following press release regarding Papua New Guinea’s team in the Paris 2024 qualifiers:
“On 29 August 2023 the FIFA Disciplinary Committee issued a decision regarding the OFC Men’s Olympic Qualifier 2023 tournament currently underway in New Zealand.
The FIFA Disciplinary Committee has held that the Papua New Guinea Football Association is responsible for the unplayed match between the representative teams of New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, which was scheduled to take place on 27 August 2023. On that basis, the Committee has declared the match lost by forfeit 3-0 by Papua New Guinea.
For clarity purposes, the representative team of Papua New Guinea will continue in the competition, and the remaining matches will be played as originally scheduled.”‘
American Samoa were also scheduled to take part in the group, but withdrew before the tournament started.
This means that PNG will only play one match in the group stage, against Fiji on Saturday. That match will determine who reaches the knockouts, after New Zealand beat Fiji 3-1 to secure the first place spot.
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