# 2002 OFC Nations Cup qualification

The 2002 OFC Nations Cup qualification tournament was a football competition that was played in March 2002 to determine the two of OFC's five lowest-ranked members men's national teams to advance to the 2002 OFC Nations Cup final tournament played in New Zealand in July 2002. The national teams of six OFC member associations entered the qualifying process. Cook Islands withdrew from the competition.

## Qualified teams

| Team | Qualified as | Qualified on | Previous appearances in tournament |
| Papua New Guinea | Qualifying tournament winners | 18 March 2002 | 1 (1980) |
| New Caledonia | Qualifying tournament runners-up | 18 March 2002 | 2 (1973, 1980) |
* ↑ Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.

## Format

With the end of the Polynesian and Melanesian Cups between the 2000 and 2002 tournaments, (the two competitions formerly served a secondary function as qualifiers for the OFC Nations Cup), a new format was created to decide the teams which would be accepted for the Nations Cup. Retaining their round-robin group qualifier style, the OFC this time chose to adopt the FIFA rankings to order all the entrants. With New Caledonia not yet a FIFA member, they were placed last by default. The lowest six teams were then made to compete for two places via a round-robin group stage, with the highest-placed two teams qualifying for the Oceania Nations Cup.
The Rankings of all the teams involved in the OFC Nations Cup are below. The positions were taken as of October, 2001, with the eleven ranked teams appearing in the following order:
Teams who automatically entered the 2002 OFC Nations Cup :
| Team | Rank |
| Australia (title holders) | 48 |
| New Zealand | 84 |
| Fiji | 123 |
| Tahiti | 128 |
| Solomon Islands | 134 |
| Vanuatu | 169 |
Teams who entered the 2002 OFC Nations Cup qualifying stage :
| Team | Rank |
| Samoa | 172 |
| Tonga | 175 |
| Cook Islands | 176 |
| Papua New Guinea | 195 |
| American Samoa | 201 |
| New Caledonia | N/A |

### Tiebreakers

The ranking of teams in the standings were based on the following criteria (regulations Articles 15):
* Points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss)
* Overall goal difference
* Overall goals scored
* Score from direct
* Drawing of lots by the OFC Organising Committee

## Schedule

Below was the schedule of the 2002 OFC Nations Cup qualification.
| Stage | Matchday | Dates |
| Qualifying tournament | Matchday 1 | 9 March 2002 |
| Qualifying tournament | Matchday 2 | 12 March 2002 |
| Qualifying tournament | Matchday 3 | 14 March 2002 |
| Qualifying tournament | Matchday 4 | 16 March 2002 |
| Qualifying tournament | Matchday 5 | 18 March 2002 |

## Standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Papua New Guinea | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 2 | +18 | 12 | Qualification to 2002 OFC Nations Cup |
| 2 | New Caledonia | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 25 | 4 | +21 | 9 | Qualification to 2002 OFC Nations Cup |
| 3 | Samoa (H) | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 9 | −1 | 6 | |
| 4 | Tonga | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 18 | −11 | 3 | |
| 5 | American Samoa | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 29 | −27 | 0 | |
| 6 | Cook Islands | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Withdrew |

## Matches

Before the first group stage began, the Cook Islands withdrew, resulting in the group stage being played between only five nations.
Papua New Guinea and New Caledonia progress to the second group stage.

## Statistics
### Goalscorers

There were 62 goals scored in 10 matches, for an average of 6.2 goals per match.
9 goals
* Joris Pibke
5 goals
* Reginald Davani
3 goals
* Robert Kauma
* Tell Voudjo
* Joe Aisa
* Pualele Lemana
* Amone Suli
2 goals
* Yves Faye
* David Hay
* Jose Euribora Jose
* Paul Kombi
* Michael Lohai
* Francis Moiyap
* Maori Wasi
* Desmond Faaiuaso
* Ben Timo
1 goal
* Savaliga Afu
* Duane Atualevao
* Jean-Marc Case
* Jamel Kabeu
* Marvis Mapou
* Michel Wanakaija
* Selan Elizah
* Andrew Kassam
* Tapas Posman
* Yanding Tomda
* Tama Fasavalu
* Siua Maamaloa
* Klifi Uele
* Heweli Vete Fifita