The 2024 OFC U-16 Men's Championship was the 21st 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 final tournament was played in Pirae, Tahiti, from 28 July to 10 August 2024.[1] Players born on or after 1 January 2007 are eligible to compete in the tournament.
The top three teams of the tournament qualified for the 2025 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Qatar as the OFC representatives.[2][3] New Zealand successfully defended the title from 2023.
Teams
All 11 FIFA-affiliated national teams from the OFC entered the tournament.
In 2022 and 2023, male youth OFC tournaments did not have a four-team qualifying stage, and all teams competed in one tournament.[4] This was reversed for the 2024 tournament.[5]
Note: All appearance statistics include those in the qualifying stage (2016 and 2018).
| Team | Appearance | Previous best performance |
American Samoa | 10th | Group stage (1999, 2001, 2003, 2011, 2015, 2023) |
Cook Islands | 11th | Quarter-finals (2023) |
Fiji | 19th | Runners-up (1999) |
New Caledonia | 13th | Runners-up (2003, 2013, 2017, 2023) |
New Zealand | 18th | Champions (1997, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2023) |
Papua New Guinea | 10th | Semi-finals (2017), Fourth place (1986) |
Samoa | 10th | Quarter-finals (2023) |
Solomon Islands | 10th | Runners-up (1993, 2018) |
Tahiti (hosts) | 15th | Runners-up (2007, 2009, 2011, 2015) |
Tonga | 11th | Quarter-finals (2023) |
Vanuatu | 16th | Runners-up (2005) |
Venues
Qualifying stage
The draw for the group stage was held 5 March 2024.[5]
Tiebreakers
| Tie-breaking criteria for group play[6] |
The ranking of teams in the group stage was determined as follows: - Total points;
- Goal difference in all group matches;
- Goals scored in all group matches;
- Head-to-head result between tied teams;
- Points in matches among the tied teams;
- Goal difference in matches among the tied teams;
- Goals scored in matches among the tied teams;
- Fair play points in all group matches (only one deduction per player, per match):
- One yellow card: −1 point;
- Two yellow cards (indirect red card): −3 points;
- Direct red card: −4 points;
- Yellow card and direct red card: −5 points;
- Drawing of lots.
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Qualifying group
Draw
The draw for the group stage was held on 5 March with teams seeded into pots based upon their ranking at the 2023 OFC U-17 Championship.[5][8]
Group stage
All times are local, TAHT (UTC-10).
Group A
Group B
7th place match
5th place match
Knockout stage
Bracket
Semi-finals
Winners qualified for the 2025 FIFA U-17 World Cup.
Third place match
Winner qualified for the 2025 FIFA U-17 World Cup.
Final
Broadcasting
All games will be streamed live and free on FIFA+.[8]
Awards
The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament.[26]
| Award | Player |
| Golden Ball | Aaron Cartwright |
| Golden Boot | Aaron Cartwright |
| Golden Gloves | Nicolas Kutran |
| Fair Play | Tahiti |
Goalscorers
Qualified teams for FIFA U-17 World Cup
The following three teams from OFC qualified for the 2025 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Qatar.
| Team | Qualified on | Previous appearances in FIFA U-17 World Cup1 |
New Zealand | 7 August 2024 | 10 (1997, 1999, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2023) |
Fiji | 0 (debut) |
New Caledonia | 10 August 2024 | 2 (2017, 2023) |
1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.
Notes
- ^ The identity of the qualifying winners was not known at the time of the final draw
References
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| Domestic leagues | |
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| Domestic cups | - Fiji
- FACT
- Battle of the Giants
- Inter-District Championship
- New Caledonia
- New Zealand
- Solomon Islands
- Tahiti
- Vanuatu
- Independence Cup
- PVFA Cup
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| Super cups | |
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| OFC club competitions | |
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| National team competitions | |
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