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2026 FIFA World Cup qualification (OFC)

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2026 FIFA World Cup qualification (OFC)
Tournament details
Dates6 September 2024 – March 2025
Teams11 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played7
Goals scored22 (3.14 per match)
Attendance8,400 (1,200 per match)
Top scorer(s)Vanuatu John Alick
(2 goals)
← 2022
2030 →
All statistics correct as of 12 October 2024.
OFC Qualifiers
FIFA World Cup

The Oceanian section of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification process is taking place from September 2024 to March 2025.[1] The 2026 tournament is the 16th edition of Oceanian qualifiers and marks the first time OFC has a direct qualification slot into the FIFA World Cup.[2]

Format

[edit]

The qualification structure is as follows:[1][3]

  • First round: The four lowest-ranked teams in the FIFA Men's World Rankings played a three-match knockout round in September 2024. The winner advanced to the second round.
  • Second round: The winning team from the first round will join the seven highest-ranked teams in two four-team groups in October and November 2024. The top two teams from each group will advance to the third round.
  • Third round: The four teams advancing from the second round will play a three-match knockout round in March 2025 with the winner qualifying for the 2026 World Cup and the runner-up advancing to the inter-confederation play-offs.

Entrants

[edit]

All eleven eligible OFC nations have entered qualification.

Schedule

[edit]

The schedule of the competition is as follows.

Round Matchday Date Venue(s)
First round Matchday 1 6 September 2024  Samoa
Matchday 2 9 September 2024
Second round Matchday 3 10–12 October 2024  Fiji and  Vanuatu
Matchday 4 14–15 November 2024  New Zealand and  Papua New Guinea
Matchday 5 17–18 November 2024
Third round Semi-finals March 2025  New Zealand
Final March 2025

The inter-confederation play-offs will be scheduled to be played in March 2026.

Draw

[edit]

The draw for the first two rounds was held at FIFA headquarters in Switzerland on 18 July from 9:00 CEST (UTC+2).[1][4] Although announced prior to their official release, the seeding for the draw was based on the FIFA Men's World Rankings of 18 July 2024 (shown in parentheses below).

For the first round, the four lowest-ranked teams competed in a single-elimination play-off to determine which team advanced to the second round. The highest-ranked team faced the lowest-ranked team and the second-ranked team faced the third-ranked team in the semi-finals, and the winners of those matches faced each other in the final.

For the second round, each group contains one team from Pot 1, two from Pot 2 and one from Pot 3 (which also included a placeholder for the first round winner).

From the July 2024 FIFA World Rankings[5]
Bye to second round Competing in first round
Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3
  1.  Fiji (153)
  2.  Tahiti (158)
  3.  New Caledonia (160)
  4.  Vanuatu (162)
  1.  Papua New Guinea (168)
  2. First round winner[a]
  1.  Cook Islands (186)
  2.  American Samoa (187)
  3.  Samoa (192)
  4.  Tonga (200)
  1. ^ The first round winner was not known at the time of the draw.

First round

[edit]

First round matches were played 6–9 September 2024 in Samoa.[6] The four lowest-ranked teams competed in a knockout series, and the winner advanced to join the seven highest-ranked teams in the second round.[1]

Bracket

[edit]
 
Matchday 1Matchday 2 (final)
 
      
 
6 September 2024 – Apia
 
 
 Cook Islands 1
 
9 September 2024 – Apia
 
 Tonga 3
 
 Tonga 1
 
6 September 2024 – Apia
 
 Samoa (a.e.t.)2
 
 American Samoa 0
 
 
 Samoa 2
 

Matchday 1

[edit]
Cook Islands 1–3 Tonga
Kumsuz 63' FIFA[7]
OFC[8]
Attendance: 300
Referee: Calvin Berg (New Zealand)
American Samoa 0–2 Samoa
FIFA[9]
OFC[10]
Attendance: 600

Matchday 2

[edit]

The winner advanced to the second round.

Tonga 1–2 (a.e.t.) Samoa
 FIFA[11]
OFC[12]
Attendance: 500
Referee: Mederic Lacour (New Caledonia)

Second round

[edit]

The second round is taking place from 10 October to 18 November 2024 with two groups of four teams playing each other once in a league format.[1] Matches will be played in Fiji, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and Vanuatu.[13]

Group A

[edit]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification New Caledonia Fiji Solomon Islands Papua New Guinea
1  New Caledonia 1 1 0 0 3 1 +2 3 Advance to the third round — — — 3–1
2  Fiji (H) 1 1 0 0 1 0 +1 3 17 Nov — — —
3  Solomon Islands 1 0 0 1 0 1 −1 0 14 Nov 0–1 — —
4  Papua New Guinea (H) 1 0 0 1 1 3 −2 0 — 14 Nov 17 Nov —
Updated to match(es) played on 10 October 2024. Source: OFC[14]
(H) Hosts
New Caledonia 3–1 Papua New Guinea
 FIFA[15]
OFC[16]		 Semmy 78'
Attendance: 1,000
Referee: Campbell-Kirk Waugh (New Zealand)
Solomon Islands 0–1 Fiji
FIFA[17]
OFC[18]		 Krishna 13'
Attendance: 2,000
Solomon Islands v New Caledonia
Report[19]
Papua New Guinea v Fiji
Report[20]
Fiji v New Caledonia
Report[21]
Papua New Guinea v Solomon Islands
Report[22]

