2023 OFC U-17 Championship

2023 OFC U-17 Championship
Tournament details
Host country	Fiji
Dates	11–28 January
Teams	9 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	2 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	New Zealand (9th title)
Runners-up	New Caledonia
Third place	Tahiti
Fourth place	Fiji
Tournament statistics
Matches played	17
Goals scored	71 (4.18 per match)
Attendance	3,985 (234 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Luke Supyk; Titouan Guillemant; (6 goals each)
Best player(s)	Nolhann Alabete
Best goalkeeper	Matt Foord
	← 2018; 2021 2024 →

The 2023 OFC U-17 Championship was the 19th edition of the OFC U-16/U-17 Championship, the biennial international youth football championship organised by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) for the men's under-16/under-17 national teams of Oceania.

The OFC announced on 4 March 2021 that the 2021 OFC U-17 Championship (originally the 2020 OFC U-16 Championship), which would have been hosted by Fiji, had been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Fiji would be retained to host the next edition in 2022.^[2]

New Zealand, the seven-time defending champions, successfully defend their title, by won 1–0 the final over New Caledonia and both teams qualified for the 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Indonesia as the OFC representatives.

Teams

10 of the 11 FIFA-affiliated national teams from the OFC were eligible to enter the tournament. Solomon Islands were excluded from taking part by the OFC Disciplinary and Ethics Committee in regards to the 2018 OFC U-16 Championship.^[1]

Starting from 2020, male youth tournaments no longer have a four-team qualifying stage, and all teams compete in one tournament.^[3]

Note: All appearance statistics include those in the qualifying stage (2016 and 2018).

Team	Appearance	Previous best performance
American Samoa	9th	Group stage (1999, 2001, 2003, 2011, 2015)
Cook Islands	10th	Group stage (1997, 1999, 2003, 2005, 2011, 2013, 2015)
Fiji (hosts)	18th	Runners-up (1999)
New Caledonia	12th	Runners-up (2003, 2013, 2017)
New Zealand	17th	Champions (1997, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2018)
~~Papua New Guinea~~	10th	Semi-finals (2017), Fourth place (1986)
Samoa	9th	Group stage (1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2015, 2017, 2018)
Tahiti	14th	Runners-up (2007, 2009, 2011, 2015)
Tonga	10th	Group stage (1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2011, 2015)
Vanuatu	15th	Runners-up (2005)

Venues

Matches are played at HFC Bank Stadium in Suva and Ba Academy in Ba.^[4]

Match officials

The following officials were appointed for the tournament:^[5]

Referees

Timothy Danaskos
Lachlan Keevers
Kavitesh Behari
Veer Singh
Mederic Lacour
Calvin Berg
Nick Waldron
David Yareboinen
Ben Aukwai
Timothy Niu
Arnold Tari

Assistant referees

Adriu Naisiroki
Alan Chenot
Gareth Sheehan
Noah Kusunan
Stephanie Minan
Malaetala Salanoa
Natalia Lumukana
Jeffrey Solodia
Folio Moeaki
Jeremy Garae
Hilmon Sese

Group stage draw

The draw for the group stage was conducted at the OFC Home of Football on the 28 October 2022. Teams were seeded into three pots based on their 2018 OFC U-16 Championship ranking.^[1]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3
New Zealand Tahiti Fiji	~~Papua New Guinea~~ New Caledonia Samoa Vanuatu	American Samoa Tonga Cook Islands

Squads

Players born on or after 1 January 2006 were eligible to compete in the tournament.

Group stage

All times are local, FJT (UTC+12).

Group A

Papua New Guinea were originally drawn into position A3 of this group but were removed before the start of the tournament due to not submitting their registration on time.^[6]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Fiji (H)	2	2	0	6	0	+6	6	Knockout stage
2	Samoa	2	1	1	6	3	+3	3
3	Tonga	2	0	2	0	9	−9	0

Source: OFC
(H) Hosts

12 January 2023

19:00

Fiji	3–0	Samoa
Khan 28' Kumar 49' Rao 60' (pen.)	Report

HFC Bank Stadium, Suva

Attendance: 320

Referee: Calvin Berg (New Zealand)

15 January 2023

16:00

Samoa	6–0	Tonga
Edward 20', 40' Trainor 23', 25', 70', 85'	Report

HFC Bank Stadium, Suva

Attendance: 100

Referee: Nick Waldron (New Zealand)

18 January 2023

19:00

Tonga	0–3	Fiji
	Report	Seninawanawa 7' Azafal 50' Khan 90'

HFC Bank Stadium, Suva

Attendance: 275

Referee: Ben Aukwai (Solomon Islands)

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	New Zealand	2	2	0	14	2	+12	6	Knockout stage
2	New Caledonia	2	1	1	9	3	+6	3	Knockout stage
3	American Samoa	2	0	2	0	18	−18	0

Source: OFC

11 January 2023

15:00

New Zealand	3–2	New Caledonia
Supyk 9', 72' (pen.), 75'	Report	Nganyane 16' Hnaissilin 69' (pen.)

