2023 OFC Champions League

The 2023 OFC Champions League will be the 22nd edition of the Oceanian Club Championship, Oceania's premier club football tournament organized by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC), and the 17th season under the current OFC Champions League name. The winner of the final will earn the right to play in the 2023 FIFA Club World Cup in Saudi Arabia.

2023 OFC Champions League
Tournament details
Host countryGroup stage:
Vanuatu
DatesQualifying:
11 February – 18 March
Competition proper:
14–27 May[1]
TeamsCompetition proper: 8
Total: 18 (from 11 associations)

Auckland City FC are the defending champions.

Teams

A total of 18 teams from all 11 OFC member associations may enter the competition.

  • The seven developed associations (Fiji, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tahiti, Vanuatu) are awarded a berth each in the groups stage, after playing a national playoff between the top 2 clubs in the league.
  • The four developing associations (American Samoa, Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga) are awarded one berth each in the qualifying stage, with the winners advancing to the group stage.
Location of teams of the 2023 OFC Champions League.
Teams entering the National playoffs; (H) Group stage host
Teams entering the qualifying stage; (h) Qualifying stage host
Association Team Qualifying method
Teams entering the National playoffs
Fiji Fiji Rewa 2022 Fiji National Football League champions
Suva 2022 Fiji National Football League runners-up
New Caledonia New Caledonia AS Tiga Sport 2022 New Caledonia Super Ligue champions
Hienghène Sport 2022 New Caledonia Super Ligue runners-up
New Zealand New Zealand Auckland City 2022 New Zealand National League grand final champions
Wellington Olympic 2022 New Zealand National League grand final runners-up
Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea Lae City 2022 Papua New Guinea National Soccer League champions
Hekari United 2022 Papua New Guinea National Soccer League runners-up
Solomon Islands Solomon Islands Solomon Warriors 2022–23 Solomon Islands S-League champions
Kossa 2022–23 Solomon Islands S-League runners-up
French Polynesia Tahiti AS Pirae 2021–22 Tahiti Ligue 1 champions
AS Dragon 2021–22 Tahiti Ligue 1 runners-up
Vanuatu Vanuatu Ifira Black Bird F.C. 2022 VFF National Super League grand final champions
Sia-Raga F.C. 2022 VFF National Super League grand final runners-up
Teams entering the qualifying stage
American Samoa American Samoa Ilaoa and To'omata 2022 FFAS Senior League champions
Cook Islands Cook Islands Tupapa Maraerenga 2022 Cook Islands Round Cup champions
Samoa Samoa Lupe ole Soaga 2022 Samoa National League third place
Tonga Tonga Veitongo 2022 Tonga Major League champions

Qualifying stage
Main article: 2023 OFC Champions League qualifying stage

Preliminary group

The draw for the qualifying stage was held on 1 February 2023 at the OFC Headquarters in Auckland, New Zealand.[2] The four teams in the qualifying stage played each other on a round-robin basis at a centralised venue. The winners will advance to the group stage to join the 7 direct entrants.[2] The qualifying stage is hosted in Apia by Football Federation Samoa.[3]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification LUP TUP VEI ITO
1 Samoa Lupe ole Soaga (H) 3 3 0 0 29 1 +28 9 Group stage — 7–1 9–0 —
2 Cook Islands Tupapa Maraerenga 3 2 0 1 10 7 +3 6 — — 1–0 8–0
3 Tonga Veitongo 2 0 0 2 0 10 −10 0 — — — Canc.[lower-alpha 1]
4 American Samoa Ilaoa and To'omata 2 0 0 2 0 21 −21 0 0–13 — — —
Source: OFC
(H) Host
Notes:
  1. The Veitongo v Ilaoa and To'omata match was cancelled due to the threat of a cyclone closing in on Samoa.[4][5] Both teams were already eliminated prior to the cancellation.

National play-offs

On 10 February 2023, OFC announced that 7 sets of national playoffs would take place to determine which side from those nations would take part in this year's Champions League. [6]

Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Suva Fiji 3–2 Fiji Rewa 1–1 2–1
Hienghène Sport New Caledonia 1–5 New Caledonia Tiga Sport 1–3 0–2
Wellington Olympic New Zealand 4–6 New Zealand Auckland City 1–1 3–5
Hekari United Papua New Guinea 4–1 Papua New Guinea Lae City 2–1 2–0
Kossa FC Solomon Islands 2–3 Solomon Islands Solomon Warriors 1–1 1–2
Dragon French Polynesia 3–9 French Polynesia Pirae 0–2 3–7
SiaRaga FC Vanuatu 0–4 Vanuatu Ifira Black Bird FC 0–3 0–1

Group stage
Main article: 2023 OFC Champions League group stage

The four teams in each group will play each other on a round-robin basis at a centralised venue in Vanuatu.[7] The winners and runners-up of each group will advance to the semi-finals of the knockout stage.

The draw of the group stage were announced by the OFC on 23 March 2023.[8][9] The 8 teams were drawn into two groups of four. Ifira Black Bird were pre-determined to play in Port Vila and so were automatically drawn into group B.

Group A

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification SUV LUP AUC SOL
1 Fiji Suva 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Knockout stage — 14 May 17 May —
2 Samoa Lupe ole Soaga 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — — 20 May —
3 New Zealand Auckland City 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — — — 14 May
4 Solomon Islands Solomon Warriors 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 20 May 17 May — —
Source: OFC

Group B

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification IFI HEK PIR TIG
1 Vanuatu Ifira Black Bird (H) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Knockout stage — 15 May 18 May —
2 Papua New Guinea Hekari United 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — — 21 May —
3 French Polynesia Pirae 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — — — 15 May
4 New Caledonia Tiga Sport 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 21 May 18 May — —
Source: OFC
(H) Host

Knockout stage
Main article: 2023 OFC Champions League knockout stage

The four teams in the knockout stage played on a single-elimination basis, with each tie played as a single match at VFF Freshwater Stadium.

Bracket

The bracket was determined as follows:

 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
24 May 2023
 
 
 
 
27 May 2023
 
 
 
 
 
24 May 2023
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Semi-finals
Team 1  Score  Team 2
Group A winner 24 May Group B runner-up
Groub B winner 24 May Group A runner-up

Final

In the final, the two semi-final winners played each other. The final will be played on 27 May 2023. 2023 OFC Champions League Final

References
  1. "VFF 2023 National Champions League locked to start 1 February". Vanuatu Football Federation. 30 January 2023. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
  2. "OFC Champions League Qualifying Stage dates announced". Oceania Football Confederation. 1 February 2023.
  3. Gutu Faasau (18 February 2023). "OFC qualifiers kick off in Samoa". Samoa Observer. Retrieved 18 February 2023.
  4. "LUPE OLE SOAGA BIG VICTORS IN OFC CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2023 QUALIFYING". Oceania Football Confederation. 24 February 2023. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
  5. "STATEMENT FROM OFC". Oceania Football Confederation Facebook. 24 February 2023. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
  6. "OFC Champions League explained". Oceania Football Confederation. 10 February 2023. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  7. "OFC Competitions 2023 Calendar confirmed 1/01/2023" (PDF). Oceania Football Confederation. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
  8. "OFC CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2023 DRAW COMPLETED". Oceania Football Confederation. 23 March 2023. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  9. "DRAW DATE CONFIRMED FOR OFC CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2023". Oceania Football Confederation. 20 March 2023. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
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