oceania football confederation

The Oceania Football Confederation is one of the six "continental" confederations of international football. It promotes the game in Oceania and allows the member nations to qualify for the Football World Cup. The confederation was formed in 1966 and the founding members were Soccer Australia, New Zealand Soccer Inc, and Fiji Football Association. On May 24, 2004, New Caledonia became the 12th member of the OFC. OFC became a fully-fledged confederation in 1996, for the purposes of World Cup qualification for the 1998 Cup, with only "half a place" (the right to compete in a home-and-away playoff with the team ranked fifth in the South American (CONMEBOL) qualifying competition). The OFC members also play for the OFC Nations Cup, which is held every second year. Despite occasional giant-killing performances by New Zealand against Australian sides without their full complement of overseas-based professionals, only the Australian national side, commonly called "the Socceroos", is regarded as even a potential force in world soccer. In the 2004 OFC Nations Cup, which doubled as the Oceania qualifying tournament for the 2006 World Cup, the Solomon Islands unexpectedly made the finals against Australia, knocking out New Zealand in the second group phase. Australia easily won the local competition, beating the Solomons 5:1 in Honiara and 6:0 in Sydney. The two teams will meet again in a two-legged World Cup qualifying final in September 2005 for the right to play the CONMEBOL representative for a place in the World Cup final. The OFC, and its "half place", is regarded by most Australian football enthusiasts as an impediment to World Cup qualification. Former Australia captain the late Johnny Warren, for example, was vocal in advocating the disbanding of the Oceania confederation and that the top two sides from the region (which would be Australia and New Zealand for the foreseeable future) should play in Asia's qualification tournament where they would have a chance to qualify in a sequence of matches rather than only in a do-or-die playoff. In 2005, Australia's national federation entered into talks with the Asian Football Confederation with the goal of a possible move from the OFC to the AFC. That March, the AFC executive committee unanimously approved the Australian proposal; the two will enter talks that could result in Australia leaving the OFC in favor of AFC.

External links

Oceania Football Confederation Official Site

OFC

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