Group B

[edit]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification Vanuatu New Zealand Samoa French Polynesia
1  Vanuatu (H) 1 1 0 0 4 1 +3 3 Advance to the third round — — 4–1 —
2  New Zealand (H) 1 1 0 0 3 0 +3 3 15 Nov — — 3–0
3  Samoa 1 0 0 1 1 4 −3 0 — 18 Nov — 15 Nov
4  Tahiti 1 0 0 1 0 3 −3 0 18 Nov — — —
Updated to match(es) played on 12 October 2024. Source: OFC[14]
(H) Hosts
New Zealand 3–0 Tahiti
 FIFA[23]
OFC[24]
Attendance: 1,000
Referee: Médéric Lacour (New Caledonia)
Vanuatu 4–1 Samoa
 FIFA[25]
OFC[26]
Attendance: 3,000
Referee: Ben Aukwai (Solomon Islands)
Samoa v Tahiti
Report[27]
New Zealand v Vanuatu
Report[28]
Tahiti v Vanuatu
Report[29]
Samoa v New Zealand
Report[30]

Third round

[edit]

The third round is scheduled to take place in New Zealand in March 2025.[1] The winner will qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the runner-up will advance to the inter-confederation play-offs.[13]

Bracket

[edit]
 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
March 2025
 
 
Winner Group A
 
March 2025
 
Runner-up Group B
 
Winner Semi-final 1
 
March 2025
 
Winner Semi-final 2
 
Winner Group B
 
 
Runner-up Group A
 

Semi-finals

[edit]
Winner Group AvRunner-up Group B
New Zealand
Winner Group BvRunner-up Group A
New Zealand

Final

[edit]

The winner qualifies for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The loser advances to the inter-confederation play-offs.

Winner Semi-final 1vWinner Semi-final 2
New Zealand

Inter-confederation play-offs

[edit]
Main article: 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification (inter-confederation play-offs)

The runner up team will join one team each from AFC, CAF, and CONMEBOL and two from CONCACAF in the inter-confederation play-offs. The teams will be ranked according to the FIFA Men's World Ranking, with the four lowest-ranked teams playing in two single-elimination matches. The winners will meet the two highest-ranked teams in another set of single-elimination matches, with the winners of these matches qualifying for the World Cup in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.[31]

Qualified teams

[edit]
  Qualified for the World Cup
  Can qualify for the World Cup
  Failed to qualify
  Not an OFC member

The following teams from OFC qualified for the final tournament.

Team Qualified as Qualified on Previous appearances in FIFA World Cup
TBD Third round winners March 2025

Goalscorers

[edit]

There have been 22 goals scored in 7 matches, for an average of 3.14 goals per match (as of 12 October 2024). Players highlighted in bold are still active in the competition.

2 goals

1 goal

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e f "FIFA Headquarters to host OFC preliminary draw for the FIFA World Cup 2026". Oceania Football Confederation. 16 July 2024. Retrieved 16 July 2024.
  2. ^ "Road to the FIFA World Cup 26 set to begin". FIFA. 28 August 2023. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  3. ^ "Journey to historic FIFA World Cup 2026 kicks off in South America". FIFA. 4 September 2023. Retrieved 4 September 2023.
  4. ^ "FIFA to stage OFC preliminary draw for the FIFA World Cup". FIFA. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
  5. ^ "FIFA Men's Ranking – July 2024". FIFA. 18 July 2024.
  6. ^ "OFC Competition Calendars Confirmed for 2024". Oceania Football Confederation. December 2023. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  7. ^ "Cook Islands vs Tonga". Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 6 September 2024.
  8. ^ "Cook Islands vs Tonga". Oceania Football Confederation. Retrieved 6 September 2024.
  9. ^ "American Samoa vs Samoa". Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 6 September 2024.
  10. ^ "American Samoa vs Samoa". Oceania Football Confederation. Retrieved 6 September 2024.
  11. ^ "Tonga vs Samoa". Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 6 September 2024.
  12. ^ "Tonga vs Samoa". Oceania Football Confederation. Retrieved 6 September 2024.
  13. ^ a b "Hosts and venues confirmed for FIFA World Cup 26™ Qualifiers of the Oceanian Zone". Oceania Football Confederation. 1 August 2024. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  14. ^ a b "FIFA World Cup 2026 - OFC Qualifiers Round Two". Oceania Football Confederation. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
  15. ^ "New Caledonia vs Papua New Guinea". Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
  16. ^ "New Caledonia vs Papua New Guinea". Oceania Football Confedetation. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
  17. ^ "Solomon Islands vs Fiji". Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
  18. ^ "Solomon Islands vs Fiji". Oceania Football Confedetation. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
  19. ^ "Solomon Islands vs New Caledonia". Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
  20. ^ "Papua New Guinea vs Fiji". Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
  21. ^ "Fiji vs New Caledonia". Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
  22. ^ "Papua New Guinea vs Solomon Islands". Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
  23. ^ "New Zealand vs Tahiti". Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
  24. ^ "New Zealand vs Tahiti". Oceania Football Confedetation. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
  25. ^ "Vanuatu vs Samoa". Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
  26. ^ "Vanuatu vs Samoa". Oceania Football Confedetation. Retrieved 12 October 2024.
  27. ^ "Samoa vs Tahiti". Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
  28. ^ "New Zealand vs Vanuatu". Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
  29. ^ "Tahiti vs Vanuatu". Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
  30. ^ "Samoa vs New Zealand". Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
  31. ^ "Bureau of the Council recommends slot allocation for the 2026 FIFA World Cup". FIFA. 30 March 2017. Archived from the original on 19 June 2022. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
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