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OFC Champions League

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OFC Champions League
Organising bodyOFC
Founded1987; 37 years ago (1987)
(rebranded in 2007)
Number of teams
  • 8 (group stage)
  • 18 (total)
Qualifier forFIFA Club World Cup
FIFA Intercontinental Cup
Television broadcastersFIFA+ (live streaming)
Websiteoceaniafootball.com/ofcchampionsleague
2024 OFC Champions League

The OFC Champions League is the premier men's club football competition in Oceania. It is organised by the OFC, Oceania's football governing body. Beginning as the Oceania Club Championship (1987–2006), it has been organised since 2007 under its current format.

The first four Club Championship titles were won by Australian clubs. Since 2006, when Australia left the OFC, 15 OFC titles have been won by clubs from New Zealand, one by a Papua New Guinean club and one by a New Caledonian club.

Trophies for OFC tournament winners are made by London-based silversmiths Thomas Lyte.[1]

History

[edit]
Oceania Club Championship and OFC Champions League winners
Season Winners
Oceania Club Championship
1987 Australia Adelaide City
1988–1998: Not held
1999 Australia South Melbourne
2000: Not held
2001 Australia Wollongong Wolves
2002–2004: Not held
2005 Australia Sydney FC
2006 New Zealand Auckland City
OFC Champions League
2007 New Zealand Waitakere United
2007–08 New Zealand Waitakere United (2)
2008–09 New Zealand Auckland City (2)
2009–10 Papua New Guinea Hekari United
2010–11 New Zealand Auckland City (3)
2011–12 New Zealand Auckland City (4)
2012–13 New Zealand Auckland City (5)
2013–14 New Zealand Auckland City (6)
2014–15 New Zealand Auckland City (7)
2016 New Zealand Auckland City (8)
2017 New Zealand Auckland City (9)
2018 New Zealand Team Wellington
2019 New Caledonia Hienghène Sport
2020–2021: Not held
2022 New Zealand Auckland City (10)
2023 New Zealand Auckland City (11)
2024 New Zealand Auckland City (12)

Oceania Club Championship

[edit]

The Oceania Club Championship was played in one or two venues, in one host country. There were two or three groups with single round-robin format, semifinals and final. The tournament usually lasted about 10 days, with matches being played every 2 days.

At first, this competition was played as a single playoff match between champions of New Zealand and Australia. That competition was held in 1987 and Adelaide City won the inaugural season. Then 12 years pause came, until the OFC organised the next, all-Oceania Cup. In January 1999, the Oceania Club Championship was held in the Fijian cities of Nadi and Lautoka. Nine teams took part, with Australian side South Melbourne winning the trophy. They also qualified for the following year's FIFA Club World Cup.

The next competition was held two years later, with an Australian team again winning the title. Wollongong Wolves won it, beating Vanuatu representative Tafea in the final. Two more editions were held under this name and format, with Sydney and Auckland City winning titles. OFC decided to change the competition format and name, so that since 2007 the competition is known as the OFC Champions League.

OFC Champions League

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2007–2014

[edit]

The OFC decided to change competition format, to make its main competition more interesting and more important to competing clubs.

The first two seasons saw competition with two groups of three teams each, and from the third edition onwards it consists of two groups of four teams each. Group winners progress to the final, played in double playoff format, with the winner taking the title. Unlike its previous format, the OFC Champions League lasts more than a half year, starting in October and ending the following April. The OFC Champions League qualifies to FIFA Club World Cup, entering the competition in the playoff round.

For the 2012–13 season the OFC Champions League changed its format with the introduction of qualifying stage, with the champions of the four weakest leagues competing for a play-off spot with the representative of country with the worst record from the previous tournament. Later rather were also scheduling and format changes for the main tournament. That competition was played between March and May 2013 with introduction of semifinal stage and final played on neutral venue. The first OFC Champions League single leg final was played in Auckland, and was the first OFC Champions League final between two teams from the same country, with Auckland City defeating Waitakere United to win its 5th title.

