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The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) is one of the six "continental" confederations of international football. It promotes the game in Oceania and allows the member nations to qualify for the FIFA World Cup. Since the pullout of Australia in 2006, however, there has been a growing movement to abolish the relatively obscure OFC in favour of merging with the Asian Football Confederation. This is mainly opposed by nations whose rankings in the World Cup benefit from the equal treatment of each continental confederation despite disproportionate representation.
History
The confederation was formed in 1966. The founding members were the Australian Soccer Federation (now Football Federation Australia), New Zealand Soccer, and the Fiji Football Association. In 1996 the OFC was confirmed as a full confederation and given a seat on the FIFA executive. In 1998, the OFC unveiled a new logo and an official magazine, entitled The Wave. On May 24, 2004, New Caledonia became the 12th member of the OFC. On January 1 2006, Australia left the OFC and joined the Asian Football Confederation.Competitions
The winner of the OFC Football World Cup Qualifiers were allowed to compete in a two-legged home-and-away playoff with the team ranked fifth in the South American qualifying competition for a place in the 2006 World Cup. Since 1996, OFC members also play for the OFC Nations Cup, which is held every second year.The OFC also organises the Oceania Club Championship, though this competition has little prestige attached to it and serves primarily to determine the Oceania representative at the FIFA Club World Championship.
Of the federation's current teams, only New Zealand has ever competed on the world stage from the confederation, competing in the 1982 World Cup finals. Australia has also competed in the World Cup finals, in 1974 and 2006, but on the second occasion they did so after having formally left the confederation.
In the 2004 OFC Nations Cup, which doubled as the Oceania qualifying tournament for the 2006 World Cup, the Solomon Islands unexpectedly made the finals against Australia, knocking out New Zealand in the second group phase. Australia easily won the local competition, beating the Solomons 5:1 in Honiara and 6:0 in Sydney. The two teams met again in a two-legged World Cup qualifying final in September 2005 for the right to play the CONMEBOL representative for a place in the World Cup finals; Australia won 9:1 on aggregate (7:0 at home and 2:1 away) and progressed to the Oceania - South America playoff. Australia won this playoff against Uruguay on penalties after a 1:1 aggregate score after both legs of the playoff and after extra time, and qualified for the World Cup.
World Cup Qualifiers
Oceania has sent representatives to the World Cup three times: Australia in 1974 and 2006, and New Zealand in 1982. Neither Australia in 1974 nor New Zealand in 1982 progressed beyond the first round. OFC is the only FIFA confederation that does not have a guaranteed spot in the World Cup finals (a major reason for Australia's leaving the confederation in 2006 to join Asia). Between 1966 and 1982, OFC teams joined the Asian zone qualification tournament, while from 1986 onwards, the winners of the Oceanian zone qualification tournament have to enter the Intercontinental Play-offs against teams from other confederations in order to gain a spot in the World Cup finals.
| World Cup | Qualifier(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1930-1962 | None | No teams from Oceania entered. |
| 1966 | None | Entered in Asia. |
| 1970 | None | Entered in Asia. |
| 1974 | Australia | Entered in Asia. |
| 1978 | None | Entered in Asia. |
| 1982 | New Zealand | Entered in Asia. |
| 1986 | None | Australia lost to Scotland in the Intercontinental Play-offs. This is the first World Cup where Oceania was its own continent and thus did not partake in Asian qualification. |
| 1990 | None | Israel (who played in the Oceanian zone for political reasons) lost to Colombia in the Intercontinental Play-offs. |
| 1994 | None | Australia beat Canada, then lost to Argentina in the Intercontinental Play-offs. |
| 1998 | None | Australia lost to Iran in the Intercontinental Play-offs. |
| 2002 | None | Australia lost to Uruguay in the Intercontinental Play-offs. |
| 2006 | Australia | Australia beat Uruguay in the Intercontinental Play-offs. |
- Total World Cup Finals appearances
- 2 -
- 1 -
External links
Oceania Football Confederation
Confederació de Futbol d'Oceania | Oceania Football Confederation | Confederación de Fútbol de Oceanía | OFC | OFC | Oceania Football Confederation | קונפדרציית הכדורגל של אוקיאניה | OFC | Okeānijas Futbola Konfederācija | OFC | オセアニアサッカー連盟 | OFC | Confederação de Futebol da Oceania | OFC | 大洋洲足球協會
"Oceania Football Confederation"