Fiji FA Academy, Ba

Attendance: 80

Referee: Kavitesh Behari (Fiji)

14 January 2023

15:00

American Samoa	0–11	New Zealand
	Report	Edwards 4' Sloane-Rodrigues 11', 68' Flowerdew 38', 45+2', 70', 88' D'Hotman de Villiers 42', 76', 90+1' Supyk 87' (pen.)

Fiji FA Academy, Ba

Attendance: 50

Referee: David Yareboinen (Papua New Guinea)

17 January 2023

15:00

New Caledonia	7–0	American Samoa
Alebate 4' Levy 27' (pen.) Ue 53' Cahma 59' Saiko 64' Qaeze 68', 70'	Report

Fiji FA Academy, Ba

Attendance: 20

Referee: Veer Singh (Fiji)

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Tahiti	2	2	0	8	1	+7	6	Knockout stage
2	Vanuatu	2	1	1	3	3	0	3
3	Cook Islands	2	0	2	1	8	−7	0

Source: OFC

11 January 2023

19:00

Tahiti	2–1	Vanuatu
Guillemant 24' Timothy 36' (o.g.)	Report	Judah 82'

HFC Bank Stadium, Suva

Attendance: 100

Referee: Lachlan Keevers (Australia)

14 January 2023

19:00

Cook Islands	0–6	Tahiti
	Report	Colombani 22', 45+2' Guillemant 53' Rota 66' Cadousteau 74' (pen.) Martin 78'

HFC Bank Stadium, Suva

Attendance: 50

Referee: Tim Danaskos (Australia)

17 January 2023

19:00

Vanuatu	2–1	Cook Islands
Chilia 1' Moso 47'	Report	Williams 45+2'

HFC Bank Stadium, Suva

Attendance: 120

Referee: Timothy Niu (Solomon Islands)

Ranking of third-placed teams

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	L	GF	GA	GD	Qualification
1	C	Cook Islands	2	2	1	8	−7	Knockout stage
2	A	Tonga	2	2	0	9	−9	Knockout stage
3	B	American Samoa	2	2	0	18	−18

Source: OFC

Knockout stage

Draw

The draw for the knockout stage was conducted at the HFC Bank Stadium in Suva on the 18 January 2023. Teams were seeded into two pots based on the final group stage overall ranking.^[1]

Pot 1	Pot 2
New Zealand Tahiti Fiji New Caledonia	Samoa Vanuatu Cook Islands Tonga

Bracket

Quarter-finals		Semi-finals		Final

21 January – Suva

New Caledonia	4
		25 January – Suva
Samoa	0
		New Caledonia (p)	1 (3)
21 January – Suva
		Tahiti	1 (2)
Tahiti	5
				28 January – Suva
Tonga	0
				New Caledonia	0
22 January – Suva
				New Zealand	1
Fiji	3
		25 January – Suva
Cook Islands	0
		Fiji	1
22 January – Suva
		New Zealand	4	Third place match
New Zealand	1
				28 January – Suva
Vanuatu	0
				Tahiti	3

				Fiji	0

Quarter-finals

21 January 2023

16:00

New Caledonia	4–0	Samoa
Angexetine 13' Alebate 45+3' (pen.) Saiko 88' Hmuine 90+6' (pen.)	Report

HFC Bank Stadium, Suva

Attendance: 70

Referee: Lachlan Keevers (Australia)

21 January 2023

19:00

Tahiti	5–0	Tonga
Hutia 18' Guillemant 32', 90+5' Faure 68' Vonbalou 78'	Report

HFC Bank Stadium, Suva

Attendance: 100

Referee: Kavitesh Behari (Fiji)

22 January 2023

16:00

Fiji	3–0	Cook Islands
Maivalenisau 45+2', 90+3' Matapo 50' (o.g.)	Report

HFC Bank Stadium, Suva

Attendance: 350

Referee: David Yareboinen (Papua New Guinea)

22 January 2023

19:00

New Zealand	1–0	Vanuatu
Supyk 90+1' (pen.)	Report

HFC Bank Stadium, Suva

Attendance: 400

Referee: Veer Singh (Fiji)

Semi-finals

Winners qualified for 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup.