The OFC Champions League saw another change for 2013–14 season, with the group stage played in a pre-determined location and the semifinals and final played on a home-and-away basis. Fiji was selected as host. The Preliminary stage was played six months before the group stage, and the winner entered the group stage.

In 2014, both finalists of the OFC Champions League participated in the OFC President's Cup, an invitational tournament organised by the OFC. However, President's Cup was held only once.

2014–present

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In the 2014–15 season, the tournament was sponsored by Fiji Airways and renamed the Fiji Airways OFC Champions League in that season.[2]

Another format change came in 2017 when the group stage was expanded to 16 teams, with the whole competition being played in one year (preliminary stage followed by group stage and later knock-out stage). Each of four groups was hosted by one of the teams from the group, meaning more countries and teams were included. Group winners qualified for the semifinal stage. The semifinals and final were both played on a home-and-away basis. Following the success of the 2017 season, the OFC added a quarterfinal round for the 2018 edition, meaning that the top two teams from each group qualified for the knock-out stage.

The 2019 final, Hienghène Sport–AS Magenta (both from New Caledonia), marked the first time in the history of the competition that there was no side from New Zealand present.

Format

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Qualification

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The OFC Champions League has in its current format having 8 teams in the group stage, where single rounds are played in two groups, so that the 2 best placed teams in each group qualify for the knockout stage.

The number of teams that each federation enters into the OFC Champions League is based on the federations development criteria before the OFC, where the developed associations receive 2 places, which are Fiji, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tahiti and Vanuatu, and those considered developing associations receive a single place, where the associations are American Samoa, Cook Islands, Samoa and Tonga.

The current qualifying format for the group stage is determined by the two classifieds of the developed associations playing home and away games called National play-offs, while the teams from the developing associations play against each other in round-robin regime in a centralized location, where the best-scoring team qualifies for the group stage.

Broadcasting

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From the 2024 season, all games are live streamed on FIFA+.[3][4]

List of finals

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Key
† Match was won during extra time
* Match was won on a penalty shoot-out
& Finals decided on away goals
  • The "Season" column refers to the season the competition was held, and wikilinks to the article about that season.
  • The wikilinks in the "Score" column point to the article about that season's final game.
List of Oceania Club Championship and OFC Champions League
Season Country Winners Score Runners-up Country Venue Attend­ance
1987  Australia Adelaide City 1–1*[a] University-Mount Wellington  New Zealand Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide, Australia 3,500
1999  Australia South Melbourne 5–1 Nadi  Fiji Prince Charles Park, Nadi, Fiji 10,000
2001  Australia Wollongong Wolves 1–0 Tafea  Vanuatu Lloyd Robson Stadium, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea 3,000
2005  Australia Sydney FC 2–0 AS Magenta  New Caledonia Stade Pater, Papeete, Tahiti 4,000
2006  New Zealand Auckland City 3–1 AS Pirae  Tahiti North Harbour Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand 2,000
2007  New Zealand Waitakere United 1–2 4R Electrical Ba  Fiji Govind Park, Ba, Fiji 10,000
1–0& Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand 9,000
2007–08  New Zealand Waitakere United 1–3 Kossa  Solomon Islands Lawson Tama Stadium, Honiara, Solomon Islands 20,000
5–0 The Trusts Arena, Auckland, New Zealand 6,000
2008–09  New Zealand Auckland City 7–2 Koloale  Solomon Islands Lawson Tama Stadium, Honiara, Solomon Islands 20,000
2–2 Kiwitea Street, Auckland, New Zealand 1,250
2009–10  Papua New Guinea PRK Hekari United 3–0 Waitakere United  New Zealand PMRL Stadium, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea 15,000
1–2 Fred Taylor Park, Auckland, New Zealand 3,000
2010–11  New Zealand Auckland City 2–1 Amicale  Vanuatu Port Vila Municipal Stadium, Port Vila, Vanuatu 7,925
4–0 Kiwitea Street, Auckland, New Zealand 3,000
2011–12  New Zealand Auckland City 2–1 Tefana  Tahiti Kiwitea Street, Auckland, New Zealand 1,500
1–0 Stade Louis Ganivet, Faʻaʻā, Tahiti 1,900
2012–13  New Zealand Auckland City 2–1 Waitakere United  New Zealand Mount Smart Stadium (Arena 2), Auckland, New Zealand 3,000
2013–14  New Zealand Auckland City 1–1 Amicale  Vanuatu Port Vila Municipal Stadium, Port Vila, Vanuatu 10,000
2–1 Kiwitea Street, Auckland, New Zealand 3,000
2014–15  New Zealand Auckland City 1–1*[b] Team Wellington  New Zealand ANZ Stadium, Suva, Fiji 3,000
2016  New Zealand Auckland City 3–0 Team Wellington  New Zealand QBE Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand 1,500
2017  New Zealand Auckland City 3–0 Team Wellington  New Zealand David Farrington Park, Wellington, New Zealand 1,000
2–0 Kiwitea Street, Auckland, New Zealand 1,000
2018  New Zealand Team Wellington 6–0 Lautoka  Fiji David Farrington Park, Wellington, New Zealand 1,200
4–3 Churchill Park, Lautoka, Fiji 1,000
2019  New Caledonia Hienghène Sport 1–0 AS Magenta  New Caledonia Stade Numa-Daly Magenta, Nouméa, New Caledonia 7,000
2020 Competition abandoned due to COVID-19 pandemic in Oceania; title not awarded[5]
2021 No competition due to COVID-19 pandemic in Oceania; title not awarded[6]
2022  New Zealand Auckland City 3–0 Vénus  Tahiti Ngahue Reserve, Auckland, New Zealand 400
2023  New Zealand Auckland City 4–2† Suva  Fiji VFF Freshwater Stadium, Port Vila, Vanuatu 5,420
2024  New Zealand Auckland City 4–0 Pirae  Tahiti Stade Pater, Papeete, Tahiti 819

