OFC Champions League

The OFC Champions League, also known as the O-League, is the premier men's club football competition in Oceania. It is organised by the OFC, Oceania's football governing body. Beginning as the Oceania Club Championship (1987–2006), it has been organised since 2007 under its current format.

OFC Champions League
Organising bodyOFC
Founded1987 (1987)
RegionOceania
Number of teams16 (group stage)
18 (total, from 11 associations)
Qualifier forFIFA Club World Cup
Current championsNew Zealand Auckland City (11 title)
(2023)
Most successful team(s)New Zealand Auckland City (11 titles)
Television broadcastersEleven Sports (live streaming)
WebsiteOfficial website
2024 OFC Champions League

The first four Club Championship titles were won by Australian clubs. Since 2006, 13 OFC titles have been won by clubs from New Zealand, one by a Papua New Guinean club and one by a New Caledonian club.

Trophies for OFC tournament winners are made by London-based silversmiths Thomas Lyte.[1]

History and format

Oceania Club Championship

The Oceania Club Championship was played in one or two venues, in one host country. There were two or three groups with single round-robin format, semifinals and final. The tournament usually lasted about 10 days, with matches being played every 2 days.

At first, this competition was played as a single playoff match between champions of New Zealand and Australia. That competition was held in 1987 and Adelaide City won the inaugural season. Then 12 years pause came, until the OFC organised the next, all-Oceania Cup. In January 1999, the Oceania Club Championship was held in the Fijian cities of Nadi and Lautoka. Nine teams took part, with Australian side South Melbourne winning the trophy. They also qualified for the following year's FIFA Club World Cup.

The next competition was held two years later, with an Australian team again winning the title. Wollongong Wolves won it, beating Vanuatu representative Tafea in the final. Two more editions were held under this name and format, with Sydney and Auckland City winning titles. OFC decided to change the competition format and name, so that since 2007 the competition is known as the OFC Champions League.

2007–2014

The OFC decided to change competition format, to make its main competition more interesting and more important to competing clubs.

The first two seasons saw competition with two groups of three teams each, and from the third edition onwards it consists of two groups of four teams each. Group winners progress to the final, played in double playoff format, with the winner taking the title. Unlike its previous format, O-League lasts more than a half year, starting in October and ending the following April. The O-League winner qualifies to FIFA Club World Cup, entering the competition in the playoff round.

For the 2012–13 season O-League changed its format with the introduction of qualifying stage, with the champions of the four weakest leagues competing for a play-off spot with the representative of country with the worst record from the previous tournament. Later rather were also scheduling and format changes for the main tournament. That competition was played between March and May 2013 with introduction of semifinal stage and final played on neutral venue. First O-League one-legged final was played in Auckland, and was the first O-League final between two teams from the same country, with Auckland City defeating Waitakere United to win its 5th title.

The OFC Champions League saw another change for 2013–14 season, with the group stage played in a pre-determined location and the semifinals and final played on a home-and-away basis. Fiji was selected as host. The Preliminary stage was played six months before the group stage, and the winner entered the group stage.

In 2014, both finalists of the OFC Champions League participated in the OFC President's Cup, an invitational tournament organised by the OFC. However, President's Cup was held only once.

2014–present

In the 2014–15 season, the tournament was sponsored by Fiji Airways and renamed the Fiji Airways OFC Champions League in that season.[2]

Another format change came in 2017 when the group stage was expanded to 16 teams, with the whole competition being played in one year (preliminary stage followed by group stage and later knock-out stage). Each of four groups was hosted by one of the teams from the group, meaning more countries and teams were included. Group winners qualified for the semifinal stage. The semifinals and final were both played on a home-and-away basis. Following the success of the 2017 season, the OFC added a quarterfinal round for the 2018 edition, meaning that the top two teams from each group qualified for the knock-out stage.

The 2019 final, Hienghène SportAS Magenta (both from New Caledonia), marked the first time in the history of the competition that there was no side from New Zealand present.

