The 2024 OFC Men's Nations Cup was the 11th edition of the OFC Men's Nations Cup, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Oceania organised by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC). The tournament was played between 15 and 30 June 2024 in Fiji and Vanuatu. The defending champions were New Zealand from the 2016 edition; the 2020 edition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. New Caledonia withdrew a few days before the start of the competition citing riots in the country, and the tournament played with seven teams.
A total of 13 matches were played, in which 46 goals were scored, at an average of 3.54 goals per match. Attendance at all stages of the tournament reached 41,400, averaging 3,185 viewers per match. The biggest score recorded in the tournament was 9âÂÂ1 when Fiji defeated Samoa on the second day of Group B.
New Zealand won the title for the record-extending sixth time in their history, after beating co-hosts Vanuatu in the final match with a score of 3âÂÂ0, so the All Whites successfully defended their title. Tahiti secured third place after beating Fiji in the third place match, which placed them fourth. Fijian Roy Krishna finished the tournament as top scorer with five goals. New Zealander Liberato Cacace also won the best player award, while his compatriot Max Crocombe won the best goalkeeper award. New Zealand also won the fair play award.
Although New Zealand was selected as host for the final tournament in 2020 before it was eventually cancelled, in December 2023 it was announced that the 2024 edition of the tournament would be held in Vanuatu.
In May 2024, following uncertainty around flight schedules, matches due to be played at the Luganville Soccer Stadium in Luganville, Vanuatu were moved to the HFC Bank Stadium in Suva, Fiji and the VFF Freshwater Stadium in Port Vila, Vanuatu.
Since it was announced in December 2023, Vanuatu is set to host the entire tournament at Luganville Soccer Stadium in Luganville and VFF Freshwater Stadium in Port Vila. Following uncertainty over flight schedules, matches scheduled to be held at Luganville Soccer Stadium in Loganville, Vanuatu have been moved to HFC Bank Stadium in Suva, Fiji.
The four lowest ranked teams originally entered for qualification were played in a single group tournament, as in previous editions in 2012 and 2016. Tuvalu and Kiribati were not full members of the OFC and were therefore excluded from participation. American Samoa did not register before qualifying.
In the qualifying tournament, the three lowest-ranked teams in the last edition of the tournament in 2016 (because American Samoa did not register), competed in a Round robin format in a single round, which was held in a single venue in Tonga, where the winner qualified for the final tournament. On 5 June 2024, New Caledonia announced their withdrawal from the tournament due to the serious crisis in the country.
The tournament followed the previous system of a preliminary qualification round followed by an eight-team (eventually seven) group stage, in which the top two places in each advanced to the semi-finals. In these, the two losers of each will compete in the play-off for third place, while the winners of these will compete in the final to determine the tournament champion.
The draw was held on 24 January 2024 at OFC Home of Football in Auckland, New Zealand. The teams were divided into two groups of four each, with the three initial pots determined based on the final ranking of the 2016 OFC Nations Cup, listed below.
All times are local, (Group A) and (Group B).
Tie-breaking criteria for group play
The ranking of teams in the group stage was determined as follows:
In the knockout stage, if a match was level at the end of normal playing time, extra time was played (two periods of 15 minutes each). If still tied after extra time, the match was decided by a penalty shoot-out.
On 28 February 2024, Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) announced that all OFC competitions in the 2024âÂÂ2025 season, including the 2024 OFC Men's Nations Cup, would be streamed by FIFA+.