Record and statistics

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Main article: Oceania Club Championship and OFC Champions League records and statistics

Performances by club

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Past winners are:[7][8]

Performances in the OFC Club Championship and OFC Champions League by club
Club Title(s) Runners-up Seasons won Seasons runner-up
New Zealand Auckland City 12 — 2006, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2022, 2023, 2024 —
New Zealand Waitakere United 2 2 2007, 2008 2010, 2013
New Zealand Team Wellington 1 3 2018 2015, 2016, 2017
Australia Adelaide City 1 — 1987 —
Australia South Melbourne 1 — 1999 —
Australia Wollongong Wolves 1 — 2001 —
Australia Sydney FC 1 — 2005 —
Papua New Guinea Hekari United 1 — 2010 —
New Caledonia Hienghène Sport 1 — 2019 —
French Polynesia Pirae — 2 — 2006, 2024
New Caledonia Magenta — 2 — 2005, 2019
Vanuatu Amicale — 2 — 2011, 2014
New Zealand Uni-Mount Bohemian AFC — 1 — 1987
Fiji Nadi — 1 — 1999
Vanuatu Tafea — 1 — 2001
Fiji Ba — 1 — 2007
Solomon Islands Kossa — 1 — 2008
Solomon Islands Koloale — 1 — 2009
French Polynesia Tefana — 1 — 2012
Fiji Lautoka — 1 — 2018
French Polynesia Vénus — 1 — 2022
Fiji Suva — 1 — 2023

By nation

[edit]
Nation Winners Runners-up Winning clubs Runners-up
 New Zealand 15 6 Auckland City (12)
Waitakere United (2)
Team Wellington (1) 		Waitakere United (2)
Team Wellington (3)
Uni-Mount Bohemian (1)
 Australia[c] 4 0 Adelaide City (1)
South Melbourne (1)
Wollongong Wolves (1)
Sydney FC (1) 		—
 New Caledonia 1 2 Hienghène Sport (1) AS Magenta (2)
 Papua New Guinea 1 0 Hekari United (1) —
 Fiji 0 4 — Nadi (1)
Ba (1)
Lautoka (1)
Suva (1)
 Tahiti 0 4 — AS Pirae (2)
AS Tefana (1)
AS Vénus (1)
 Vanuatu 0 3 — Amicale (2)
Tafea (1)
 Solomon Islands 0 2 — Kossa (1)
Koloale (1)
Performances in finals by nation
Nation Titles Runners-up Total
 New Zealand 15 6 21
 Australia[c] 4 0 4
 New Caledonia 1 2 3
 Papua New Guinea 1 0 1
 Fiji 0 4 4
 Tahiti 0 4 4
 Vanuatu 0 3 3
 Solomon Islands 0 2 2