25 January 2023

16:00

New Caledonia	1–1	Tahiti
Alebate 14'	Report	Guillemant 30'
Penalties
Hanye Alebate Diko Saiko	3–2	Cadousteau Guillemant Cuneo Tamarii Teuira

HFC Bank Stadium, Suva

Attendance: 250

Referee: Calvin Berg (New Zealand)

25 January 2023

19:00

Fiji	1–4	New Zealand
Ravonokula 14'	Report	Watson 7', 50', 80' Supyk 72'

HFC Bank Stadium, Suva

Attendance: 1,000

Referee: Ben Aukwai (Solomon Islands)

Third place match

28 January 2023

16:00

Tahiti	3–0	Fiji
Seguy 51' Guillemant 56' Tama 68'	Report

HFC Bank Stadium, Suva

Attendance: 500

Referee: Calvin Berg (New Zealand)

Final

28 January 2023

19:00

New Caledonia	0–1	New Zealand
	Report	Bruce 24'

HFC Bank Stadium, Suva

Attendance: 200

Referee: Veer Singh (Fiji)

Awards

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

Award	Player
Golden Ball	Nolhann Alabete
Golden Boot	Luke Supyk Titouan Guillemant
Golden Gloves	Matt Foord

Goalscorers

There were 71 goals scored in 17 matches, for an average of 4.18 goals per match.

6 goals

Luke Supyk
Titouan Guillemant

4 goals

Luke Flowerdew
Pharrell Trainor

3 goals

Nolhann Alebate
Matthew d'Hotman de Villiers
Adam Watson

2 goals

William Khan
Petero Maivalenisau
Sipane Qaeze
Jean-Yves Saiko
Gabriel Sloane-Rodrigues
Ethelbert Edward
Tiahiti Colombani

1 goal

Jeremiah Williams
Ibraheem Azafal
Prashant Kumar
Vinayak Rao
Sailimone Ravonokula
Jacob Seninawanawa
Jean-Philippe Angexetine
David Cahma
Iwatro Hmuine
Joseph Hnaissilin
Anthony Levy
Ronald Nganyane
Simon Ue
Niko Bruce
Jesper Edwards
Eden Cadousteau
Keanan Faure
Dylan Hutia
Teriitaumatatini Martin
Tuarii Rota
Vaitea Seguy
Ariiheivarau Tama
Turerearii Vonbalou
Augustine Chilia
Delickson Judah
Jimmy Moso

1 own goal

Dwayne Matapo (against Fiji)
Albert Timothy (against Tahiti)

Qualified teams for FIFA U-17 World Cup

The following two teams from OFC qualified for the 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Indonesia.

Team	Qualified on	Previous appearances in FIFA U-17 World Cup¹
New Caledonia	25 January 2023	1 (2017)
New Zealand	25 January 2023	9 (1997, 1999, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019)

¹ Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Draw for OFC U-17 Championship to be set today". Oceania Football Confederation. 28 October 2022.
^ "OFC confirms schedule changes". Oceania Football Confederation. 4 March 2021.
^ "OFC male youth tournaments continue to evolve". Oceania Football Confederation. 3 April 2020.
^ "Teams discover OFC U-17 Championship 2023 opponents". Oceania Football Confederation. 28 October 2022.
^ "Match officials confirmed for OFC U-17 Championship 2023". Oceania Football Confederation. 13 December 2022.
^ "'Best' shot for juniors". Fiji Times. 4 January 2023. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
^ "New Zealanders among award winners at end of OFC U-17 Championship". friendsoffootballnz.com. Retrieved 29 January 2023.

External links

oceaniafootball.com

[DrawDetails-1] "Draw for OFC U-17 Championship to be set today". Oceania Football Confederation. 28 October 2022.

[2] "OFC confirms schedule changes". Oceania Football Confederation. 4 March 2021.

[3] "OFC male youth tournaments continue to evolve". Oceania Football Confederation. 3 April 2020.

[Draw-4] "Teams discover OFC U-17 Championship 2023 opponents". Oceania Football Confederation. 28 October 2022.

[5] "Match officials confirmed for OFC U-17 Championship 2023". Oceania Football Confederation. 13 December 2022.

[6] "'Best' shot for juniors". Fiji Times. 4 January 2023. Retrieved 10 January 2023.

[7] "New Zealanders among award winners at end of OFC U-17 Championship". friendsoffootballnz.com. Retrieved 29 January 2023.

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2023 in Oceanian football (OFC)
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