New Zealand will face New Caledonia and American Samoa in their group games at January’s OFC U-17 Championship.
Ten teams will gather in Fiji for the tournament from which the two finalists will qualify for the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Peru next year.
The draw
OFC conducted the tournament draw on Friday October 28, and the following groups were drawn:
Group A: Fiji, Samoa, Papua New Guinea, Tonga.
Group B: New Zealand, New Caledonia, American Samoa.
Group C: Tahiti, Vanuatu, Cook Islands.
The winners and runners-up from each pool and the two highest-ranked third-placed teams will advance to the quarter-finals.
Defending champions New Zealand will play New Caledonia in the opening game of the tournament on January 11.
Main photo: New Zealand’s winning team from the 2017 OFC Championship held in Papeete, Tahiti.
Dates
The tournament will run from January 11-28, 2023.
Quarter-finals: January 21-22.
Semi-finals: January 25.
Final: January 28.
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.friendsoffootballnz.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/HFC-Stadium-Suva.png?resize=1024%2C541&ssl=1)
Venues
Games will be played at the Ba Academy in Ba, and at Suva’s HFC Bank Stadium.
About the championship
Next year’s tournament is the first for Oceania’s best U-16 or U-17 players since 2018 because of the cancellation of the 2020 event due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2018, New Zealand won the OFC U-16 Championship, winning the final against Soloman Islands in a penalty shoot-out.
The scorers in the shoot-out included current All Whites Marko Stamenic and Matthew Garbett.
- A decision by the OFC Disciplinary and Ethics Committee in 2019 in relation to the OFC U-16 Championship 2018 meant the Solomon Islands were excluded from participating in January’s championship.