All-time table (Top 10 Clubs)

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As of 27 May 2023
Rank Club Seasons Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts FW F
1 New Zealand Auckland City 18 103 76 18 9 308 76 +232 246 11 11
2 New Zealand Waitakere United 8 48 25 12 11 99 57 +42 87 2 4
3 New Caledonia AS Magenta 10 44 22 8 14 98 60 +38 74 0 2
4 Fiji Ba 11 50 22 7 21 74 83 –9 73 0 1
5 Papua New Guinea Hekari United 11 48 20 10 18 80 69 +11 70 1 1
6 New Zealand Team Wellington 5 30 21 5 4 104 29 +75 68 1 4
7 Vanuatu Amicale 6 35 15 6 14 48 41 +7 51 0 2
8 Cook Islands Tupapa Maraerenga 7 30 14 3 13 88 87 +1 45 0 0
9 French Polynesia AS Pirae 5 25 13 2 10 66 47 +19 41 0 1
10 Fiji Lautoka 6 28 11 6 11 46 58 –12 39 0 1

All-time table (Countries)

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  • As of 9 November 2022. All matches including qualifying were taken into account with a game decided by penalties counted as draw. No awarded/withdrawn games were counted.
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1  New Zealand 193 128 37 28 557 165 +392 421
2  Fiji 119 47 16 56 187 242 −55 157
3  Vanuatu 109 44 22 43 205 188 +17 154
4  New Caledonia 97 38 16 43 178 187 −9 130
5  Tahiti 108 38 15 55 224 221 +3 129
6  Solomon Islands 102 36 18 48 203 225 −22 126
7  Papua New Guinea 89 28 14 47 143 239 −96 98
8  Samoa 54 19 4 31 112 176 −64 61
9  Cook Islands 44 16 5 23 99 128 −29 53
10  Australia[d] 17 16 1 0 90 9 +81 49
11  Tonga 34 6 5 23 46 153 −107 23
12  American Samoa 22 1 2 19 25 128 −103 5
13  Palau[e] 1 0 0 1 2 6 −4 0
Source: [citation needed]
Notes:
  1. ^ Score was 1–1 after 90 minutes and extra time. Adelaide City won the penalty shoot-out 4–1.
  2. ^ Score was 1–1 after 90 minutes and extra time. Auckland City won the penalty shoot-out 4–3.
  3. ^ a b Football Federation Australia were founder members of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) before joining the Asian Football Confederation in 2006.
  4. ^ Football Federation Australia were founder members of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) before joining the Asian Football Confederation in 2006.
  5. ^ Palau is not OFC member.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "New silverware awarded for victors". Oceania Football Confederation. 19 March 2013. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
  2. ^ "OFC teams up with Fiji Airways". OFC. 2 April 2015. Archived from the original on 3 April 2015. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  3. ^ "Live Streams - OFC Men's Champions League". FIFA. Archived from the original on 8 February 2024. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
  4. ^ "The OFC Men's Champions League - National Playoffs kick-off today!". Oceania Football Confederation. 8 February 2024. Archived from the original on 8 February 2024. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
  5. ^ "OFC Champions League 2020 cancelled". Oceania Football Confederation. 4 September 2020. Archived from the original on 27 November 2020. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  6. ^ "OFC competitions calendar rescheduled". Oceania Football Confederation. 4 June 2021. Archived from the original on 5 June 2021. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  7. ^ "Past tournaments". oceaniafootball.com. Archived from the original on 28 April 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  8. ^ "Oceania Club Cups - Overview File". RSSSF. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
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