2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (OFC) explained

Tourney Name:2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (OFC)
Num Teams:11
Confederations:1
Prevseason:2014
Nextseason:2022

The Oceanian section of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification acted as qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, to be held in Russia, for national teams which are members of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC). A total of 0.5 slots (i.e. 1 inter-confederation play-off slot) in the final tournament was available for OFC teams.[1]

The 2016 edition of the OFC Nations Cup once again doubled as the second round of the OFC qualifying competition for the 2018 FIFA World Cup (similar to the 2012 OFC Nations Cup and the OFC qualifying competition for the 2014 FIFA World Cup).[2] Unlike in 2012, however, the team that won the qualifying competition and advanced to the intercontinental play-off, New Zealand, was the same team that also won the OFC Nations Cup and represented the OFC at the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup.

Format

The qualification structure was as follows:[3] [4]

The OFC had considered different proposals of the qualifying tournament.[5] A previous proposal adopted by the OFC in October 2014 had the eight teams divided into two groups of four teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches in the second round, followed by the top two teams of each group advancing to the third round to play in a single group of home-and-away round-robin matches to decide the winner of the 2016 OFC Nations Cup which would both qualify to the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup and advance to the inter-confederation play-offs.[6] However, it was later reported in April 2015 that the OFC had reversed its decision, and the 2016 OFC Nations Cup will be played as a one-off tournament similar to the 2012 OFC Nations Cup.[7]

Entrants

All 11 FIFA-affiliated national teams from the OFC entered qualification.[8] The four lowest ranked teams (based on FIFA World Ranking and sporting reasons) entered the first round, while the other seven teams entered the second round.

Schedule

The schedule of the competition was as follows.[9] [2] [3] [10]

valign=top
RoundMatchdayDate
First roundMatchday 131 August 2015
Matchday 22 September 2015
Matchday 34 September 2015
Second round
(OFC Nations Cup)		Matchday 128–29 May 2016
Matchday 231 May – 1 June 2016
Matchday 34–5 June 2016
Semi-finals8 June 2016
Final11 June 2016
valign=top
RoundMatchdayDate
Third roundMatchday 17–15 November 2016
Matchday 2
Matchday 320–28 March 2017
Matchday 4
Matchday 55–13 June 2017
Matchday 6
Final first leg28 August – 5 September 2017
Final second leg

The inter-confederation play-offs were scheduled to be played between 6–14 November 2017.[11]

First round

See main article: 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – OFC first round. The match schedule was revealed on 30 July 2015, following a draw held at OFC Headquarters in Auckland, New Zealand.[12]

Second round

See main article: 2016 OFC Nations Cup.

The draw for the second round was held as part of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Preliminary Draw on 25 July 2015, starting 18:00 MSK (UTC+3), at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg, Russia.[13]

Group stage

Group A

See main article: 2016 OFC Nations Cup Group A.

Group B

See main article: 2016 OFC Nations Cup Group B.

Knockout stage

See main article: 2016 OFC Nations Cup knockout stage. While the results of the OFC Nations Cup knockout stage matches have no effect on the teams qualified for the third round of World Cup qualifying, for statistical purposes these matches are considered part of World Cup qualifying, with FIFA counting goalscorers in the qualifying statistics, and cards given may contribute to suspensions in the third round of World Cup qualifying (similar to the setup for 2014 World Cup qualifying).

Third round

See main article: 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – OFC third round.

The draw for the third round was held on 8 July 2016, 11:00 NZST (UTC+12), at the OFC headquarters in Auckland, New Zealand.[14]

Groups

Group B

Final

The draw for the final (which decided the order of legs) was held on 15 June 2017, 16:00 NZST (UTC+12), at the OFC headquarters in Auckland, New Zealand.[15]

The winner of the final advanced to inter-confederation play-offs. Dates were set for the two-legged final as being between 28 August and 5 September 2017.[16] New Zealand defeated Solomon Islands 8-3 on aggregate and advanced to the OFC-CONMEBOL play-off

Inter-confederation play-offs

See main article: article and 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (OFC–CONMEBOL play-off).

