OFC Champions League

OFC Champions League
Founded 1987
Region Oceania (OFC)
Number of teams 12 (group stage)
15 (total)
(from 11 associations)
Related competitions FIFA Club World Cup
Current champions New Zealand Auckland City
Most successful team(s) New Zealand Auckland City
(8 titles)
2017 OFC Champions League

The OFC Champions League, also known as the O-League, is the premier men's club football competition in Oceania. It is organized by the OFC, Oceania's football governing body. It has been organized since 2007 under the current format, following its predecessor, the Oceania Club Championship. Eight O-League titles have been won by teams from New Zealand and one was won by a team from another country, Papua New Guinea champion Hekari United, who won the competition in the 2009–10 season by defeating New Zealand team Waitakere United and also becoming the first Pacific team to have won it.

During the 2014–15 season, the tournament became sponsored by Fiji Airways, therefore renaming the competition as the Fiji Airways OFC Champions League.[1] Trophies for OFC tournaments, made by London-based silversmiths Thomas Lyte, are awarded to winners.[2]

History

At first, this competition was played as a single playoff match between champions of New Zealand and Australia. That competition was held in 1987 and Adelaide City won the inaugural season. Then 12 years pause came, until OFC organized next, all Oceania Cup. In January 1999 Oceania Club Championship was held in Fijian cities of Nadi and Lautoka. Nine teams took part, with Australian side South Melbourne winning the trophy. They also qualified to next year's FIFA Club World Cup. Next competition was held two years later, with again Australian team winning the title. Wollongong Wolves won it, beating Vanuatu representative Tafea in final. Two more editions were held under this name and format, with Sydney and Auckland City winning titles. OFC decided to change competition format and name, so since 2007 the competition is known as OFC Champions League.

Format

Oceania Club Championship

The Oceania Club Championship was played on one or two venues, in one host country. It was played with two or three groups with single round-robin format, semifinals and final. It usually lasted about 10 days, with matches being played every 2 days.

OFC Champions League

OFC decided to change competition format, to make its main competition more interesting and more important to competing clubs.

The first two seasons saw competition with two groups of three teams each, and from the third edition onwards it consists of two groups of four teams each. Group winners progress to the final, played in double playoff format, with the winner taking the title. Unlike its previous format, O-League lasts more than a half year, starting in October and ending next year, in April. The O-League winner qualifies to FIFA Club World Cup, entering the competition in playoff round.

For the 2012–13 season O-League changed its format with the introduction of qualifying stage, with the champions of the four weakest leagues competing for a play-off spot with the representative of country with the worst record from the previous tournament. Later rather were also scheduling and format changes for the main tournament .That competition was played between March and May 2013 with introduction of semifinal stage and final played on neutral venue. First O-League one-legged final was played in Auckland, and was the first O-League final between two teams from the same country, with Auckland City defeating Waitakere United to win its 5th title.

OFC Champions League saw another change for 2013–14 season with group stage played on pre-determined location with semifinal and final played on home and away basis. Fiji was selected as host. Preliminary stage was played six months before group stage, and the winner entered the group stage.

Starting from 2014, both finalists of the OFC Champions League will also participate in the OFC President's Cup, an invitational tournament organized by the OFC.

Future

It has been suggested that the Wellington-based Australian A-League club, the Wellington Phoenix, should take part in the O-League. This is unlikely to happen because, despite being based in New Zealand, the Wellington Phoenix are technically an Australian team. Their players are all registered with Football Federation Australia which is part of the Asian Football Confederation.

Records and statistics

Finals

Oceania Club Championship era

Season Winner Score Runner-up Venue Attendance No. of Teams No. of Associations
1987 Adelaide City
Australia		 1 – 1
(4–1 pen.)		 University-Mount Wellington
New Zealand		 Australia Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide 3,500 9 9
1999 South Melbourne
Australia		 5 – 1 Nadi
Fiji		 Fiji Prince Charles Park, Nadi 10,000 9 9
2001 Wollongong Wolves
Australia		 1 – 0 Tafea
Vanuatu		 Papua New Guinea Lloyd Robson Stadium, Port Moresby 3,000 11 11
2005 Sydney FC
Australia		 2 – 0 AS Magenta
New Caledonia		 French Polynesia Stade Pater, Papeete 4,000 13 12
2006 Auckland City
New Zealand		 3 – 1 AS Pirae
French Polynesia		 New Zealand North Harbour Stadium, Auckland 2,000 11 10

