Champions League draws confirmed: Tahiti and Solomons to host
Oceania correspondent for:
The draw for the OFC Champions League for men and women have been done.
The draws happened in Auckland, New Zealand for both the men and women’s tournaments.
The qualifying tournament for the men will take place next month in Tonga (17-23 February), with the winner advancing to the OFC Men’s Champions League 2024 in Tahiti.
There American Samoan side Vaiala Tonga FC, Tupapa Maraerenga FC from the Cook Islands, Samoa’s Vaivase-Tai FC, and host representative Veitongo FC, will play a single round-robin format tournament to decide who joins the seven other teams in the main stage.
The main stage will consist of the national playoff champions from Fiji, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Tahiti and Vanuatu.
Both groups in Tahiti will be fiercely competitive, with Group A featuring the representative teams from Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, and New Zealand respectively.
Group B will pit the host nation’s representative against teams from Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and the Qualifying tournament winner respectively.
The top two teams will advance to the semi-finals.
These teams will compete for a spot:
Fiji: Lautoka FC v Rewa FC
New Caledonia: AS Magenta FC v ASG Gaica
Papua New Guinea: Hekari United FC v Port Moresby Strikers FC
Solomon Islands: Solomon Warriors FC v Central Coast FC
Vanuatu: Ifira Black Bird FC v Classic FC
New Zealand: Auckland City FC v Wellington Olympic
Tahiti: AS Tefana v AS Pirae
The qualifiers will be played from 17th to 23rd of February, with the main tournament to take place in May, and the national playoffs inbetween in February and March.
The winner of the tournament will represent Oceania at the new FIFA Intercontinental Cup in December. The OFC winner will travel to either Africa or Asia to meet the winner of the CAF Champions League or AFC Champions League in the first round.
Second ever women’s tournament
In the women’s tournament, which will be hosted in the Solomon Islands, the amount of teams have gone up from the inaugural tournament last year.
Six teams have been confirmed for the tournament with the representatives from New Caledonia and Vanuatu yet to be determined.
The tournament format consists of two groups of four teams, with each team to play each other once in the group stage, with the two highest placed teams from each group advancing to the semi-finals.
The 2024 ediiton will be held from March 10th to 23rd in Honiara.
These teams will participate:
The host nation’s champions Henderson Eels FC are in Group A and will play Papua New Guinea’s Hekari United FC, Avatiu FC from the Cook Islands and the Vanuatu representative team.
Fijian champions Labasa Women FC are in Group B and will face New Zealand’s Auckland United FC, Tonga’s Veitongo FC and the yet to be determined representative from New Caledonia.
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