New trophies for each of these tournaments have been stunningly designed and created by London-based luxury goods company Thomas Lyte and arrived in the Pacific earlier this month, ready to be handed over to their first ever recipients over the coming months.
The first team to lift one of the expertly-crafted trophies will be the winner of the OFC U-20 Championship, which takes place from March 21 to 29 in the Lautoka and Ba regions of Fiji. Defending champions New Zealand are favourites to earn the trophy but will face a tough challenge from hosts Fiji, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu when the action kicks off on Thursday.
The winner of the new U-17 trophy will be found after the completion of the Vanuatu-hosted tournament in April. New Zealand are also the defending champions of this competition and will meet Cook Islands, Fiji, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu from April 17 to 25.
The new Champions League trophy will be up for grabs for the first time from March 30 when title holders Auckland City (New Zealand), Amicale (Vanuatu), Ba (Fiji), Dragon (New Caledonia), Hekari United (Papua New Guinea), Mont-Dore (New Caledonia), Solomon Warriors (Solomon Islands) and Waitakere United (New Zealand) do battle for a place in the May 19 final.
Reigning champions Tahiti will get the chance to defend their mantle and take home a new trophy when the OFC Beach Soccer Championship is held later this year on home soil. The dates and teams for this tournament are yet to be determined.
The four pieces of silverware continue the work of Thomas Lyte for OFC, a relationship that began when the industry leader in the design of gold and silver trophies produced a new prize for the OFC Nations Cup. It was lifted for the first time by Tahiti, who became the first non-New Zealand or Australia side to be crowned kings of Oceania in the Solomon Islands capital of Honiara last June.
Thomas Lyte has produced a broad range of trophies and awards for a truly global client base and has vast experience in the football realm having worked with US Soccer and the MLS in the United States as well as the FA and Premier League in Britain. It is also a major supplier to the Asian Football Confederation.