2019 OFC Champions League

2019 OFC Champions League
Tournament details
Host countriesQualifying stage:
Cook Islands
Group stage:
Vanuatu
Fiji
Solomon Islands
New Caledonia
DatesQualifying stage:
26 January – 1 February 2019
Competition proper:
10 February – 11 May 2019
TeamsCompetition proper: 16
Total: 18 (from 11 associations)
Final positions
ChampionsNew Caledonia Hienghène Sport (1st title)
Runners-upNew Caledonia Magenta
Tournament statistics
Matches played37
Goals scored206 (5.57 per match)
Attendance88,884 (2,402 per match)
Top scorer(s)England Ross Allen (11 goals)
Best player(s)New Caledonia Bertrand Kaï
Best goalkeeperNew Caledonia Rocky Nyikeine
Fair play awardNew Zealand Auckland City
2018

The 2019 OFC Champions League was the 18th edition of the Oceanian Club Championship, Oceania's premier club football tournament organized by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC), and the 13th season under the current OFC Champions League name.

In the final, Hienghène Sport defeated Magenta 1–0, becoming the first team from New Caledonia to win the tournament. As the winners of the 2019 OFC Champions League, they qualified for the 2019 FIFA Club World Cup in Qatar. Team Wellington were the defending champions, but were eliminated by Hienghène Sport in the semi-finals.

Teams

[edit]
Location of teams of the 2019 OFC Champions League.
Teams entering the group stage; (H) Group stage host
Teams entering the qualifying stage; (h) Qualifying stage host

A total of 18 teams from all 11 OFC member associations entered the competition.

  • The seven developed associations (Fiji, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tahiti, Vanuatu) are awarded two berths each in the group stage.
  • The four developing associations (American Samoa, Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga) are awarded one berth each in the qualifying stage, with the winners and runners-up advancing to the group stage.
Teams entering the group stage
Association Team Qualifying method
 Fiji Lautoka 2018 Fiji Premier League champions
Ba 2018 Fiji Premier League runners-up
 New Caledonia Hienghène Sport 2017 New Caledonia Super Ligue champions
Magenta 2017 New Caledonia Super Ligue runners-up
 New Zealand Auckland City 2017–18 New Zealand Football Championship finals series champions
2017–18 New Zealand Football Championship regular season premiers
Team Wellington 2017–18 New Zealand Football Championship regular season runners-up
 Papua New Guinea Toti City 2018 Papua New Guinea National Soccer League playoffs champions
2018 Papua New Guinea National Soccer League regular season premiers
Morobe Wawens 2018 Papua New Guinea National Soccer League regular season runners-up
 Solomon Islands Solomon Warriors 2018 Solomon Islands S-League champions
Henderson Eels 2018 Solomon Islands S-League runners-up
 Tahiti Central Sport 2017–18 Tahiti Ligue 1 champions
Tefana 2017–18 Tahiti Ligue 1 runners-up
 Vanuatu Erakor Golden Star 2018 VFF National Super League grand final champions
Malampa Revivors 2018 VFF National Super League grand final runners-up
Teams entering the qualifying stage
Association Team Qualifying method
 American Samoa Pago Youth 2017 FFAS Senior League champions
 Cook Islands Tupapa Maraerenga 2018 Cook Islands Round Cup champions
 Samoa Kiwi 2018 Samoa National League champions
 Tonga Lotohaʻapai United 2018 Tonga Major League champions

Schedule

[edit]

The schedule of the competition was as follows. For this season, all ties in the knockout stage were played as a single match.

Stage Draw date Match dates
Qualifying stage 13 November 2018
(Auckland, New Zealand)
26 January – 1 February 2019 (Cook Islands)
Group stage
Quarter-finals 5 March 2019
(Auckland, New Zealand)
6–7 April 2019
Semi-finals 28 April 2019
Final 11 May 2019

Qualifying stage

[edit]

The draw for the qualifying stage was held on 13 November 2018 at the OFC Headquarters in Auckland, New Zealand.[1] The champions of the host association (Cook Islands) were allocated to Position 1, and the champions of the three remaining developing associations were drawn to determine the fixtures (first team drawn allocated to Position 2, second team drawn allocated to Position 3, third team drawn allocated to Position 4).[2] The four teams in the qualifying stage played each other on a round-robin basis at a centralised venue. The winners and runners-up advanced to the group stage to join the 14 direct entrants. Matches were played between 26 January – 1 February 2019 in the Cook Islands.

