The 2016 OFC U-20 Championship was the 21st edition of the OFC U-20 Championship, the biennial international youth football tournament organized by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) for players aged 19 and below (despite the name remaining as U-20 Championship). This year, the tournament was held in Vanuatu for the first time by itself (second time overall).

Despite the name remaining as U-20 Championship, the age limit was reduced by a year to 19 years of age. So players who wanted to participate in the tournament needed to be born on or after 1 January 1997. At an OFC Executive Committee meeting held at its Auckland headquarters in November 2013 the competition format was modified. The competition was brought forward a year and the age limit was lowered to 19 years of age. The changes were made in order to allow the winner of the competition plenty of time for preparation and player development for upcoming World Cups at Under 20 level.

In March 2015, FIFA decided that the OFC gets two slots at every FIFA U-20 and U-17 World Cup. So the top two teams qualified for the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup in South Korea.

Format The qualification structure is as follows: First round: American Samoa, Cook Islands, Samoa and Tonga played a round-robin tournament in Tonga. The winner qualified for the tournament. Tournament (2016 OFC U-20 Championship): A total of eight teams (Fiji, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tahiti, Vanuatu, and the first round winner) played the tournament in Vanuatu. For the group stage, they were divided into two groups of four teams. The top two teams of each group advanced to the knockout stage (semi-finals and final) to decide the winner of the 2016 OFC U-20 Championship and the two teams that qualified for the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

Teams All 11 FIFA-affiliated national teams from the OFC entered qualification.

SeedingTeamsNo. of teamsFirst round entrants4Second round entrants7

Squads

Venues

‘Atele Port Vila Luganville Loto-Tonga Soka Centre Port Vila Municipal Stadium Luganville Soccer City StadiumCapacity: 1,500 Capacity: 10,000 Capacity: 6,000

First round The preliminary tournament was hosted by Tonga between 21 and 27 June 2016. The winner qualified for the tournament final.

Four referees and four assistant referees were named for the preliminary round of the tournament.

Referees Salesh Chand Joel Hoppken Nelson Sogo Campbell-Kirk Waugh

Assistant referees Ujwaal Mudliar Phul Singh Jeffery Solodia Isaac Trevis

All times are local, TOT (UTC+13).

Second round The tournament final was scheduled for 3–17 September 2016 (originally 19–26 September 2016). Vanuatu were announced as the host in December 2015.

The draw was held on 22 June 2016. The eight teams were drawn into two groups of four teams. There was no seeding, except that hosts Vanuatu were assigned to position A1 in the draw. The top two teams of each group advanced to the semi-finals.

All times are local, VUT (UTC+11).

Group A

Group B

Knockout stage Bracket

Semi-finals Winners qualified for 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

Final

Goalscorers 5 goals

Dwayne Tiputoa Myer Bevan

4 goals

Moses Dyer Pago Tunupopo

3 goals

Lucas Imrie Albert Witney Heirauarii Salem Hemaloto Polovili

2 goals

Thomas Gope-Fenepej Samuelu Malo Godine Tenene Ronaldo Wilkins

1 goal

Steven Fiso Kimiora Samuela Conroy Tiputoa Michael Wood France Catarogo Leroy Jennings Warren Houala Cyril Nypie Pothin Poma Albert Watrone Hunter Ashworth Reese Cox Clayton Lewis Alu Awi Peter Dabinyaba Jr. Gabby Yanum Timothy Hunt Frank Mariner Joe Gise Richard Raramo Augustine Waita Rayan Petitgas Marc Siejidr Sandro Tau Anthony Likiliki Talatala Po'oi Bong Kalo Frederick Massing Jason Thomas

Awards The Golden Ball Award is awarded to the most outstanding player of the tournament. The Golden Glove Award is awarded to the best goalkeeper of the tournament. The Golden Boot Award is awarded to the top scorer of the tournament. The Fair Play Award is awarded to the team with the best disciplinary record at the tournament.

AwardRecipientGolden Ball Myer BevanGolden Glove Michael WoudGolden Boot Myer BevanFair Play Award Solomon Islands

Qualified teams for FIFA U-20 World Cup The following two teams from OFC qualified for the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

Team Qualified on Previous appearances in tournament1 (2007, 2011, 2013, 2015) (Debut) 1 Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.

References