The opportunities for regional glory will be rolling in thick and fast in 2018 after the OFC Executive Committee signed off on the competition calendar this month.
The OFC Champions League, Oceania’s premier international club competition will get the year’s events underway in January while the 11th edition of the OFC Women’s Nations Cup will close out the calendar in December.
The OFC U-19 Championship kicks-off in May with the Qualifying Tournament in Rarotonga, Cook Islands in which the hosts are joined by American Samoa, Samoa and Tonga in a bid to progress to the final competition.
The winner will have two months to prepare with the OFC U-19 Championship scheduled for 4-18 August in Papeete, Tahiti.
In between these two events will be the Qualifying Tournament for the OFC U-16 Championship which will be hosted in Nuku’alofa, Tonga from 14-20 July.
Once again the four nations of American Samoa, Cook Islands, Samoa and Tonga will compete for a place in the final competition alongside Fiji, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tahiti and Vanuatu.
The OFC U-16 Championship will be hosted by the Solomon Islands Football Federation from 8-22 September in Honiara.
At the same time, the OFC Beach Soccer Championship will be taking place in Papeete, Tahiti. Scheduled for the 15-22 September this tournament returns to the calendar after a four year hiatus.
The final event on the calendar is the OFC Women’s Nations Cup which for the first time is a compulsory tournament and will feature a Qualifying Tournament.
With a seeding format based on the previous regional performances of all women’s national teams, the four nations which will compete for a place in the final competition are American Samoa, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji.
The Qualifying Tournament will be held in Pago Pago, American Samoa from 27 August to 4 September.
The OFC Women’s Nations Cup final competition will be held in late-November/early-December with two nations having submitted bids to host.