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification TUP KIW LOT PAG
1 Cook Islands Tupapa Maraerenga (H) 3 3 0 0 10 3 +7 9 Group stage 4–1 4–1 2–1
2 Samoa Kiwi 3 2 0 1 14 8 +6 6 4–3
3 Tonga Lotohaʻapai United 3 1 0 2 7 14 −7 3 1–9
4 American Samoa Pago Youth 3 0 0 3 5 11 −6 0 1–5
Source: OFC
(H) Hosts

Group stage

[edit]

The draw for the group stage was held on 13 November 2018 at the OFC Headquarters in Auckland, New Zealand.[1] The 16 teams (14 teams entering the group stage and two teams advancing from the qualifying stage) were drawn into four groups of four, with the following mechanism:[2]

  • The champions of the four host associations (Fiji, New Caledonia, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu) were drawn into Position 1 of Groups A–D.
  • The champions of the three remaining developed associations, and the runners-up of New Zealand, by virtue of having the best second team in the 2018 OFC Champions League, were drawn into Position 2 of Groups A–D.
  • The runners-up of the six developed associations apart from New Zealand were drawn into Position 3 of Groups A–D and Position 4 of Groups A–B (first team drawn to Groups A–B allocated to Position 3, second team drawn to Groups A–B allocated to Position 4). Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same group.
  • The winners and runners-up of the qualifying stage, whose identity was not known at the time of the draw, were drawn into Position 4 of Groups C–D.

The four teams in each group played each other on a round-robin basis at a centralised venue. The winners and runners-up of each group advanced to the quarter-finals of the knockout stage. Matches were played on the following dates and venues:

  • Group A matches were played between 10–16 February 2019 in New Caledonia.
  • Group B matches were played between 10–16 February 2019 in Fiji.
  • Group C matches were played between 23 February – 1 March 2019 in Vanuatu.
  • Group D matches were played between 24 February – 2 March 2019 in the Solomon Islands.

Group A

[edit]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification HIE TOT TEF MAL
1 New Caledonia Hienghène Sport (H) 3 2 1 0 7 1 +6 7 Knockout stage 1–1 1–0
2 Papua New Guinea Toti City 3 1 2 0 8 6 +2 5 3–3
3 French Polynesia Tefana 3 0 2 1 6 7 −1 2 3–3
4 Vanuatu Malampa Revivors 3 0 1 2 5 12 −7 1 0–5 2–4
Source: OFC
(H) Hosts

Group B

[edit]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification CEN HEN LAU MOR
1 French Polynesia Central Sport 3 2 1 0 12 4 +8 7 Knockout stage 3–2
2 Solomon Islands Henderson Eels 3 2 0 1 15 8 +7 6 7–0
3 Fiji Lautoka (H) 3 1 1 1 12 8 +4 4 2–2 5–6
4 Papua New Guinea Morobe Wawens 3 0 0 3 0 19 −19 0 0–7 0–5
Source: OFC
(H) Hosts

Group C

[edit]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification WEL BAF ERA KIW
1 New Zealand Team Wellington 3 3 0 0 18 0 +18 9 Knockout stage 2–0
2 Fiji Ba 3 1 1 1 6 4 +2 4 5–1
3 Vanuatu Erakor Golden Star (H) 3 1 1 1 3 4 −1 4 0–3 1–1
4 Samoa Kiwi 3 0 0 3 1 20 −19 0 0–13 0–2
Source: OFC
(H) Hosts

Group D

[edit]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification AUC MAG SWA TUP
1 New Zealand Auckland City 3 3 0 0 23 1 +22 9 Knockout stage 2–1
2 New Caledonia Magenta 3 2 0 1 14 3 +11 6 10–1
3 Solomon Islands Solomon Warriors (H) 3 1 0 2 10 10 0 3 0–6 0–3
4 Cook Islands Tupapa Maraerenga 3 0 0 3 2 35 −33 0 0–15 1–10
Source: OFC
(H) Hosts

Knockout stage

[edit]

The eight teams in the knockout stage played on a single-elimination basis, with each tie played as a single match.

