2018 OFC Women's Nations Cup
The 2018 OFC Women's Nations Cup was the 11th edition of the OFC Women's Nations Cup, the quadrennial international football championship organised by the Oceania Football Confederation for the women's national teams of the Oceanian region. The tournament was held in New Caledonia between 18 November – [|1] December 2018.
The tournament served as the Oceanian qualifiers to the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, with the champions qualifying for the World Cup in France. The champions also qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics women's football tournament in Japan.
New Zealand were the defending champions. They won the tournament for their fourth consecutive and sixth overall OFC Women's Nations Cup title.
Format
The format was as follows:- Qualifying stage: The four lowest-ranked teams based on previous regional performances of all women's national teams entered the qualifying stage, which was be held from 24 to 30 August 2018 in Fiji. The winner qualified for the final tournament, joining the other seven teams which automatically qualified.
- Final tournament: A total of eight teams played in the final tournament, which was held between 18 November to 1 December 2018 in New Caledonia. For the group stage, they are divided into two groups of four teams. The top two teams of each group advance to the knockout stage to decide the winner of the OFC Women's Nations Cup that qualify for the FIFA Women's World Cup as well as the Olympic football tournament.
Qualification
For the first time, the OFC Women's Nations Cup is a compulsory tournament, so all 11 OFC member national teams will enter the tournament.Team | Method of qualification | Appearance | Previous best performance | FIFA ranking at start of event |
Automatic | 4th | Not ranked | ||
Automatic | 2nd | Not ranked | ||
Automatic | 11th | 20 | ||
Automatic | 9th | Not ranked | ||
Automatic | 3rd | Not ranked | ||
Automatic | 2nd | Not ranked | ||
Automatic | 4th | Not ranked | ||
Qualification winner | 4th | 81 |
Note: New Caledonia and Tahiti are not members of the International Olympic Committee and thus not eligible to qualify for the Olympic Football Tournament.
Venues
The host nation of the final tournament was New Caledonia. The matches were played at four venues.Koné | Nouméa | Lifou | Maré | |
Stade Yoshida | Stade Numa-Daly Magenta | Stade de Hnassé | Stade de la Roche | |
Capacity: 3,000 | Capacity: 16,000 | Capacity: 1,680 | Capacity: 1,500 | |
- | - | - | - |
Squads
Each team can name a maximum of 23 players.Group stage
The top two teams of each group advance to the semi-finals.All times are local, NCT.
Group A
----
----
Group B
----
----
Knockout stage
Bracket
Semi-finals
----Third place match
Final
Winner qualifies for 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup and 2020 Summer Olympics.Goalscorers
Awards
The Golden Ball Award was awarded to the most outstanding player of the tournament. The Golden Boot Award was awarded to the top scorer of the tournament. The Golden Glove Award was awarded to the best goalkeeper of the tournament. The Fair Play Award was awarded to the team with the best disciplinary record at the tournament.Award | Recipient |
Golden Ball | Betsy Hassett |
Golden Boot | Sarah Gregorius Meagen Gunemba |
Golden Glove | Adi Tuwai |
Fair Play Award |
Qualification for international tournaments
Qualified teams for FIFA Women's World Cup
The following team from OFC qualify for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup.Team | Qualified on | Previous appearances in FIFA Women's World Cup1 |
1 12 2018 | 4 |
Qualified teams for Summer Olympics
The following team from OFC qualify for the 2020 Summer Olympic women's football tournament.Team | Qualified on | Previous appearances in Summer Olympics1 |
1 12 2018 | 3 |