OFC Beach Soccer Nations Cup

OFC Beach Soccer Nations Cup

Founded	2006 (2006)
Region	Oceania (OFC)
Number of teams	5
Current champions	Tahiti (2nd title)
Most successful team(s)	Solomon Islands (4 titles)
Website	OFC
2019 OFC Beach Soccer Nations Cup

The OFC Beach Soccer Nations Cup is the main international championship for beach soccer in Oceania, mirroring that of the OFC Nations Cup organised by the OFC in association football. The tournament was called the OFC Beach Soccer Championship before the name was changed in 2019, and was also known as the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualifiers for OFC. The championship was established in 2006 after FIFA made requirements for all confederations to begin holding a qualification tournament to determine the best national team(s) in the region and hence those who would go on to represent their continent in the World Cup.

Oceania was awarded just one spot at the finals under FIFA's new changes to the organisation of the World Cup and hence only the winners of the championship proceed to the succeeding World Cup finals. Before 2006, there was no consistent method of qualification or number of spots at the World Cup for Oceanian nations, with countries often simply being invited to play in the finals, without competing for a regional crown beforehand.

The Solomon Islands are the most successful nation having dominated the championships, winning four of the five that have taken place. However, Tahiti have emerged as a global force in more recent years.

Now that the World Cup takes place every two years, so does the championship which started with the qualifiers for the 2011 World Cup.

Results

For all tournaments, the winners qualified for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.

Year	Location		Final				Third place match
			Champions	Score	Runners-up		Third Place	Score	Fourth Place
OFC Beach Soccer Championship
2006 details	Tema'e, Tahiti		Solomon Islands	6–2	Vanuatu		Tahiti	12–4	Cook Islands
2007 details	Auckland, New Zealand		Solomon Islands	5–3	Vanuatu		New Zealand	5–3	Tahiti
2008	Not held[a]
2009 details	Tema'e, Tahiti		Solomon Islands	1–0	Vanuatu		Tahiti	6–3	Fiji
2011 details	Papeete, Tahiti		Tahiti	4–3	Solomon Islands		Fiji	—
2013 details	Nouméa, New Caledonia[b]		Solomon Islands	6–0	New Caledonia		Vanuatu	—
2015	Not held[c]
2017	Not held[d]
OFC Beach Soccer Nations Cup
2019 details	Papeete, Tahiti		Tahiti	4–3	Solomon Islands		New Caledonia	8–7	Vanuatu
2021 details	Papeete, Tahiti

Notes:

a. ^ The OFC was unable to organise the 2008 championship in time, due to a late calendar change bringing the 2008 World Cup forward from November to July. Hence, on the back of their two previous titles, the Solomon Islands were hand-picked by the OFC to be the confederation's representative at the World Cup.

b. ^ The 2013 edition was originally set to take place in Papeete, Tahiti. However, despite being defending champions, Tahiti were unable to compete due to a pre-arranged tour of Europe to play against higher level opposition in preparation as host nation of the upcoming World Cup. Hence the competition was relocated to New Caledonia.

c. ^ The 2015 edition was originally set to take place in Papeete, Tahiti. Due to undisclosed circumstances, the tournament was cancelled. Tahiti were hand-picked by the OFC to be the confederation's representative at the World Cup.

d. ^ The 2017 edition was originally set to take place in February. Due to undisclosed circumstances, the tournament was cancelled. Tahiti were hand-picked by the OFC to be the confederation's representative at the World Cup.

Performance

Successful nations

Team	Titles	Runners-up	Third place
Solomon Islands	4 (2006, 2007, 2009, 2013)	2 (2011, 2019)	–
Tahiti	2 (2011*, 2019*)	–	2 (2006*, 2009*)
Vanuatu	–	3 (2006, 2007, 2009)	1 (2013)
New Caledonia	–	1 (2013*)	1 (2019)
Fiji	–	–	1 (2011)
New Zealand	–	–	1 (2007*)

* = Hosts

All-time table

As of 2019

Pos	Team	App	Pld	W	W+	WP	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Solomon Islands	6	22	17	0	0	5	112	63	+49	51
2	Tahiti	5	20	12	0	0	8	131	79	+52	36
3	Vanuatu	5	19	9	2	0	8	117	90	+27	31
4	New Caledonia	2	7	2	1	0	4	32	46	–14	8
5	New Zealand	1	4	1	0	0	3	21	26	–5	3
6	Fiji	2	6	0	0	0	6	23	47	–24	0
7	Cook Islands	1	4	0	0	0	4	6	49	–43	0
8	Tonga	1	4	0	0	0	4	6	55	–49	0

Key: Appearances App / Won in normal time W = 3 points / Won in extra-time W+ = 2 points / Won on penalty shoot-out WP = 1 point / Lost L = 0 points

Appearances & performance timeline

The following is a performance timeline of the teams who have appeared in the OFC Beach Soccer Championship and how many appearances they each have made.

Legend

• 1st – Champions
• 2nd – Runners-up
• 3rd – Third place
• 4th – Fourth place
• 5th – Fifth place

• × – Did not enter
• •• – Entered but withdrew
•     – Hosts
• Apps – No. of appearances

Timeline

Year Team	2006 (4)	2007 (4)	2009 (4)	2011 (3)	2013 (3)	2019 (5)		Apps ⁄6
Cook Islands	4th	×	×	×	×	×		1
Fiji	×	×	4th	3rd	×	×		2
New Caledonia	×	×	×	×	2nd	3rd		2
New Zealand	×	3rd	×	×	×	×		1
Solomon Islands	1st	1st	1st	2nd	1st	2nd		6
Tahiti	3rd	4th	3rd	1st	••	1st		5
Tonga	×	×	×	×	×	5th		1
Vanuatu	2nd	2nd	2nd	••	3rd	4th		5

Performance of qualifiers at the World Cup

Main article: National team appearances in the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

The following is a performance timeline of the OFC teams who have gone on to appear in the World Cup, having successfully qualified from the above events.^[†]

Legend

• 1st – Champions
• 2nd – Runners-up
• 3rd – Third place
• 4th – Fourth place
•    – Hosts

• QF – Quarter-finals
• R1 – Round 1 (group stage)
• q – Qualified for upcoming tournament
• Total – Total times qualified for World Cup

Timeline

Year Team	2006	2007	2008	2009	2011	2013	2015	2017	2019	2021	Total
Solomon Islands	R1	R1	R1	R1		R1					5
Tahiti					R1	4th	2nd	2nd	R1		5
Total no. of unique qualifiers											2

†. ^ Note that in 2008, 2015 and 2017, no team "qualified" for the World Cup as such because the OFC qualifiers were not held; the OFC hand-picked a team to represent the confederation.

External links

• OFC Official Website