Qualification for the OFC U-19 Women’s Championship 2025 will be decided over the coming week, as Tonga, American Samoa and the Solomon Islands meet in Nuku’alofa, Tonga, with the final qualifying place at stake.

Tahiti will play host to the championship later this year in Papeete, with the winner of the qualifying phase joining Group A, alongside Fiji, Samoa and the Cook Islands.

Two of the nations involved this week were present in Fiji for the last OFC U-19 Women’s Championship in 2023, with Tonga eliminated in the group stage and the Solomon Islands knocked out by eventual winners New Zealand in the quarter-finals.

For American Samoa, this is their first appearance at an OFC U-19 Women’s Championship since the Cook Islands in 2019.

Mark Uhatahi will lead the Tongan side, with the coach confident that good preparations and home advantage can give his side a boost in their hopes of qualifying.

“All the team officials and coaches are well prepared for tomorrow’s game. We’re so excited and can’t wait to get started tomorrow,” Uhatahi said.

“Being able to play on home soil will be a major boost for the girls but also for women’s football here in Tonga, to increase the popularity of the game. It’s another step forward for the development of football here in the country,” the coach continued.

American Samoa coach Ruben Luvu is conscious that the nation has missed out on these tournaments in recent years but is looking forward to the positive development his players can gain from this week.

“Our preparations have been really good. We have a lot of young players coming through and our preparations are really focused on their development and the pathway that we’re trying to create for women’s football.

“It starts from our U-16 team. A lot of those players are now here for the U-19s. They’ve been in competitions, like in New Zealand (OFC U-16 Women’s Championship 2024 – Qualifying), so we’re trying to create that pathway. It’s been a long time since we’ve been in this tournament,” Luvu said.

Solomon Islands have a history of producing high quality women players and teams. They’ve been a regular fixture in OFC U-16 and U-19 Women’s Championships and coach Priscilla Tariga is excited for what her team can achieve.

“For our Solomon Islands side, we’ve prepared a lot back home and now we’re looking forward to getting started in this tournament. We look to win that first game. Then we can possibly look ahead to Tahiti later this year. It’s very important though that we can get a win in this first game.

“We work a lot back home, especially with the development of the women’s game. These tournaments really help in terms of developing the U-16 and U-19 teams back home in the Solomon Islands,” Tariga explained.

As was the case last month for the OFC Men’s Champions League 2025 – Qualifying, the three-team, single-group format means there is little margin for error, with one defeat potentially being fatal to a team’s qualification hopes.

For Tonga and the Solomon Islands – who meet on match day one – there is a wonderful opportunity to hit the ground running and put themselves in the box seat for booking a place in Tahiti in September.

Photo Credit: OFC Media via Tonga Football Association

Every match is available to watch LIVE and FREE on FIFA+

Download the FIFA+ app on the App Store or Google Play

All kick-off times shown as local Tonga time.

Friday, March 7
Solomon Islands v Tonga, 2:00pm | WATCH LIVE

Monday, March 10
Solomon Islands v American Samoa, 2:00pm | WATCH LIVE

Thursday, March 13
Tonga v American Samoa, 2:00pm | WATCH LIVE