2021 OFC U-17 Championship

The 2021 OFC U-17 Championship, originally to be held as the 2020 OFC U-16 Championship, was originally to be the 19th edition of the OFC U-16/U-17 Championship, the biennial international youth football championship organised by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) for the men's under-16/under-17 national teams of Oceania.

2021 OFC U-17 Championship
Tournament details
Host countryFiji
DatesCancelled
Teams10 (from 1 confederation)

The tournament was originally scheduled to be held in Fiji in September 2020.[1] However, on 28 July 2020, the OFC announced that the tournament had been postponed to April 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic,[2] provisionally between 10 and 25 April 2021, with the name of the tournament changed from "2020 OFC U-16 Championship" to "2021 OFC U-17 Championship".[3][4] On 16 December 2020, the OFC announced the tournament had been postponed but would be required to be completed by 5 July 2021, the deadline for team nominations at the 2021 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Peru, scheduled for September 2021, of which the top two teams of the tournament would have qualified for as the OFC representatives.[5]

Following FIFA's decision to cancel the 2021 FIFA U-17 World Cup on 24 December 2020,[6] the OFC announced on 18 January 2021 that the tournament would remain on track to be held in 2021, with the new dates to be decided in the coming months.[7] However, on 4 March 2021, the OFC announced that the tournament had been cancelled, and Fiji would be retained to host the next edition in 2022.[8]

New Zealand were the seven-time defending champions.

Teams

Ten of the 11 FIFA-affiliated national teams from the OFC were eligible to enter the tournament. The Solomon Islands were banned from entering a team in this edition due to fielding at least one ineligible player in the 2018 OFC U-16 Championship.[9]

Starting from this edition, male youth tournaments would no longer have a four-team qualifying stage, and all teams would compete in one tournament.[10]

Note: All appearance statistics include those in the qualifying stage (2017 and 2018).

Team Appearance
(planned)		 Previous best performance
 American Samoa9thGroup stage (1999, 2001, 2003, 2011, 2015)
 Cook Islands10thGroup stage (1997, 1999, 2003, 2005, 2011, 2013, 2015)
 Fiji (hosts)18thRunners-up (1999)
 New Caledonia12thRunners-up (2003, 2013, 2017)
 New Zealand17thChampions (1997, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2018)
 Papua New Guinea10thSemi-finals (2017), Fourth place (1986)
 Samoa9thGroup stage (1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2015, 2017, 2018)
 Tahiti14thRunners-up (2007, 2009, 2011, 2015)
 Tonga10thGroup stage (1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2011, 2015)
 Vanuatu15thRunners-up (2005)
Banned

Squads

Players born on or after 1 January 2004 were eligible to compete in the tournament.

References
  1. "Hosts confirmed for 2020 Youth Tournaments". Oceania Football Confederation. 26 February 2020. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  2. "OFC tournaments update". Oceania Football Confederation. 28 July 2020.
  3. "OFC U-17 Championship 2021". Oceania Football Confederation. 14 September 2020.
  4. "OFC Competitions 2021 Calendar (updated 4/06/2021)" (PDF). Oceania Football Confederation. Fédération Tahitienne de Football. 4 June 2021.
  5. "More calendar changes for 2021". Oceania Football Confederation. 16 December 2020.
  6. "Update on FIFA Women's World Cup and men's youth competitions". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 24 December 2020. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
  7. "Men's youth tournaments postponed". Oceania Football Confederation. 18 January 2021.
  8. "OFC confirms schedule changes". Oceania Football Confederation. 4 March 2021.
  9. "Solomon Islands Football Federation and player sanctioned". Oceania Football Confederation. 13 December 2019. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
  10. "OFC male youth tournaments continue to evolve". Oceania Football Confederation. 3 April 2020.
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