Records and statistics

OFC Club Championship era

Season Winners Score Runners-up Venue Attendance No. of teams No. of associations
1987 Adelaide City
Australia
1–1
(4–1 pen.)
University-Mount Wellington
New Zealand
Australia Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide 3,500 9 9
1999 South Melbourne
Australia
5–1 Nadi
Fiji
Fiji Prince Charles Park, Nadi 10,000 9 9
2001 Wollongong Wolves
Australia
1–0 Tafea
Vanuatu
Papua New Guinea Lloyd Robson Stadium, Port Moresby 3,000 11 11
2005 Sydney FC
Australia
2–0 AS Magenta
New Caledonia
French Polynesia Stade Pater, Papeete 4,000 13 12
2006 Auckland City
New Zealand
3–1 AS Pirae
French Polynesia
New Zealand North Harbour Stadium, Auckland 2,000 11 10

OFC Champions League era

Season Winners Score Runners-up Venue Attendance No. of teams No. of associations
2007 Waitakere United
New Zealand
2–1 Ba
Fiji
Fiji Govind Park, Ba 10,000 6 5
0–1 New Zealand Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland 9,000
2–2 (a) 19,000
2007–08 Waitakere United
New Zealand
1–3 Kossa
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands Lawson Tama Stadium, Honiara 20,000 9 8
5–0 New Zealand Trusts Stadium, Waitakere City 6,000
6–3 26,000
2008–09 Auckland City
New Zealand
7–2 Koloale
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands Lawson Tama Stadium, Honiara 20,000 6 6
2–2 New Zealand Kiwitea Street, Auckland 1,250
9–4
21,250
2009–10 Hekari United
Papua New Guinea
3–0 Waitakere United
New Zealand
Papua New Guinea PMRL Stadium, Port Moresby 15,000 8 7
1–2 New Zealand Fred Taylor Park, Auckland 3,000
4–2
18,000
2010–11 Auckland City
New Zealand
2–1 Amicale
Vanuatu
Vanuatu Municipal Stadium, Port Vila 7,925 8 7
4–0 New Zealand Kiwitea Street, Auckland 3,000
6–1
10,925
2011–12 Auckland City
New Zealand
2–1 AS Tefana
French Polynesia
New Zealand Kiwitea Street, Auckland 1,500 8 7
1–0 French Polynesia Stade Louis Ganivet, Faaa 1,900
3–1
3,400
2012–13 Auckland City
New Zealand
2–1 Waitakere United
New Zealand
New Zealand Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland 3,000 12 11
2013–14 Auckland City
New Zealand
1–1 Amicale
Vanuatu
Vanuatu Municipal Stadium, Port Vila 10,000 15 11
2–1 New Zealand Kiwitea Street, Auckland 3,000
3–2
13,000
2014–15 Auckland City
New Zealand
1–1
(4–3 pen.)
Team Wellington
New Zealand
Fiji National Stadium, Suva 3,000 15 11
2016 Auckland City
New Zealand
3–0 Team Wellington
New Zealand
New Zealand QBE Stadium, Auckland 1,500 15 11
2017 Auckland City
New Zealand
3–0 Team Wellington
New Zealand
New Zealand Kiwitea Street, Auckland 1,000 18 11
2–0 New Zealand David Farrington Park, Wellington 1,000
5–0
2,000
2018 Team Wellington
New Zealand
6–0 Lautoka
Fiji
New Zealand David Farrington Park, Wellington 1,200 18 11
4–3 Fiji Churchill Park, Lautoka 1,000
10–3 2,200
2019 Hienghène Sport
New Caledonia
1–0 AS Magenta
New Caledonia
New Caledonia Stade Numa-Daly Magenta, Nouméa 7,000 18 11
2020 Competition abandoned due to COVID-19 pandemic in Oceania; title not awarded[3]
2021 No competition due to COVID-19 pandemic in Oceania; title not awarded[4]
2022 Auckland City
New Zealand
3–0 Vénus
French Polynesia
New Zealand Ngahue Reserve, Auckland 400 14 8
2023 Auckland City
New Zealand
4–2 (a.e.t.) Suva
Fiji
Vanuatu Municipal Stadium, Port Vila 5,420 18 11

