The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) is one of the six continental confederations of international association football. The OFC is made up of the 11 member associations: Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Tonga, Fiji, American Samoa, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Cook Islands, Solomon Islands, Samoa and Tahiti. There are three associate members in Kiribati, Tuvalu and Niue Islands. The Confederation promotes the game in Oceania and gives the member nations to chance to qualify for the FIFA World Cup.
The OFC is by far the smallest of the six worldwide confederations and is predominantly made up of island nations where football is a minority sport. The OFC was formed in 1966 with the Australian Soccer Federation, New Zealand Soccer and the Fiji Football Association. Australia left to join the Asian Football Confederation in 2006 which left New Zealand as the largest federation within the OFC and not a single professional domestic league in any of its member nations.
The winner of the OFC Football World Cup Qualifiers was allowed to compete in a two-legged play-off with the team ranked fifth in the South American qualifying competition for a place in the 2006 World Cup. Since 1996, OFC members also compete for the OFC Nations Cup, which is held every second year. The OFC also organises the Oceania Club Championship which was designed to determine the Oceania representative at the FIFA Club World Cup. In 2007, the OFC replaced the current club competition with the OFC Champions League.
From 2007, the winner has no longer gained direct entry to the FIFA Club World Cup – but instead plays-off against the host nation (currently United Arab Emirates) champion for the final spot in the tournament. It is not yet known whether this will be permanent, or even if it could change if the Oceania entrant were to perform better than entrants from other Confederations. Of the federation’s current teams, only New Zealand has ever competed in the World Cup (1982 and 2010), although founding member Australia did take part in the World Cup finals in 1974 and 2006. Australia fared best, reaching the second round in 2006.
In the 2004 OFC Nations Cup, which doubled as the Oceania qualifying tournament for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the Solomon Islands made the finals after a 2-2 draw with Australia in the last round. This denied New Zealand a place in the third group phase by one point as Vanuatu had beaten them 4-2 in the second group phase. Australia won The OFC Nation Cup final by beating the Solomons 5-1 in Honiara and 6-0 in Sydney to progress to the FIFA Confederations Cup in Germany. The two teams met again in a two-legged World Cup qualifying final for the right to play for a place in the World Cup finals, Australia winning 9-1 on aggregate under the guidance of top international coach, Guus Hiddink. Australia won the play-off against Uruguay on penalties after a 1-1 aggregate score and qualified for the World Cup.
Soccer Oceania Betting
Ocean Football Federation bets are much the same as any other soccer bets. Odds are offered on the outcome of the match (win/draw) or half-time/full-time double and correct score.
As well as the more traditional betting markets, there are opportunities to bet on first team to score, first half result and highest scoring half. There are also a range of special betting markets on the play-offs.
Soccer Oceania odds
Although the OFC is the smallest of the six worldwide confederations it can provide some entertaining and competitive betting opportunities.
Soccer Oceana is gaining in popularity with match and correct score betting available as well as odds on half-time/full-time double and outright qualification. There are betting specials for live televised games including first goalscorer, first card, highest scoring half and winning margin.
