OFC Women’s Nations Cup 1994

The fifth edition of the OFC Women’s Nations Cup took place in 1994 and was hosted in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. It doubled as OFC qualifying for the 1995 FIFA Women’s World Cup™ in Sweden, was again contested between defending champions New Zealand, hosts Papua New Guinea, and Australia. It also followed the same format of the 1991 edition, with all three teams playing each other twice over a round-robin format, and the top side winning the OFC Women’s Nations Cup title and qualifying for the 1995 FIFA Women’s World Cup™.

Once more the destination of the title was decided by goal difference, with Australia and New Zealand splitting the matches between each other at a win apiece. Two strikes from Wendy Sharpe helped New Zealand to a 2-1 victory over Australia in the opening match of the tournament, before a Julie Murray goal inspired Australia to a 1-0 win in the reverse fixture. Hosts Papua New Guinea were more competitive then they had been in 1991, but again the tournament was determined by the nature of the winning margins of both Australia and New Zealand against them. Australia picked up 7-0 and 4-0 victories, whilst New Zealand could only muster 2-0 and 6-0 winning margins.

Having scored three more goals, Australia finally claimed their maiden OFC Women’s Nations Cup title and qualified for the 1995 FIFA Women’s World Cup™. For a second consecutive edition, New Zealand’s Wendy Sharpe finished as the tournament’s top goal-scorer with three goals, alongside Australia’s Cheryl Salisbury.