OFC Beach Soccer Nations Cup

OFC Beach Soccer Nations Cup
Organising body	OFC
Founded	2006; 18 years ago
Region	Oceania
Number of teams	4
Current champions	Tahiti (3rd title)
Most successful team(s)	Solomon Islands; (4 titles)
Website	OFC
	2023 OFC Beach Soccer Nations Cup

The OFC Beach Soccer Nations Cup is the main championship for beach soccer in Oceania,^[1] contested between the senior men's national teams of the members of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC). It is the sport's version of the better known OFC Nations Cup in association football.

The winners of the championship are crowned continental champions; the tournament also acts as the qualification route for Oceanian nations to the upcoming edition of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup^[2] and is therefore also known as the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup OFC qualifier.^[3] Coinciding with the annual staging of the World Cup, the competition took place yearly until 2009; the World Cup then became biennial, and as its supplementary qualification event, the championship followed suit.^[2]

The championship was established in 2006 after FIFA made it a requirement for all confederations to begin holding qualification tournaments to determine the best national team(s) in their region and hence those who would proceed to represent their continent in the upcoming World Cup (previously, nations were simply invited to play).^[4] FIFA currently allocate Oceania one berth at the World Cup^[5] and hence only the winners qualify to the World Cup finals.^[2]

Oceania's governing body for football, the OFC, organise the championship.^[6] Cooperation has also come from Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW), particularly in the initial tournaments.^[7] The competition was held under the title of the OFC Beach Soccer Championship until 2019 when the name was changed to OFC Beach Soccer Nations Cup, bringing it in line with the naming of other OFC senior national tournaments.^[2]

The Solomon Islands are the most successful nation with four titles.^[8] Tahiti are the current champions. These two nations are the only teams to qualify to the World Cup thus far.^[2]

Results

There have been seven editions of the championship as of 2023. For all tournaments, the winners qualified for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.

Year	Location	Final			Third place match
Year	Location	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
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^[a]	Solomon Islands	^{[round-robin]}	New Caledonia	Vanuatu	—
OFC Beach Soccer Nations Cup
2019 details	Papeete, Tahiti	Tahiti	4–3	Solomon Islands	New Caledonia	8–7 (a.e.t.)	Vanuatu
2023 details	Papeete, Tahiti	Tahiti	7–0	Solomon Islands	Fiji	12–0	Tonga
2024 details	TBA, Solomon Islands^[9]

Notes:

a. ^ 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.^[10]

Round-robin ^ Indicates this edition was played as a round-robin tournament. There was no final or third place match.

Unrealised editions:

In addition to the above tournaments, a further four editions were scheduled but ultimately did not take place as follows:

2008: The OFC was unable to organise the 2008 edition 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.^[6]
2015: The 2015 edition was originally set to take place in Papeete, Tahiti.^[11] 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.^[12]
2017: The 2017 edition was originally set to take place in February.^[11] 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.^[13]
2021: The 2021 edition was originally set to take place in January in Tahiti.^[14] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament was initially postponed^[15] and subsequently cancelled entirely. Tahiti were hand-picked by the OFC to be the confederation's representative at the World Cup, based on being the highest ranked Oceanian nation in the then current release of the BSWW World Rankings and being reigning regional champions.^[16]

Performance

Successful nations

Team	Titles	Runners-up	Third place
Solomon Islands	4 (2006, 2007, 2009, 2013)	3 (2011, 2019, 2023)	–
Tahiti	3 (2011, 2019, 2023*)	–	2 (2006, 2009)
Vanuatu	–	3 (2006, 2007, 2009)	1 (2013)
New Caledonia	–	1 (2013*)	1 (2019)
Fiji	–	–	2 (2011, 2023)
New Zealand	–	–	1 (2007*)

* = Hosts

Awards

Year	Top goalscorer(s)	Gls	Best player	Best goalkeeper	Fair play	Ref.
2006	Teiva Izal	11	Teiva Izal	Chikau Mansale	Cook Islands	[1]
2007	Teva Zaveroni	11	James Naka	Chikau Mansale	New Zealand	[2]
2009	James Naka	7	James Naka	Chikau Mansale	Vanuatu	[3]
2011	James Naka Ratu Dugucagi Robert Laua	4	James Naka	Jonathan Torohia	Fiji	[4]
2013	Joe Luwi	5	Samson Takayama	Fred Hale	not awarded	[5]
2019	Patrick Tepa	12	Heimanu Taiarui	Jonathan Torohia	Solomon Islands	[6]
2023	Gabiriele Matanisiga	12	Heirauarii Salem	Jonathan Torohia	Fiji Tahiti	[7]

All-time top goalscorers

As of 2023

The following table shows the all-time top goalscorers (minimum 10 goals).

Rank	Player	Team	Goals
1	James Naka	Solomon Islands	34
2	Patrick Tepa	Tahiti	21
3	Teva Zaveroni	Tahiti	18
4	Raimana Li Fung Kuee	Tahiti	17
5	Seule Soromon	Vanuatu	15
6	Teva Izal	Tahiti	14
6	Henry Koto	Solomon Islands	14
8	Max Fa'ari	Solomon Islands	12
8	Gabiriele Matanisiga	Fiji	12
10	Loic Boulet	Vanuatu	11
	Tearii Labaste	Tahiti
	Heirauarii Salem	Tahiti
13	Fenedy Masauvakalo	Vanuatu	10
13	Heimanu Taiarui	Tahiti	10

**Sources:**
2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013: (a, b, c), 2019, 2023: ( a, b, c)

All-time table

As of 2023

Pos	Team	App	Pld	W	W+	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Solomon Islands	7	26	19	0	7	136	86	+50	57
2	Tahiti	6	24	16	0	8	179	88	+91	48
3	Vanuatu	5	19	9	2	8	117	90	+27	31
4	New Caledonia	2	7	2	1	4	32	46	–14	8
5	Fiji	3	10	2	0	8	62	61	+1	6
6	New Zealand	1	4	1	0	3	21	26	–5	3
7	Cook Islands	1	4	0	0	4	6	49	–43	0
8	Tonga	2	8	0	0	8	15	129	–114	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 Nations Cup and how many appearances they each have made.

Legend

Timeline

Year Team	2006 (4)	2007 (4)	2009 (4)	2011 (3)	2013 (3)	2019 (5)	2023 (4)	Apps ⁄7
Cook Islands	4th	×	×	×	×	×	×	1
Fiji	×	×	4th	3rd	×	×	3rd	3
New Caledonia	×	×	×	×	2nd	3rd	×	2
New Zealand	×	3rd	×	×	×	×	×	1
Solomon Islands	1st	1st	1st	2nd	1st	2nd	2nd	7
Tahiti	3rd	4th	3rd	1st	••	1st	1st	6
Tonga	×	×	×	×	×	5th	4th	2
Vanuatu	2nd	2nd	2nd	••	3rd	4th	×	5

Performance of qualifiers at the World Cup

The following is a performance timeline of the OFC teams who have gone on to appear in the World Cup, having qualified from the above events (including the years when the event did not take place and instead the qualifying team was handpicked by the OFC, being 2008, 2015, 2017 and 2021).

Legend

Timeline

Year Team	2006	2007	2008	2009	2011	2013	2015	2017	2019	2021	2023	Total
Solomon Islands	R1	R1	R1	R1		R1						5
Tahiti					R1	4th	2nd	2nd	R1	QF	QF	7
Total no. of unique qualifiers												2

References

External links

OFC, official website

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[a]

[round-robin]

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