2004 OFC Tournament Calendar finalised
OFC Auckland: The Oceania Football Confederation announced today that it was set to revive the OFC Club Championship after a three year hiatus. Following the news that the FIFA Club World Championship would return in 2005, the OFC has selected Tahiti to host the next OFC Club Championship in April next year.
The OFC secretariat will now work with the Competitions Committee and the Federation Tahitienne de football to finalise dates. The format and schedule will depend on the number of entries. However, it is expected the return of the Club Championship will see a good turnout similar to the last two tournaments in 2001 (Papua New Guinea) and in 1999 (Fiji).
The OFC national associations will now commence finding their representatives for this tournament when their respective national leagues kick off this year with some associations not knowing who their champions will be until 2005.
Australia’s South Melbourne represented the OFC at the 2000 World Championship in Brazil and performed well against some of the best clubs in the world. Fellow NSL club Wollongong Wolves won the 2001 OFC Club Championship surviving a fierce challenge in the final from Tafea FC of Vanuatu. Unfortunately, the next FIFA Club World Championship in Spain was called off.
* In other updates, the OFC executive committee has approved the dates for all its remaining dates for its 2004 tournaments. It was also decided that the OFC Under 20 Qualifying Tournament would be moved to early 2005 subject to approval by FIFA who have yet to finalise dates for the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship.
OFC Tournaments 2004 dates
OFC Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament, Ba Fiji, 2-6 March 2004
OFC Under 19 Women’s Qualifying Tournament, Port Moresby, 17-25 April 2004
OFC Nations Cup/World Cup, Stage One: Solomon Is (Group 1), Samoa (Group 2) 10-19 May 2004*
OFC Nations Cup/World Cup, Stage Two: Australia (venue tbc) 28 May – 6 June 2004*
OFC Futsal Qualifying Tournament, Canberra Australia, 21-29 August 2004
OFC Nations Cup, Stage Three: final (home and away) 9/13 October 2004*
* Subject to FIFA approval
FIFA Tournaments in 2004
FIFA Olympic Football Tournament (men and women), Athens Greece, 11-28 August 2004
FIFA World Under 19 Women’s Championship, Thailand, 10-27 November 2004
FIFA Futsal Championship, Chinese-Taipei, 29 November – 19 December 2004
Important Miscellaneous Dates in 2004
18th Ordinary Congress, Auckland New Zealand, 20 March 2004
FIFA 54th Ordinary Congress, Paris France, 20-21 May 2004
FIFA World Player Gala, Zurich Switzerland, 20 December 2004