Performances by club

Past winners are:[5][6]

Club Titles Runners-up Winning Seasons Runner-up Seasons
New Zealand Auckland City 11 2006, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2022, 2023
New Zealand Waitakere United 2 2 2007, 2008 2010, 2013
New Zealand Team Wellington 1 3 2018 2015, 2016, 2017
Australia Adelaide City 1 1987
Australia South Melbourne 1 1999
Australia Wollongong Wolves 1 2001
Australia Sydney FC 1 2005
Papua New Guinea Hekari United 1 2010
New Caledonia Hienghène Sport 1 2019
New Caledonia Magenta 2 2005, 2019
Vanuatu Amicale 2 2011, 2014
New Zealand University-Mount Wellington 1 1987
Fiji Nadi 1 1999
Vanuatu Tafea 1 2001
French Polynesia Pirae 1 2006
Fiji Ba 1 2007
Solomon Islands Kossa 1 2008
Solomon Islands Koloale 1 2009
French Polynesia Tefana 1 2012
Fiji Lautoka 1 2018
French Polynesia Vénus 1 2022
Fiji Suva 1 2023

Performances by country

Country Titles Runners-up Total
 New Zealand 14 6 20
 Australia 4 0 4
 New Caledonia 1 2 3
 Papua New Guinea 1 0 1
 Fiji 0 4 4
 Tahiti 0 3 3
 Vanuatu 0 3 3
 Solomon Islands 0 2 2

Notes:

All-time table (Top 10 Clubs)

  • As of 9th November 2022. All matches including qualifying were taken into account with a game decided by penalties counted as draw. No awarded/withdrawn games were counted.
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 New Zealand Auckland City (17) 97 73 15 9 297 69 +228 234
2 New Zealand Waitakere United (8) 49 26 12 11 99 47 +52 90
3 Fiji Ba (13) 55 24 7 24 79 90 11 79
4 New Caledonia Magenta (10) 45 23 7 15 104 61 +43 76
5 Vanuatu Tafea (9) 38 18 8 12 97 64 +33 62
6 New Zealand Team Wellington (5) 27 19 4 4 94 26 +68 61
7 Papua New Guinea Hekari United (10) 43 17 10 16 65 67 2 61
8 Vanuatu Amicale (6) 35 16 5 14 50 40 +10 53
9 Cook Islands Tupapa Maraerenga (7) 27 12 3 12 79 92 13 39
10 Fiji Lautoka (6) 27 11 5 11 46 58 12 38
Source:

* Number in parentheses show number of participations.

All-time table (Countries)

  • As of 9th November 2022. All matches including qualifying were taken into account with a game decided by penalties counted as draw. No awarded/withdrawn games were counted.
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1  New Zealand 193 128 37 28 557 165 +392 421
2  Fiji 119 47 16 56 187 242 55 157
3  Vanuatu 109 44 22 43 205 188 +17 154
4  New Caledonia 97 38 16 43 178 187 9 130
5  Tahiti 108 38 15 55 224 221 +3 129
6  Solomon Islands 102 36 18 48 203 225 22 126
7  Papua New Guinea 89 28 14 47 143 239 96 98
8  Samoa 54 19 4 31 112 176 64 61
9  Cook Islands 44 16 5 23 99 128 29 53
10  Australia 17 16 1 0 90 9 +81 49
11  Tonga 34 6 5 23 46 153 107 23
12  American Samoa 22 1 2 19 25 128 103 5
13  Palau 1 0 0 1 2 6 4 0
Source:

Notes:

See also

References

  1. "New silverware awarded for victors". Oceania Football Confederation. 19 March 2013. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
  2. "OFC teams up with Fiji Airways". OFC. 2 April 2015. Archived from the original on 3 April 2015. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  3. "OFC Champions League 2020 cancelled". Oceania Football Confederation. 4 September 2020.
  4. "OFC competitions calendar rescheduled". Oceania Football Confederation. 4 June 2021.
  5. "Past tournaments". oceaniafootball.com. Archived from the original on 28 April 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  6. "Oceania Club Cups - Overview File". RSSSF. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
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