OFC U-16 Women’s Championship 2024

The 2024 edition of the OFC U-16 Women’s Championship took place in Suva, Fiji, with eight nations competing to be crowned champions. Changes made to the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup format meant that in addition to the trophy, two qualification spots for next year’s World Cup were also up for grabs.

Group A saw hosts Fiji joined by Cook Islands, Samoa and Tonga, with the Samoans making the perfect start on match day 1, overwhelming Cook Islands with a 10-0 victory. Fiji and Tonga met later that day, with their epic encounter finishing 3-3.

Samoa made it two wins from two, when they saw off Tonga 2-0, with Fiji getting their first win of the campaign thanks to a 2-0 win of their own against Cook Islands.

A dramatic final day in Group A ended with Tonga’s 6-0 win over Cook Islands seeing them advance alongside Samoa, who beat Fiji 1-0 as the hosts missed out on a semi-final berth.

Tournament favourites New Zealand were the headline act in Group B, alongside New Caledonia, Tahiti and Solomon Islands. The Kiwis laid down a marker with an 8-0 win over New Caledonia in their first fixture as Solomon Islands overcame Tahiti 2-0 to kick off their campaign.

New Zealand secured another clean sheet with a 5-0 victory against Tahiti before New Caledonia rebounded with their first win, narrowly seeing off Solomon Islands 2-1.

A narrow 1-0 win over Solomon Islands ensured New Zealand ended the group stage with a 100% record, whilst New Caledonia joined them in the semi-finals with a 3-1 win against Tahiti.

The semi-finals saw Samoa and New Zealand book their place in the final. Both sides continuing their record of not having conceded a goal, with Samoa beating New Caledonia 2-0 and New Zealand comfortably securing the win over Tonga, 8-0. The results meant that regardless of the outcome in the final, both sides qualified for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in 2025.

The following day, Tahiti took 7th place with a come-from-behind 2-1 win against Cook Islands, before Fiji secured 5th in front of their home fans with a 1-0 victory against Solomon Islands.

Tonga completed their impressive campaign with a 1-0 win over New Caledonia in the Playoff for 3rd place. A second-half goal from Kuria Malohifo’ou proving the difference between the two sides.

In the final, New Zealand proved too strong for a spirited Samoa side, running out 4-0 victors. First-half strikes from captain Katie Pugh and Pia Vlok set the Kiwis on their way, before Vlok got her second early after the restart and Laura Bennett completed the scoring in the 90th minute.

New Zealand and Samoa will now look ahead to the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup next year, to be held in Morocco. For Samoa, it will the country’s first World Cup appearance at any level in the nation’s history.