OFC Champions League era

Season Winner Score Runner-up Venue Attendance No. of Teams No. of Associations
2007 Waitakere United
New Zealand		 2 – 1 Ba
Fiji		 Fiji Govind Park, Ba 10,000 6 5
0 – 1 New Zealand Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland 9,000
2 – 2 (a) 19,000
2007–08 Waitakere United
New Zealand		 1 – 3 Kossa
Solomon Islands		 Solomon Islands Lawson Tama Stadium, Honiara 20,000 9 8
5 – 0 New Zealand Trusts Stadium, Waitakere City 6,000
6 – 3
 26,000
2008–09 Auckland City
New Zealand		 7 – 2 Koloale
Solomon Islands		 Solomon Islands Lawson Tama Stadium, Honiara 20,000 6 6
2 – 2 New Zealand Kiwitea Street, Auckland 1,250
9 – 4
 21,250
2009–10 Hekari United
Papua New Guinea		 3 – 0 Waitakere United
New Zealand		 Papua New Guinea PMRL Stadium, Port Moresby 15,000 8 7
1 – 2 New Zealand Fred Taylor Park, Auckland 3,000
4 – 2
 18,000
2010–11 Auckland City
New Zealand		 2 – 1 Amicale
Vanuatu		 Vanuatu Municipal Stadium, Port Vila 7,925 8 7
4 – 0 New Zealand Kiwitea Street, Auckland 3,000
6 – 1
 10,925
2011–12 Auckland City
New Zealand		 2 – 1 AS Tefana
French Polynesia		 New Zealand Kiwitea Street, Auckland 1,500 8 7
1 – 0 French Polynesia Stade Louis Ganivet, Faaa 1,900
3 – 1
 3,400
2012–13 Auckland City
New Zealand		 2 – 1 Waitakere United
New Zealand		 New Zealand Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland 3,000 12 11
2013–14 Auckland City
New Zealand		 1 – 1 Amicale
Vanuatu		 Vanuatu Municipal Stadium, Port Vila 10,000 15 11
2 – 1 New Zealand Kiwitea Street, Auckland 3,000
3 – 2
 13,000
2014–15 Auckland City
New Zealand		 1 – 1
(4–3 pen.)		 Team Wellington
New Zealand		 Fiji National Stadium, Suva 3,000 15 11
2016 Auckland City
New Zealand		 3 – 0 Team Wellington
New Zealand		 New Zealand QBE Stadium, Auckland 1,500 15 11
2017 18 11

Performance by club

Past winners are:[3][4]

Team Winners Runners-up Winning Years Years Runners-up
New Zealand Auckland City 8 — 2006, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 —
New Zealand Waitakere United 2 2 2007, 2008 2010, 2013
Papua New Guinea Hekari United 1 — 2010 —
Australia Sydney FC 1 — 2005 —
Australia Wollongong Wolves 1 — 2001 —
Australia South Melbourne 1 — 1999 —
Australia Adelaide City 1 — 1987 —
New Zealand Team Wellington — 2 — 2015, 2016
Vanuatu Amicale — 2 — 2011, 2014
French Polynesia Tefana — 1 — 2012
Solomon Islands Koloale — 1 — 2009
Solomon Islands Kossa — 1 — 2008
Fiji Ba — 1 — 2007
French Polynesia Pirae — 1 — 2006
New Caledonia Magenta — 1 — 2005
Vanuatu Tafea — 1 — 2001
Fiji Nadi — 1 — 1999
New Zealand University-Mount Wellington — 1 — 1987

Performance by country

Team Winners Runner-up
 New Zealand 10 5
 Australia 4 —
 Papua New Guinea 1 —
 Vanuatu — 3
 Tahiti — 2
 Fiji — 2
 Solomon Islands — 2
 New Caledonia — 1

Notes:

All-time table (Top 10 Clubs)

Pos
 Team
 Pld
 W
 D
 L
 GF
 GA
 GD
 Pts
1 New Zealand Auckland City 65 43 14 8 176 55 +121 143
2 New Zealand Waitakere United 48 25 12 11 99 57 +42 87
3 Fiji Ba 42 21 5 16 65 67 −2 68
4 Vanuatu Tafea 39 19 8 12 98 64 +34 65
5 Papua New Guinea Hekari United 36 14 9 13 59 53 +6 51
6 Vanuatu Amicale 32 14 5 13 43 37 +6 47
7 New Caledonia Magenta 25 10 6 9 48 32 +16 36
8 French Polynesia Pirae 18 9 1 8 48 36 +12 28
9 Australia Wollongong Wolves 7 7 0 0 43 2 +41 21
10 Fiji Lautoka 12 6 2 4 18 19 −1 20

All-time table (Countries)

Pos
 Team
 Pld
 W
 D
 L
 GF
 GA
 GD
 Pts
1 New Zealand New Zealand 145 89 32 24 370 144 +226 299
2 Vanuatu Vanuatu 78 35 13 30 151 120 +31 118
3 Fiji Fiji 83 36 10 37 133 166 −33 118
4 French Polynesia Tahiti 75 24 11 40 154 158 −4 83
5 Solomon Islands Solomon Islands 67 22 9 36 126 154 −28 75
6 Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea 58 20 9 29 95 137 −42 69
7 New Caledonia New Caledonia 58 19 9 30 98 117 −19 66
8 Australia Australia 17 16 1 0 90 9 +81 49
9 Samoa Samoa 36 13 2 21 62 116 −54 41
10 Cook Islands Cook Islands 22 8 3 11 56 53 +3 27
11 Tonga Tonga 23 4 2 17 30 113 −83 14
12 American Samoa American Samoa 13 1 1 11 13 88 −75 4
13 Palau Palau 1 0 0 1 2 6 −4 0

See also

References

  1. ↑ "OFC teams up with Fiji Airways". OFC. 2 April 2015. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  2. ↑ New silverware awarded for victors
  3. ↑ "Past tournaments". oceaniafootball.com. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  4. ↑ "Oceania Club Cups - Overview File". RSSSF. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
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