Bracket

[edit]

The bracket was decided after the draw for the knockout stage (quarter-finals, semi-finals, and final), which was held on 5 March 2019 at the OFC Headquarters in Auckland, New Zealand.[3][4]

 
Quarter-finalsSemi-finalsFinal
 
          
 
7 April
 
 
French Polynesia Central Sport0
 
28 April
 
New Caledonia Magenta8
 
New Caledonia Magenta2
 
6 April
 
New Zealand Auckland City1
 
New Zealand Auckland City4
 
11 May
 
Papua New Guinea Toti City0
 
New Caledonia Magenta0
 
6 April
 
New Caledonia Hienghène Sport1
 
New Caledonia Hienghène Sport (a.e.t.)2
 
28 April
 
Fiji Ba1
 
New Caledonia Hienghène Sport2
 
7 April
 
New Zealand Team Wellington0
 
New Zealand Team Wellington6
 
 
Solomon Islands Henderson Eels1
 

Quarter-finals

[edit]

In the quarter-finals, the winners of one group played the runners-up of another group (teams from same group could not play each other), with the group winners hosting the match, and the matchups decided by draw. The quarter-finals were played between 6–7 April 2019.[5]

Team 1  Score  Team 2
Central Sport French Polynesia 0–8 New Caledonia Magenta
Auckland City New Zealand 4–0 Papua New Guinea Toti City
Hienghène Sport New Caledonia 2–1 (a.e.t.) Fiji Ba
Team Wellington New Zealand 6–1 Solomon Islands Henderson Eels

Semi-finals

[edit]

In the semi-finals, the four quarter-final winners played in two ties, with the matchups and host teams decided by draw. The semi-finals were played on 28 April 2019.[6]

Team 1  Score  Team 2
Hienghène Sport New Caledonia 2–0 New Zealand Team Wellington
Magenta New Caledonia 2–1 New Zealand Auckland City

Final

[edit]

In the final, the two semi-final winners played each other, with the host team decided by draw. The final was played on 11 May 2019.

Magenta New Caledonia0–1New Caledonia Hienghène Sport
Report
  • Roine 66'

Top goalscorers

[edit]
  Team eliminated / inactive for this round.
Rank Player Team QS1 QS2 QS3 GS1 GS2 GS3 QF SF   F   Total
1 England Ross Allen New Zealand Team Wellington 1 6 1 3 11
2 Papua New Guinea David Browne New Zealand Auckland City 2 1 3 6
New Caledonia Yorick Hnautra New Caledonia Magenta 4 2
New Caledonia Kevin Nemia New Caledonia Magenta 2 3 1
Samoa Paulo Scanlan Samoa Kiwi 2 4
6 French Polynesia Sylvain Graglia French Polynesia Central Sport 1 4 5
Solomon Islands Micah Lea'alafa New Zealand Auckland City 1 2 1 1
8 Cook Islands Maro Bonsu-Maro New Zealand Auckland City 4 4
Papua New Guinea Nigel Dabinyaba Papua New Guinea Toti City 2 1 1
Papua New Guinea Raymond Gunemba Papua New Guinea Toti City 1 3
New Caledonia Bertrand Kaï New Caledonia Hienghène Sport 3 1
New Caledonia Richard Sele New Caledonia Magenta 1 2 1
New Zealand Jack-Henry Sinclair New Zealand Team Wellington 2 2
Mexico Fabrizio Tavano New Zealand Auckland City 3 1

Awards

[edit]

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament.[7]

Award Player Team
Golden Ball New Caledonia Bertrand Kaï New Caledonia Hienghène Sport
Golden Boot England Ross Allen New Zealand Team Wellington
Golden Glove New Caledonia Rocky Nyikeine New Caledonia Hienghène Sport
Fair Play Award New Zealand Auckland City

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "Draw reveals 2019 OFC Champions League journey". Oceania Football Confederation. 16 November 2018.
  2. ^ a b "2019 OFC Champions League Official Draw". YouTube. 15 November 2018.
  3. ^ "Champions League knockout fixtures confirmed". Oceania Football Confederation. 5 March 2019.
  4. ^ "OFC CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2019 QUARTER-FINALS DRAW". YouTube. 5 March 2019.
  5. ^ "Quarter Finals kick-off times confirmed". Oceania Football Confederation. 7 March 2019.
  6. ^ "Semi Final double-header in Noumea". Oceania Football Confederation. 9 April 2019.
  7. ^ @OFCfootball (11 May 2019). "Awards | Fair Play Award: Auckland City FC, Golden Boot Award: Ross Allen, Team Wellington, Golden Gloves Award: Rocky Nyikeine, Golden Ball Award: Bertrand Kai, Hienghéne Sport" (Tweet). Retrieved 11 May 2019 – via Twitter.
[edit]