The draw for the inter-confederation play-offs was held as part of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Preliminary Draw on 25 July 2015, starting 18:00 MSK (UTC+3), at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg.[3] The first-placed team from OFC was drawn against the fifth-placed team from CONMEBOL, with the OFC team hosting the first leg.[17]

Top goalscorers

Below are full goalscorer lists for each round:

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Current allocation of FIFA World Cup confederation slots maintained. FIFA.com. 30 May 2015. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20150530211217/http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/y%3D2015/m%3D5/news%3Dcurrent-allocation-of-fifa-world-cuptm-confederation-slots-maintained-2610611.html. 30 May 2015. dmy-all.
  2. Web site: Preliminary competition format outlined. Oceania Football Confederation. 10 July 2015. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304072204/http://www.oceaniafootball.com/ofc/News/ViewArticle/tabid/125/Article/cd6d379a-250c-4b3a-accc-d87b00be8121/language/en-US/Default.aspx. 4 March 2016. dmy-all. 11 July 2015.
  3. Web site: Preliminary Draw procedures outlined . fifa.com . 9 July 2015 . 9 July 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150712005248/http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/y%3D2015/m%3D7/news%3Dpreliminary-draw-procedures-outlined-2661542.html . 12 July 2015 . dmy-all .
  4. Web site: Draw Procedures – Oceanian Zone. FIFA.com. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20150724211740/http://resources.fifa.com/mm/document/tournament/preliminarydraw/02/66/71/36/oceania_drawprocedures_neutral.pdf. 24 July 2015. dmy-all.
  5. Web site: OFC Executive Committee decisions . OFC . 20 May 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160913211633/http://www.oceaniafootball.com/ofc/News/ViewArticle/tabid/125/Article/701d2613-f23f-4125-ae92-0700e8ec8787/language/en-US/Default.aspx . 13 September 2016 .
  6. Web site: OFC Executive Committee outcomes . Oceania Football Confederation . 20 October 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150705001002/http://www.oceaniafootball.com/ofc/News/ViewArticle/tabid/125/Article/11e59aa8-7a51-498a-963d-d463549766c1/language/en-US/Default.aspx . 5 July 2015 . dmy .
  7. Web site: Football: Heat goes on NZ after switch. New Zealand Herald. 12 April 2015.
  8. Web site: Road to Russia with new milestone. FIFA.com. 15 January 2015. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20150122200953/http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/russia2018/news/newsid%3D2507253/index.html. 22 January 2015. dmy-all.
  9. Web site: Calendar of Events 2015 . Oceania Football Confederation . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20131019212135/http://www.oceaniafootball.com/ofc/AboutOFC/tabid/182/PageContentType/CALENDAR/language/en-US/Default.aspx . 19 October 2013 .
  10. Web site: 2018 WCQ Stage 3 Schedule & Results . Oceania Football Confederation . 8 July 2016 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160904150213/http://www.oceaniafootball.com/ofc/Competitions/ScheduleResults/tabid/1015/Competition/19b7c9d5-122e-4b23-8e52-e11e82858d89/CompTitle/2018%20WCQ%20Stage%203/language/en-US/Default.aspx . 4 September 2016 .
  11. Web site: FIFA Calendar . FIFA.com . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150425064942/http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/calendar/events.html . 25 April 2015 . dmy-all .
  12. Web site: Stage 1 draw revealed. OFC. 30 July 2015. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20150924123549/http://www.oceaniafootball.com/ofc/News/ViewArticle/tabid/125/Article/dff0afe5-3b72-4a80-ac37-12586e91537b/language/en-US/Default.aspx. 24 September 2015. dmy-all.
  13. Web site: World Cup path laid out for Oceania . OFC . 26 July 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160304203247/http://www.oceaniafootball.com/ofc/News/ViewArticle/tabid/125/Article/42f19533-f867-4728-b925-409738dd7436/language/en-US/Default.aspx . 4 March 2016 .
  14. Web site: Stage 3 draw complete. Oceania Football Confederation. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20160819182112/http://www.oceaniafootball.com/ofc/News/ViewArticle/tabid/125/Article/bd8b142a-b83f-438d-85ee-4330f577a5b6/language/en-US/Default.aspx. 19 August 2016. dmy-all.
  15. Web site: New Zealand at home first in OFC play-off. FIFA. 15 June 2017. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20170714190322/http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/y%3D2017/m%3D6/news%3Dnew-zealand-at-home-first-in-ofc-play-off-2895121.html. 14 July 2017. dmy-all.
  16. Web site: Next steps to Russia laid out. Football NZ. 8 July 2016. 11 July 2016. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20160711111921/http://www.nzfootball.co.nz/next-steps-to-russia-laid-out/. 11 July 2016. dmy-all.
  17. Web site: The Preliminary Draw results in full. FIFA.com. 25 July 2015. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20150906071029/http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/y%3D2015/m%3D7/news%3Dthe-preliminary-draw-results-in-full-2667929.html. 6 September 2015. dmy-all.

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